We don't want to be rent guarantors!

[Shootingstar2289]

Hi all, not sure if this is the right category or not. Please forgive me if it's not.

My brother (20) is a student who will be starting his third year in September. He will be sharing a house with other students.

Today, he asked us to be his rent guarantor. We are in a comfortable financial situation, but certainly not a financial situation to pay somebody else's rent.

As far as I know, my brother has always paid his rent but anyone could fall behind. I assume the other students would have their own guarantors but what if theirs weren't in a financial situation to pay.. I know little about it so bear with me.

My brother is only studying and not working at all. I assume most students work part time in the evenings for extra cash, so this worries me a little as he's not earning anything for extra money.

My OH would be the named guarantor as he is the earner here - Stay at home Mum here! My OH isn't comfortable with this. His own Mother owes thousands from when my OH's sister and her ex got into rent arrears. She wasn't in a position to pay - therefore she has thousands of debt from it.

I feel guilty for not wanting to do it but is it really my OH's responsibility? My parents aren't in a great financial situation. My grandparents have fair amount of savings but I read that over 75's cannot be guarantors.

Advice?

Isn't whether or not he's working a separate issue? Wouldn't he still need a guarantor? I can't see a landlord accepting a student doing a bit of part time work as certainty that the rent will get paid. They could get sacked or walk out the day after the rental contract is signed or spend their earnings on anything but rent.

Putting the burden on relatives like this is really unfair. The rental contract is between the landlord and the tenant, not the responsibility of others. I'm sure nearly everyone will know someone who's been screwed over by agreeing to be someone's guarantor, I certainly do.

But you're right that he should do at least some work. I worked 30 hours a week while I was at University, had 8-12 hours contact time a week and still managed to find time for studying, running my own household and a social life, and getting a First in Chemistry.

When people say they 'don't have time to work and study' you can usually guarantee they've got plenty of time for a fair bit of leisure, they won't be studying all the time at all.