Renting Guarantor

Sindri

Sindri

Sindri

Associate
Joined
7 Jul 2009
Posts
599
I am planning on being a guarantor for my brothers uni residence and have just received the pack through that lists the requisite documentation from the estate agents.
The sheer number of items and the amount of information they want has made me feel slightly uneasy though.

Below is a list of what they require:
Copy of id (passport/driving licence)
Utility bill
Wage slip
Bank statement (with no details omitted so they can see incomings/outgoings)

Maybe im worrying about nothing, but disclosing all that seems somewhat excessive, as i have only needed a copy of my id and a bank statement to take out a credit card in the past.
 
Only thing I'd query is the bank statement. Everything else I think is pretty normal.
Is it a known company, or some back Street office?
 
Quite simple answer to this is DON'T do it!! So many pitfuls and horror stories when being a guarantor its not worth it I'm afraid even for family. Go look over on Moneysavingexpert for a few examples. You do realise what you'll be taking on if you do this right? Can you afford to pay his rent for him until he moves out which could be years if the LL doesn't have a clue how to kick him out etc? And they need that info from you as essentially if your brother misses a payment you will be liable for the rent, thus they need to make sure you can afford it and they will need to hunt you down for it.
 
^

What rubbish its perfectly fine with the right agreement and right circumstance.

We did this in our final year of university, using one of our fathers as guarantor. It simply meant we were able to secure a 5 bedroom detached family home instead of the usual dross thats available on the 'student' market, and fully furnish it with free stuff from gumtree/free2collect etc. When is a 1,2,3 bed home a student home? When its such poor quality no other ****** would rent it.

OP yes that information is all pretty much standard. They just want to make sure the guarantor is a real person with evidence of income above a certain threshold.
 
Last edited:
Brother.....
University....
Booze....
Booze....
Booze....
Accommodation...
Booze....
Booze....
Booze....
Guarantor......
 
Lol go have a read up and come back to me afterwards. What with people barely scraping by as it is, a lot of people can not handle paying someone elses rent. And lots of people go into being a guarantor without fully understanding what can happen. Pretty much anyone posting about this on Moneysavingexperts gets told not to do it. If you can happily cover your brothers rent good for you but what happens if circumstance change and you loose your job for example? Your stuffed then. Same goes for the oh it's my brother he would never do that, what if he blows his student loan and can't pay the rent etc.

Life changes and this type of thing can get you in big trouble. Just wanted the OP to know what the pitfalls are, its upto them if they do it.
 
You think that's bad? When I had my mum as a guarantor for me, one agent wanted her to provide evidence that she had enough assets (e.g. savings, equity in property, etc.) to cover the full rent for the full 6 month minimum term!

After we'd provided this evidence, and paid £300+ in fees for my partner, me, and the guarantor fee for my mum, they then decided they needed a second guarantor for my partner, for which we'd have to pay an additional ~£90 fee (they couldn't use my mum again, despite her having shown she was perfectly capable of paying off the entire rent if we both did a runner...).

Decided to ditch that particular agent and after a particularly firmly worded letter got all our fees back!

AFK_Matrix said:
Paranoid ramblings
Click to expand...

Some of us are fortunate enough not to have family that belong on Jeremy Kyle ;)
 
Last edited:
Haggisman said:
Some of us are fortunate enough not to have family that belong on Jeremy Kyle ;)
Click to expand...

Yes but people can get into difficult situations money wise that they never intended to happen, the OP just needs to be aware about what he could potentially be asked to pay.

Nothing wrong with being a guarantor but don't go into it lightly/without knowing the details, the mantra of "It'll be fine what could possibly go wrong" could end up biting the OP in the ass....
 
This basically boils down to how much you trust your brother and how much respect he has for you. If it were my brother and it was a single occupancy residency then I would do it for him.

If however there are other students living there then that's a different issue. You cant put faith in the fact they will treat the house the same way your brother may.
 
Haggisman said:
You think that's bad? When I had my mum as a guarantor for me, one agent wanted her to provide evidence that she had enough assets (e.g. savings, equity in property, etc.) to cover the full rent for the full 6 month minimum term!

After we'd provided this evidence, and paid £300+ in fees for my partner, me, and the guarantor fee for my mum, they then decided they needed a second guarantor for my partner, for which we'd have to pay an additional ~£90 fee (they couldn't use my mum again, despite her having shown she was perfectly capable of paying off the entire rent if we both did a runner...).

Decided to ditch that particular agent and after a particularly firmly worded letter got all our fees back!



Some of us are fortunate enough not to have family that belong on Jeremy Kyle ;)
Click to expand...

So no one in your family has gotten into financial difficulties before? If not thats great but unfortunetly that isn't how a lot of families are in this day and age. Just go and have a read of the forums on Moneysavingexperts or better yet listen to the news once in a while. These are hard times with people loosing jobs and getting into difficutly when before they have paid bills and had no money problems before. I just wanted to raise the issues with being a guarantor is all. I have read about the consequences of people not understanding what it means so just wanted the op to be aware, its far from paranoid ramblings. But I think at least now the OP knows what being a guarantor entails now.
 
Last edited:
Sindri said:
I am planning on being a guarantor for my brothers uni residence
Click to expand...

I hope its a 1st year room in private halls or some sort of studio/individual agreement.

