Page 3 | Worried about being a guarantor for whole house

topcat2014 · 2025-12-03T13:40:56+00:00

Dd in first year and looking at houses with friends for year 2. I only wish to guarantee her rent (and even that feels cheeky to me). Is that the norm? Panicking in case I get put on the spot and have to do things online in a hurry so they don't lose the house etc

ChubbyPuffling · 03/12/2025 21:59

One thing we found as older parents, is that I could not be a guarantor for most agencies as I retired and my income was no longer high enough. Luckily my husband was still working.

thecatneuterer · 03/12/2025 22:00

Comefromaway · 03/12/2025 21:53

The law is only effective from May 2026

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It is only effective from then. However the law restricting deposits to five weeks rent is already in place, and there have been cases where it's argued that rent in advance constitutes an illegal deposit and the law isn't yet clear on this. So what with that, and probably having to pay back anything from May onwards, it would take either a very brave or a very uninformed landlord to risk it.

Ritaskitchen · 03/12/2025 22:08

If you pay the rent in two chunks of 6 months then you don’t have to be guarantor. But it’s a. Big chunk of money

Ritaskitchen · 03/12/2025 22:14

thecatneuterer · 03/12/2025 21:10

That's no longer possible. Renters Rights bill prohibits landlords from accepting more than one months rent in advance.

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I wonder how home fees students whose parents don’t live in the Uk will deal with this. As it’s not possible to be a guarantor. We have always paid DC rent in 6 month chunks.

thecatneuterer · 03/12/2025 22:19

Ritaskitchen · 03/12/2025 22:08

If you pay the rent in two chunks of 6 months then you don’t have to be guarantor. But it’s a. Big chunk of money

That's not going to be possible because of the Renters Rights bill

TeaRoseTallulah · 03/12/2025 22:21

AudiobookListener · 03/12/2025 13:56

I would just tell her you can't be a guarantor for a joint and several contract for a whole house and she will need to look at the contract as well as the house when house-hunting.

Doubt she'll find somewhere then as shared houses are all like this.

thecatneuterer · 03/12/2025 22:26

Ritaskitchen · 03/12/2025 22:14

I wonder how home fees students whose parents don’t live in the Uk will deal with this. As it’s not possible to be a guarantor. We have always paid DC rent in 6 month chunks.

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It's a big problem. The Renters Rights bill has caused many landlords to sell up and many more to follow, so reducing supply and pushing up rents. It's also making landlords very nervous about taking anything but gold plated tenants as the risks are so great, and it's making it impossible for tenants without a great credit history etc to make themselves more attractive by offering rent in advance or higher deposits.

It's a truly wonderful bit of legislation.

caringcarer · 03/12/2025 22:30

thecatneuterer · 03/12/2025 13:52

If it's a shared house then contracts are joint and several. It's not possible to be a guarantor for just one of the sharers.

I thought this too. If one doesn't pay they are obviously going to chase the one who is much richer.

Comefromaway · 03/12/2025 22:41

This is an example of a joint & several tenancy. I hsvnt included the bit where guarantors are named as there are too many personal details to blank out but all tenants (& by default their guarantors) are liable for all the rent

(I’m not worried the road name is on their as dd has now moved)

Worried about being a guarantor for whole house

Needmoresleep · 03/12/2025 23:27

Landlord groups argued hard for separate rules for student let's but were not listened to. A pity.

Another problem is that fixed terms will no longer exist, so if one tenant wants to leave early, rather than find a replacement, they will be able to bring the tenancy to an end.

Not being able to take rent in advance is a problem. It was something I as a landlord would do when I rented to postgraduates from overseas. Now it will be difficult to let to them at all. (Or to UK students with less well off parents.) New property licencing rules require me to have landlord insurance and that insurance requires prospective tenants to pass affordability checks as part of their referencing.

The law seems to be in response to lobbying from Generation Rent. It is likely to be a clear example of "be careful of what you wish for.".

MrsSkylerWhite · 03/12/2025 23:29

Not quite sure why you think it’s cheeky to guarantee your own child’s rent. That’s the norm.

Needmoresleep · 03/12/2025 23:34

Landlords, inevitably, will be looking to minimise risk given it will now be very difficult to evict problem tenants. If OP is not willing to bear some of that risk in the form of being a guarantor, why should the property owner?

BatshitIsTheOnlyExplanation · 03/12/2025 23:34

My DD is living in a house of 5 for 3rd year uni. I am a guarantor but only for her monthly rent. In the end, one of the housemates didn't pass 2nd year, was hoping to sublet the room, didn't manage to, but HER guarantor is liable, it isn't split between the others, even though there's an empty room.

SlenderRations · 04/12/2025 08:12

This comes round every year, and every year parents comment that they didn’t guarantee anything other than their child’s rent (often with a tone of “I wouldn’t be so foolish”), referring smugly to the nicely worded guaranteed agreement. I am sure that in lot of these cases they haven’t properly read the underlying rental agreement.

