Guarantor gone wrong

[dewisant2020]

I realise now it probably wasn't to smartest thing to do, many years ago I agreed to be a guarantor for my best friends son who wanted to move into a flat, sadly she since died and we've all lost contact.
I forgot all about it to be honest and presumed he had moved on and probably wasn't even in the flat anymore, today I received a demand from the lettering agents asking for a large sum of money, I contacted them straight away and they informed me that he had missed 3 months rent and were now looking for me to pay, I asked why they hadn't contacted me long before now so i was at least aware it was an issue and so I could budget for this, they said it wasn't there policy too.
What also annoyed me is over the years he's rents increased but I've never been kept updated on this, although i reread the terms tonight and i signed to say i would remain guarantor in the event of a rent increase. It just doesn't seem fair to me, how can they expect you to be totally responsible for paying someone else's rent but never let you know it's increased?
What's the chances of the landlord coming after me for the money? And what if i refuse to pay until they at least evict him as I pay the arrears now he gets away free and can do the same at anytime

The point is you signed the agreement. I don't know what answer you are expecting to receive. You need legal advice. But this would be totally enforceable against you AFAIK. Otherwise what would be the point of guarantors.

Get proper paid for legal advice. Not all contracts are legally enforceable.

And this is why you never agree to be a Guarantor unless you are actually able & willing to make payments if necessary.

Could you possibly contact the son to discuss it with him? You must have his address at least.

How long ago is many years, exactly?

You know where the tenant is; I'd turn up and have a conversation with him. 8-(

I'd also ask the lettng agent if they have issued him notice to quit.

If he needed a guarantor because he was a teenager with no credit history or a student, you might have grounds to say it was only a temporary arrangement that should have lapsed after he graduated/left uni/got a job. You might ask Shelter for some advice on that.

 So why did his own parent not act as guarantor?  (That would have been a red flag to me)

Surely these things are time limited and need to be updated every time the lease is renewed?

I'd say three months is fairly standard to be notified, really. It's no time at all!

It is standard for a guarantee to continue in force irrespective of whether there is a change to rent, etc.

Did you get independent advice before signing? That is likely the only ground to challenge the validity of the guarantee.

I’d definitely be contacting your friends son about it

OP, you signed as guarantor, so there was always a risk of this, but since the tenant's mother was your best friend, there is another way to look at this. Perhaps he has fallen on hard times through no fault of his own, and maybe he could do with a little advice and help, and is probably wishing his mother was still around to help him.

In your position I would go and see him, and from his reaction you can decide whether you want to be kind and supportive and just write the money off as one of those things, or whether you want to push him to repay a debt that he caused. If he is a decent man who has had a run of bad luck, he might want to keep in touch with you and repay the money, perhaps in instalments, once he's back on his feet.

How many years ago did you sign?

@Keepingthingsinteresting

It is standard for a guarantee to continue in force irrespective of whether there is a change to rent, etc.

Did you get independent advice before signing? That is likely the only ground to challenge the validity of the guarantee.

Not necessarily. Guarantees are tricky because changes to the underlying contracts without Guarantor consent can void the guarantee. Often the guarantee contains language that tries to remove this "get out" but you should definitely check if it does and, even if it does, it doesn't necessarily mean it's still enforceable. There's always scope for an argument to be had about the amount under guarantee or the term of the guarantee for example. Contact a solicitor.

What did you think you were guaranteeing when you signed the original paperwork?

Unfortunately if you signed you will most likely be held accountable. Do you have contact with the son?

Has he signed a new tenancy in the mean time? I previously acted as guarantor for someone, my understanding is that if they sign a new tenancy I'm no longer liable.

That is the role of a guarantor unfortunately, OP. I would contact the son and see what the issue is that has led to him not paying his rent for three months if he's paid rent without any issues for the previous years.

You can get some very good advice on the landlord zone forum (they advise both tenants & landlords).

From reading on there guarantor agreements are very hard to enforce, especially after a long time if no new agreement has been signed. The estate agents will obviously try their luck to see if you will pay up.

Unfortunately you did sign up for this and never formally cancelled the agreement so on this occasion you will have to pay

Get legal advice. I believe that you can give notice to terminate the agreement and resign as guarantor. You could look into that.

Thank you all for your advice, I am going to go and visit my friends son tomorrow after work and see what's going on.
I will pay the arrears if needed, I knew what I was signing up for but I certainly don't want this to be a regular thing.
I'm going to speak to my works legal team tomorrow also and see where I stand with the original guarantor contract, as I said it's been a good few years since I agreed to do this and never heard off them until now, I feel the landlord as some sort of obligation to keep in touch and notify me of rental increases and to notify me if the tenant hasn't paid the rent straight away not after 3 months or arrears, how are people suppose to plan financially if they don't have the basic information to do so?

To be fair, I don't think the landlord has any obligation to keep guarantors informed of rent increases, as the rent is payable by the tenant. Also, charges tend to rise with inflation every year, so it would be tricky to update every guarantor with an estimate of their total ongoing liability. However, in normal circumstances if a tenant was getting behind with the rent, the guarantor would normally be aware of this, as most often the guarantor would be a close friend or family member, so would be aware if problems cropped up. These circumstances are quite unusual, in that you've had no contact with him for years, due to your friend's death severing the link between you in practical terms. Had she been alive she might have warned you of the issues, or perhaps she would have helped her son out with the rent for a while, but sadly she's no longer around to step in. You were kind to help her and her son out, but now things have gone wrong there's no point getting annoyed with the landlord, they are not to blame for the tenant not paying his rent.

Disaster .... get good legal advice 🌸

How did it go talking to your friends son?

I managed to catch up with him, he's promised me he will catch up with he's rent arrears over the next few weeks.
I guess it's just wait and see, if not I will cough up.
Thanks for the advice

Guarantors can take legal action to recover their costs from the tenant - in case he doesn’t pay.
Get legal advice just in case and to get yourself out of the arrangement.

Have you got anything in writing? Might be worth having a repayment plan in place. Can he afford it going forwards as well?