If he's in a flatshare under a joint tenancy agreement then I'd avoid it if I were you. People drop out of uni and if some kid he's sharing with drops out and stops paying for the house/flat they'll be chasing whoever they can for the rent.
 
Sindri said:
I am planning on being a guarantor for my brothers uni residence and have just received the pack through that lists the requisite documentation from the estate agents.
The sheer number of items and the amount of information they want has made me feel slightly uneasy though.

Below is a list of what they require:
Copy of id (passport/driving licence)
Utility bill
Wage slip
Bank statement (with no details omitted so they can see incomings/outgoings)

Maybe im worrying about nothing, but disclosing all that seems somewhat excessive, as i have only needed a copy of my id and a bank statement to take out a credit card in the past.
Click to expand...
This list is nothing, you should see the amount of documentation required for renting in France!
 
The point of the guarantor is that you assume all the liabilities as specified in the reelvant agreement (to the extent that they may be modified by the terms of the guarantor document you're signing).

The financial information is to establish your identity (to meet the requirements of the Money Laundering Regulations) and also to ensure that you can afford to pay the entire cost of the rent (or to the extent it is less if stated int he agreeement) the relevant proportion of the rent.

It may seem a bit over the top, but its' all about 'protecting' the landlord - after all if there is no due diligence done on your financecs, there is no utility in having you as a guarantor in the first place.

Just make sure you read the extent of your potential liability in the event of default under the lease/tenancy agremeent before you actually sign up.
 
Last edited:
alx said:
Yes but people can get into difficult situations money wise that they never intended to happen, the OP just needs to be aware about what he could potentially be asked to pay.
Click to expand...

You could say the same about anything however. Don't get a mortgage because you might lose your job, don't rent anywhere because you might lose your job, don't pay the electricity bill because you might need the money for food. etc.

alx said:
Nothing wrong with being a guarantor but don't go into it lightly/without knowing the details, the mantra of "It'll be fine what could possibly go wrong" could end up biting the OP in the ass....
Click to expand...

I completely agree, but ultimately it comes down to how much the OP trusts his brother, and whether he can afford it. Someone coming into the thread saying not to do it under any circumstances because of some forum posts is hardly helpful.

AFK_Matrix said:
So no one in your family has gotten into financial difficulties before? If not thats great but unfortunetly that isn't how a lot of families are in this day and age. Just go and have a read of the forums on Moneysavingexperts or better yet listen to the news once in a while. These are hard times with people loosing jobs and getting into difficutly when before they have paid bills and had no money problems before. I just wanted to raise the issues with being a guarantor is all. I have read about the consequences of people not understanding what it means so just wanted the op to be aware, its far from paranoid ramblings. But I think at least now the OP knows what being a guarantor entails now.
Click to expand...

It is surprising the number of threads on moneysavingexperts about when things have gone wrong for people financially. It almost makes you wonder if it could possibly be a forum where people go to talk about/ask for advice on their financial problems! :eek:

I can't imagine it being a particularly popular/useful forum if it was just full of threads entitled "Paid all my bills on time again this month and have plenty of money left over", or "Signed up as a guarantor for my brother and nothing has gone wrong" ;)
 
they asked the same of my dad when he was my garantor.

after we left said accommodation he demanded that he was given most of the copies back, does seem over the top what they ask for but seems to be general practice
 
Haggisman said:
You could say the same about anything however. Don't get a mortgage because you might lose your job, don't rent anywhere because you might lose your job, don't pay the electricity bill because you might need the money for food. etc.



I completely agree, but ultimately it comes down to how much the OP trusts his brother, and whether he can afford it. Someone coming into the thread saying not to do it under any circumstances because of some forum posts is hardly helpful.



It is surprising the number of threads on moneysavingexperts about when things have gone wrong for people financially. It almost makes you wonder if it could possibly be a forum where people go to talk about/ask for advice on their financial problems! :eek:

I can't imagine it being a particularly popular/useful forum if it was just full of threads entitled "Paid all my bills on time again this month and have plenty of money left over", or "Signed up as a guarantor for my brother and nothing has gone wrong" ;)
Click to expand...

Agreed, nothing at all wrong with being a guarantor for your brother. But you just need to be aware of what agreement actually means :). As you say people tend to write about things when they go wrong rather than commenting everything it goes right!
 
kaptainmarc said:
they asked the same of my dad when he was my garantor.

after we left said accommodation he demanded that he was given most of the copies back, does seem over the top what they ask for but seems to be general practice
Click to expand...

Not really, they need to prove that they can afford to pay the rent if the tenant can't. It seems people are entirely sure what an guarantor is and take it lightly.
 
So I guess all these news reports are false too then about debt etc. Of course its upto the OP what he does and its my OPINION don't do it as most people have no clue about being a Guarantor. I was having a chat with my Lodger about Amigo loans and he had not clue what a Guarontor meant and he is a very finacially savy person. And others have brought up a good point on what type of rental agreement it is as it may not just be your brother who is liable for the rent. Just have a good read up of the Guarantor agreement and if your happy with it then go for it. Saying there is no problems with being a Guarantor is pretty dangeours imo.
 
Wow that's quite a list, but from what others are saying seems to be quite normal.

I needed a guarantor for my student flat, got a form from the landlord which was just a contract saying my guarantor agrees to pay the rent if I don't etc etc legal speak etc. Got dad to fill in all the details and sign it, that was that.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom