Onlymyshare - student guarantor insurance

[user1494270414]

Hi, last year I signed a Tenancy agreement as Guarantor for my son and the agreement is Joint and Several, which means that I may be requested to cover rent arrears for one of the other Tenant's. The agreement starts 1st July 2017. At the time, I fully understood what I was signing and as the rental company had included details of insurance to protect me from such events I was not concerned. However, I am now in the process of looking at the cover to protect us and now wonder if the company are okay to use. They are called Only my share, which i gather are a fairly new Company. Please has anyone already used them or in the same position? If so, please can I ask what you have done.
Many thanks.

Hi, I've just signed as guarantor for five DC and never covered myself with insurance and also not had a problem - but the flatmates have been obviously reliable at the outset.

And I just simply refused to sign as a guarantor for my son (and thus consequently his housemates) which could leave me with a maximum £27,000 liability worse case scenario when there were masses of other student houses available in Lancaster that were not asking for guarantors!

How did that pan out Allthebest? Did your DS have to find other people to share with? I'd prefer not to sign but don't want to disrupt plans etc, so just go with it.

I refused to guarantee whole houses, instead have negotiated with the landlords to cover a "fair share" of any outstanding rent or damage, is equivalent to 1/6 or whatever depending on how many share. It's been a bit of hassle but if all guarantors did the same, they would amend the contracts accordingly. I drew the line at guaranteeing £37k of rent for the year, no matter how unlikely.

They don't give insurance. They negotiate on your behalf for a possible reduction, keep your card details (both in the terms and conditions), they run a credit check which stays on your file and, despite searching the address they give they are actually registered Newcastle - not London and their phone number is a Newcastle one and, they only deal with things via their website.

They've only been around since last September and, personally I'd avoid them. Insurance yes, but I honestly wouldn't use this company - there are no reviews for them anywhere and the above doesn't sit well with me.

I've got to be a guarantor for the first time this year which is really annoying as I've avoided for years. However the house my DS has found is perfect in every other way so I'm going to do it. I haven't seen the paperwork yet but I was going to try and find a way to ensure that I'm only liable for my child's share. They are phd students, have all lived together before and I'm sure they will be fine.....but you just never know what might happen.

I seem to remember a case in Wales where a student committed suicide and the rest of the house were asked to pay her share by the landlord (I think I've remembered that correctly but not 100% sure).

I'll either add my own details to the gaurentor form or get insurance. It annoying one way or another.

5 of the parents had signed the guarantees but I wouldn't and explained why and once I had the other parent wouldn't either. The same 7 students just decided to not go ahead and went and found a different property together and lived together for years 2 and 3.

I also explained to my son that although in theory you have an indemnity against the other students and guarantors if I was the best bet the Landlord would go after me and it would be up to me to go after the others for their share.

There were other properties available that didn't need guarantors so it was fine.

That worked out well then - I would have been concerned the property my DC wanted to rent would fall through but decent properties are hard to find/ in high demand in their uni city. Anyhow, once I got through the initial pain barrier I was signing any old thing which was put in front of me and so far so good!

The company in the OP has been given a notice for compulsory strike-off by Companies House. I would not use them.

Thanks hippy- useful to know

As I mentioned earlier I've just been asked by my DS to be his guarantor which I'm really reluctant to do even though his flatmates are lovely and I've no particular reason to be concerned. However, I was wandering if he actually needs a guarantor as he has a lot of savings in his own name? I haven't made any enquiries yet but I thought someone on here might know.

The savings are probably irrelevant. I did a conversion masters and had worked for some years before it on good salary and had savings I still needed one.

Thanks for answering Becca.

Also possibly if everyone pays the rent for the year or until July up front plus deposit surely a guarantee would not then be needed? That might be another way to get out of having one.

I think Janet is right. In London where UK based guarantors are hard to come by, paying up front in six month installments is common.

As a landlord it works. If students fail to pay the second tranche you have just about enough time to evict them before their finals.

I recently let to a couple of students outside London and one set of parents failed to turn up to sign the guarantor agreement and then failed to sign and return when it was sent to them. The agent and I explained that this was in breach of the lease and that it was unfair for them to expect either me as landlord or the parents of the other student to take financial responsibility for their son. They eventually signed, and both students are lovely. However I am still uncertain why they tried to dodge a transparent commitment in such an underhand way.

Am resurrecting this thread as we've just been asked to sign a joint tenancy agreement for DS going into his third year. He'll be sharing with someone he's shared with for the last 2 years and 3 others that he's known for a while. I'm very nervous but can't see any alternatives.

They'd never find anywhere else at this late stage and they're really pleased with the house. Does anyone know if there's any way we can protect ourselves?

The website address in London is short-term serviced offices. The registered address of the company is:
Timsons Business Centre, Bath Road, Kettering, Northants, England, NN16 8NQ
They are owned by Housing Hand, a company set up in 2014 which has net liabilities and made a profit of £69k in 2016.

Yes - I get that the company in the op is not reliable but I was asking if anyone had any alternative suggestions.

stone, could they not just pay the rent in advance instead? For a landlord that is even better than a guarantee.

I refused to be guarantor for my DC and even though it had not been presented as an alternative at the outset, the lettings company was happy to accept payment of three months rent in advance instead. It transpired that another housemate had done the same.

This is an individual owner rather than a lettings agency. I presume they will be paying rent termly in advance as that seems to be the norm. Unfortunately DS has already signed a contract. It was a struggle to find this place and I really don't want to leave him homeless at the start of his final year. We'll just have to keep our fingers crossed i think.

I am in the process of purchasing Only My Share and a lot of these statements are incorrect There is no credit search at all. The Newcastle address is Gauntlet Insurance Brokers who facilitate the cover - the London address is the HO for Only My Share and Housing Hand. Don't let these comments put you off. Housing Hand and Only My Share are used at many Universities !