Can't believe no friends will act as guarantors - why do they think they have to pay?

[IWillAlwaysBeinaClubWithYouin1973]

I mean do they literally think I am going to refuse to pay my rent?

Split from H last year, my home of over 30 was sold I have the equity in the bank still because I've just pulled out of a house purchase and decided to continue renting. Found a new flat within days now I am actually scared I'm not going to get it, nor anything else to rent, unless I have a guarantor. New letting agents/landlord not accepting equity, they want a guarantor as well as 6 months in advance.

I've just stood guarantor for my youngest DD and her uni flatmate, didn't think twice. I know what's involved, I would have thought it's obvious you assume the person will pay their rent - surely you just use your judgement? But had some awkward conversations with friends - we're all professional people, but they actually they think its going to affect their credit rating, ability to get a mortgage and that it will "stretch them financially"? I work, have the equity from the house in the bank, I'm 60 bloody 2! How much of a flight risk do I appear to these friends?! So far 2 said no, 2 ghosting me, I need to provide info to the agent first thing in the morning. Going to move on further down my list but it's getting more and more tenuous. I feel a bit sick to be honest.

Do you know what a guarantor is/does or would you too think you stood a reasonable chance of losing £000s, or even that I was actually asking for money in some way? Is it something that people just don't feel comfortable to do?

Do you have a good sick pay or income protection in case or sickness? Maybe if you explained this to friends this might soften the blow - then maybe something in writing to say if you lost your job you’d use your savings to pay the rent.

This is irrelevent. You're still up the creek without a paddle if the loan defaults. Landlords want to make money. They don't want to make things difficult or inaccesible for the sake of it. They would not ask for a guarantor unless they deemed the OP high risk for some reason. If a business deems you high risk then so would most friends with half a braincell and it isn't their job to wipe your butt.

But after 6 months, if the tenant doesn't pay their rent, it can take years to go to court to evict them.

Labour's reforms are making it harder for renters.

We were guarantors for a very very good friend. I was not happy about it though, and we got out of it as soon as we could (the agency was asking for a guatantoor as my friend had been in her job for less than 2 years), so we'd agree we would be guarantoor for a time period and then finish the 'contract' as guarantors.

I never ever had a doubt they will pay the rent, my friend's mother is well off and I knew that if my friend run out of money, she will still have money and that she will never put us in that position, that was never my worry. For me it was more the worry of what happens if anything more serious happen? For example, there is a fire and this is a negligence on their part (leaving hair straighteners on for example), insurance would only cover third parties but not their house, and if they are liable...that'd be a lot of money they wouln't have.

It is such a big ask. I always had these worries in mind. I wouldn't want to do it again and do it only for our daughter.

My sister got around this by paying the whole year up in front. Could you offer to do this too? I was once asked to be guarantor for a friend I hadn't seen in 20 years. I said no, and she got angry with me. To be honest her circumstances weren't good. She and her partner both lost their jobs (due to too many sickies). She faced eviction for non payment of rent (she stopped paying it straightaway). She was offered a council flat, but refused it as she preferred to privately rent in a better area. I knew she had a home to move to. There's no way I would have been able to cover her rent as well as my mortgage. Years later she's now back living at her parents house. However you've been a guarantor for friends you say? These friends really ought to repay the favor.

There are companies which will act as guarantors for a price, of course.

I wouldn’t do it for anyone apart from my children. That is because im financially linked to them and it wouldn’t really matter if I ended up paying their rent as I would just stop giving them money for other things I’m currently paying for. If I ended up responsible for someone else’s rent it could cause me massive financial issues. I’m not in a position to risk that so I wouldn’t do it. It’s a huge ask and something most people would only do for their children. If I had unlimited money then sure but despite working hard blah blah I am close to the edge financially every month as I’m sure most people are so there is no way I would even consider this.
I wouldn’t ghost someone who asked I would say there is absolutely no way I could take the risk of doing this.

It’s not about there being a “reasonable chance” it would impact my own finances, but if there was any chance at all. So the answer is no, particularly since I have other people to think about.

What do you mean it says it all?
Your comment lacks empathy. She is 62, just got divorced. She says she acted as guarantor for a friend in past, most people’s sense of big deal is based on what they would do in the scenario.
She has taken on board comments and apologised.

There is only one friend I would ever sign as a guarantor for and she has shown me time and time again that she is extremely reliable and would die for me. She would raise my children for me if I asked. I wouldn’t even be a guarantor for my siblings.

Asking a friend to be liable for thousands if something happens is not fair or reasonable. I know it’s hard but sadly it is not something a friend should ever have to do.

Efited

I wouldn't do it for anyone apart from my child because if she needed help I'd help her anyway. Anyone else definitely not as you just don't know what can happen and then you're left with debt you probably can't pay. It would be a horrible position to be in.

If I did this for you and you lost your job/got too sick to work etc I would be liable to pay your rent, which I cannot afford. So no, I could not be your guarantor.

I wasn’t suggesting she go back to people who had already declined 🤣 OP says she has a list of people she’s making her way through asking so this would be a good way imo to say look even if I got sick I’d still be able to pay the rent for x months so your money would be safe - not trying to force / pressurise them into doing something they feel uncomfortable with.

everyone has different relationships with friends and you’re entitled to be furious about whatever you like. If a friend came to me with this request and I couldn’t do it I’d just feel sorry for them and lucky that that I wasn’t in their shoes, can’t imagine being angry about it - if people can’t do it, they just say no which is what they have done in OPs case.

