guarantor

[poshman]

Hi All, my daughter has asked me to be a gurantor for her because her flat mate has moved out and she now has to pay the rent on her own
I am not too happy about some of the questions from estate agents

1.. what is your bank name acount number and sort code

2 your gross salary

3 employer number

4 pension number

am I obliged to give them answers to those questions ?

cheers P M

 

[subman101]

They seem reasonable requests. Have you got money, where is it, can you guarantee payment, can you prove income....?

If you're not happy, then your daughter can request early termination of the contract she's signed, and it is up to the discretion of the landlord whether they'll go for this or not.

 

[LastMagicBean]

In effect you're taking on her financial responsibility (potential debt) so yes, fairly standard I would say.

(find someone to move in quick is the best answer)

 

[conny]

Daughter or not, do not be a guarantor for ANY ONE!!!

 

[gregers]

Daughter or not, do not be a guarantor for ANY ONE!!!

sound advice above,if default on any bills,they may come chasing you for the payment.
also has the old flatmate PAID UP ALL DUES.

 

[conny]

Gregers, not a case of 'may' they will!
They only put minimal effort into claiming from the original debtor then put maximum pressure on the guarantor.
I was lucky. When they came after me for rent my daughter had defaulted on because they refused to repair a leak in the bathroom and so causing the living room ceiling to collapse I got them to admit they hadn't paid the deposit into the scheme. (First rule broken).
They tried to say my daughter had caused the flood by over filling the bath. I had dated video evidence the ceiling had collapsed and was still dripping water yet the floorboards upstairs were perfectly dry.
I had spent the day sitting in the house when their 'surveyor' was supposed to have paid a visit. He claimed he didn't get an answer. Asked if he had knocked on/looked through the window he said he did but couldn't see anyone because the curtains were closed. Strange. I had been sitting in the only chair in that room for most of the day, in full view of anyone passing by, working on my laptop and there were no window coverings up at all! There were various other inconsistencies with things they were saying so eventually they took me to the small claims court. It never got there as they sent me a full refund of the deposit and confirmation my credit history would be rectified back to its original status.
I will never be guarantor for anyone again.
Good point about the flatmate by the way.

 

[^woody^]

Daughter or not, do not be a guarantor for ANY ONE!!!

What, you really would not help a son or daughter out?

 

[Inky Pete]

Were the daughter and her ex-flatmate Joint Tenants, Tenants in Common, or was one of them sub-letting to the other?

It makes a big difference in law to what happens next.

 

[conny]

In reply to 'Woody'.
Nope. Not financially any way.
At the moment my daughter and 2 of my grand children live with me but hopefully they will be moving into their own place in the very near future.
My son has done the same thing so they have been treated equally.
They are now both old enough now to know what they have to do in life if they want to survive.
I am not going to be here forever so its going to come one day, may as well be now as 10, 20, 30 years down the line.

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

@ the OP, yes they are all standard questions and you will need to answer them to qualify. That's how references work, nothing underhand about it all standard stuff.

(Daughter's naivety apart)

 

[poshman]

Thank you for all your input, sounds like I will have to hand over all my personal details

they were joint tenants so maybe the one moving out has lost her deposit but not sure

I will take a gas/water/elec reading and get her to contact the companies for a interim bill

 

[conny]

I think the full deposit will be retained by the landlord in the deposit scheme until your daughter gives up tenancy. Then if there is no damage to the property the whole deposit should be handed back to the tenant 'closing' the lease. It would then be up to your daughter and her friend to decide how to handle this. The other alternative would be for your daughter to have the landlord/letting agent do an inventory when her friend is about to leave and if there are damages to be paid for they share the costs of these first. This will then leave your daughter with a 'clean slate' to avoid arguments in the future if the landlord refuses to pay back the deposit for any reason.

 

[FiremanT]

OP. Be vey careful. A standard assumption on a joint contract is that each party is SEVERALLY liable. This may nean that if the outging tenant has defaulted (and it is possibe that your daughter is not aware of this), you could end up footing the bill.

Also, you must be careful to have a contract that lapses if your daughter eventually finds a flat mate, otherwise, you will be responsible for their bills as well.

(From a LL perspective, I would be reluctant to allow an 18 year old student to take up a joint tenancy, and relinquish the value of a mature and solvent guarantor such as yourself). So review the get oyt clauses.

Anyway, why are you required to act as guarantor? Is the contract due for renewal?

 

[wreckedit]

I think the full deposit will be retained . This will then leave your daughter with a 'clean slate' to avoid arguments in the future if the landlord refuses to pay back the deposit for any reason.

I would have thought if the LL had put the deposit in a deposit holding scheme they cannot just refuse to pay it back. They would have to justify the refusal or the amount with bills for repair/replacement etc.. together with agreement from the Tenant.
The LL has about a month to get the deposit to an agency and if not are in trouble.