Silverbirchleaf · 04/12/2025 08:25

SlenderRations · 04/12/2025 08:12

This comes round every year, and every year parents comment that they didn’t guarantee anything other than their child’s rent (often with a tone of “I wouldn’t be so foolish”), referring smugly to the nicely worded guaranteed agreement. I am sure that in lot of these cases they haven’t properly read the underlying rental agreement.

No, we only did guarantee our own child and not the whole house.

AudiobookListener · 04/12/2025 08:42

TeaRoseTallulah · 03/12/2025 22:21

Doubt she'll find somewhere then as shared houses are all like this.

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Does it perhaps depend on which city you are in?

Hercules12 · 04/12/2025 08:52

No idea about the law change. I paid year upfront only this September.

Daschund1 · 04/12/2025 09:00

Hercules12 · 04/12/2025 08:52

No idea about the law change. I paid year upfront only this September.

I have a life limiting condition (so can't work) and DH works part-time. The landlord bill screwed DD a bit because we can't be guarantor. We offered the full year but they can't do that next year. Hence the need for guarantor insurance. It also covers £10,000 if other students don't pay their rent.

Comefromaway · 04/12/2025 09:06

Just to clarify for people, there are two types of guarantor insurance.

the first type costs around £99. The parent signs to become guarantor & goes through all the checks but the insurance covers you if one of the housemates defaults on the rent. It’s offered by a company called Only My Share

the second is offered by a company called Housing Hands. It’s used by international students & those whose parents don’t pass the credit checks. The company becomes the guarantor with the landlord (but the parents sign to say they are liable to the company. This usually costs several hundred pounds.

MrsBennetsPoorNervesAreBack · 04/12/2025 09:11

JudgeBreads · 03/12/2025 14:11

I’ve done this 4 times, you’re only responsible for your own child. You will be emailed a copy of the agreement which you will sign electronically, it’s then passed to the next person and the agreement is only valid when all parties have signed.

You're only responsible for your own child, yes.

But in most cases, your child will be signing to take on responsibility for the entire house or flat because of the nature of the contract that they sign. So effectively, you are taking on responsibility for that level of liability too.

MrsBennetsPoorNervesAreBack · 04/12/2025 09:18

The fact is, many parents think they are only guaranteeing their own child's portion of the rent, when they're actually taking on much more liability than they realise. Many only fully understand the liability that they have taken on when something goes wrong.

Daschund1 · 04/12/2025 09:19

Comefromaway · 04/12/2025 09:06

Just to clarify for people, there are two types of guarantor insurance.

the first type costs around £99. The parent signs to become guarantor & goes through all the checks but the insurance covers you if one of the housemates defaults on the rent. It’s offered by a company called Only My Share

the second is offered by a company called Housing Hands. It’s used by international students & those whose parents don’t pass the credit checks. The company becomes the guarantor with the landlord (but the parents sign to say they are liable to the company. This usually costs several hundred pounds.

Yes. This is the one. We have no debt and could afford the full year so naively thought there'd be no issue.. It was working that failed us.

Vivavivavivaviva · 04/12/2025 09:25

SlenderRations · 04/12/2025 08:12

This comes round every year, and every year parents comment that they didn’t guarantee anything other than their child’s rent (often with a tone of “I wouldn’t be so foolish”), referring smugly to the nicely worded guaranteed agreement. I am sure that in lot of these cases they haven’t properly read the underlying rental agreement.

Yes, this completely! This was our situation a couple of years ago - my ds had got my dh to sign the contracts and when I asked about the situation in terms of guarantors, my dh said it was all fine and we were just guarantor for our son, but I looked in detail, and the small print does make it clear that it is joint and several liability, and that in theory the landlord can seek redress from any of the guarantors.

My dh is very intelligent, but doesn’t read the detail / subtext very well - so it has made me realise that for anything legal, I always need to check it before it is signed!

thecatneuterer · 04/12/2025 09:26

MrsBennetsPoorNervesAreBack · 04/12/2025 09:11

You're only responsible for your own child, yes.

But in most cases, your child will be signing to take on responsibility for the entire house or flat because of the nature of the contract that they sign. So effectively, you are taking on responsibility for that level of liability too.

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Exactly

thecatneuterer · 04/12/2025 09:29

BatshitIsTheOnlyExplanation · 03/12/2025 23:34

My DD is living in a house of 5 for 3rd year uni. I am a guarantor but only for her monthly rent. In the end, one of the housemates didn't pass 2nd year, was hoping to sublet the room, didn't manage to, but HER guarantor is liable, it isn't split between the others, even though there's an empty room.

I'm sure you would find that if her guarantor didn't easily cough up then they would come after one of the others. It will be a joint and several contract. Do you have a copy of the contract?