I can sort of see why they might ask though.

If a LL accepted 6 months rent in advance in lieu of a deposit, and the tenant then refused to leave at the end of the 6 month term and didn't pay rent from that point, the loss to the landlord could be huge.

They'd have to issue a S21 notice which gives a tenant 2 months to move. If they stuck to their guns and didn't get out, the LL would have to apply to the court for a possession order. In many areas, there's a long wait for these, and it could be contested (you'd be amazed how many tenants refuse to accept that there is no real defence to a S21 for Assured Shorthold tenancies). If the tenant refused to budge, the LL would have to go back to court for a bailiff warrant, then wait for the bailiffs to execute it.

The LL could easily have a year or more before they got the property back. They would have lost a huge amount in rent during that period, and incurred significant costs. I'm generally pretty anti-landlord, having worked in homelessness prevention for years, but I can understand them wanting a guarantor regardless of rent paid in advance.

Are you a really low earner? I know what a guarantor is because my Dad acted as one for me from ages 18 to 25 (and I moved every single year so I needed him a lot!), I’m afraid I wouldn’t act as one for anyone though. I think I would be a bit upset that a friend had put me in that position by asking.

I’m still in a private rental however haven’t encountered a landlord asking for a guarantor despite 100% of the rent being offered? That’s very unusual and I would challenge them on it. If you only want to stay for 6 months and are offering 6 months rent, why do they need a guarantor?

I live in a busy city where lots of rentals are available and the typical expectations are you annually earn 24x the rent, have a guarantor who earns 36x or you pay 6 months upfront (some landlords don’t like the last option and won’t accept it).

I'd just think they didn't really know what they were talking about, say no again, and try and explain why none of these things help at all.

If your ex is the father of your DD, for whom you are acting as guarantor, could he not take over that guarantor role? If you are working full time in a permanent role, this should then leave you with enough disposable income to not need a guarantor yourself. I would really focus on buying a new property, otherwise you could find yourself wasting a lot of money on rent. Another thought, lots of housing for the elderly kicks in at age 55 or 60, so you could look at that in extremis if you can rent while someone is trying to sell following a bereavement or move to a nursing home, then you wouldn’t be competing with younger people, although service charges can be high for services you won’t need.

Absolutely no way would I do this for anybody, except for my children. It’s a really big and very unreasonable ask. I’d be annoyed to be put in such an awkward position by a friend.

No way would I do it, it’s a HUGE thing you’re asking! Mortgage companies take it into consideration when people remortgage so people might not be able to borrow what they need in the future. It’s probably not personal but they need to put their needs first 🤷‍♀️

I'd do it for a friend if I had a friend close enough. It would have to be someone, though, who if they came and just asked "Will you pay all my rent for me" I'd say yes to, and I certainly don't have any such friends.

I have been guarantor for my DDs which is fine. I agreed to be co-guarantor for a friend’s son and his GF for a v short time, no worries. For a friend my age who I knew well, I’d have no issue. I’m sorry your friends are not supportive.

I did it once for ExSIL. We fell out after about 6 months. I tried to say I did not want to be guarantor anymore to the company but they said it stood for the entire time she was in the property, I didn't really know what I was signing up for as guarantor, I was naïve at the time and just did it.

She didn't give proper notice on the property, just left. She didn't pay rent after about 2 years there, think she got the place rent free for 6 months and she left it a shit tip.

I got a brown envelope sent to me with about 30 pages of 'damage' from chipped paintwork, pin marks in the wall, to cupboard doors damaged, sink damaged, wallpaper hanging off, a smashed window, stuff like that. There was also a lot of rubbish left and old furniture, toys and clothes. They tried to charge me the rent, clean up charge and rubbish removal.

The company had not contacted me to say she was not paying the rent, they did not do their inspections throughout the tenancy. I managed to get in touch with ExSIL and after a few heated conversations, she must have gone and sorted it out with them as I never heard anything back.

I would never do it again for anyone, no matter who they were.

A former au pair from whom we’d parted company - she wasn’t great and we did not extend her contract - asked me to be her guarantor on s flat in London. I was 😵‍💫😵‍💫😵‍💫

Had to explain I’d think long and hard about doing that for my kids. And it was a 100% no. She couldn’t have been a riskier person!

Money is one of the very first things that goes tits up when the shit hits the fan and one of the biggest things people lie and deceive others about. I would absolutely never agree to be a guarantor for anyone (aside from my own children).

Even if you take offence at the fact your friends don't believe you can pay rent, financial circumstances can change dramatically outside of your control. One illness, one accident, a pandemic (obviously unlikely but look how many businesses it destroyed when it did happen), a war or boring stuff like tariff changes can easily wipe out anyone's finances overnight. Also, apologies for being blunt, you mentioned your age like it's a positive indicator for reliability. Many of your friends secretly think the exact opposite because the chances of serious illness or other life issues that could impact income rises steeply after 60.

Signing as a guarantor means you legally oblige yourself to be responsible for the unpredictable and uncontrollable disasters that happens in someone else's life. Only an absolute fool would take on that risk.

I would do it if I also had a signed agreement (and maybe deposit) from the friend / tenant that said they would at me anything I was charged by the landlord and also that any liability was a loan to be repaid out of their will should the worst happen.