Assured Shorthold Tenancy - Student House

[blueg33]

dontlookdown said:

blueg33 said:

I varied the leases and the guarantee for my daughters digs so that I wasn’t liable for other tenants default. The agent was inept and signed it on his clients behalf whilst not understanding the effect of the changes I made. Wouldn’t be surprised if it was ultra vires, which would have been interesting in a dispute

That was quite sassy of you, well done;)

I see a lot of leases! Commercial and ASH. Currently have an involvement with a business that buys and lets about 20 houses a month.

[DaveA8]

Ian Geary said:

Can't help with question I'm afraid, but I am curious about one detail.

Are parental guarantors liable just for their kid, or liable for all students collectively?

Seems a weak link there for a slopey shouldered parent to offload liability onto other parents in the event of their child breaking the agreement.

Obviously too late to change the contract now, but something to be aware of for others.

I can only confirm from my experience ( 3 different years for my son), each parent is only guaranteeing the rent for their own child and landlords have all confirmed that in both the contract and separately by email.
In his 2nd year, one student dropped out just prior the start and the landlord agreed the following, 6 could move in instead of the 7 and pay more or he’d cancel the let. Further if they found someone, it would be back to 7 and cheaper if the 7th had a guarantor, if no guarantor then the 6 were still each liable for 1/6th rent but no more. It suited me but struck me as very cumbersome as the landlord would need to issue 6 lots of proceedings to recover the money.

[Chrisgr31]

I have read my child’s tenancy agreement and guarantee. I am only guaranteeing my child’s payment. However the tenancy agreement states that the rent is the total for all six not one. So if everyone else does a runner I could be liable for it all. Unlikely though.

[blueg33]

Back to the ops question.

I would be surprised if the landlord can terminate because the occupancy is one person down. As long as the full rent is paid.

If the landlord is saying this , the students may be able to get some advice from the Uni housing department.

[Zio Di Roma]

blueg33 said:

Back to the ops question.

I would be surprised if the landlord can terminate because the occupancy is one person down. As long as the full rent is paid.

If the landlord is saying this , the students may be able to get some advice from the Uni housing department.

He can't and I am not sure why he would want to. Unless the tenants are a PITA and he is looking for a reason.

[hellorent]

Zio Di Roma said:

He can't and I am not sure why he would want to. Unless the tenants are a PITA and he is looking for a reason.

That would depend if the tenants have in their possession a TA signed by the LL.

[Zio Di Roma]

hellorent said:

Zio Di Roma said:

He can't and I am not sure why he would want to. Unless the tenants are a PITA and he is looking for a reason.

That would depend if the tenants have in their possession a TA signed by the LL.

They will have, or the agent as a proxy. Furthermore as far as I am aware the contractual arrangement would exist absent any paperwork.

[K4sper]

hellorent said:

A lot of guarantors are not correctly served in accordance with the correct procedure, the main 1 being not written up as a
deed, which in many cases make them legally unenforceable.

Guarantees don't need to be executed as deeds.

[Pit Pony]

Ian Geary said:

Can't help with question I'm afraid, but I am curious about one detail.

Are parental guarantors liable just for their kid, or liable for all students collectively?

Seems a weak link there for a slopey shouldered parent to offload liability onto other parents in the event of their child breaking the agreement.

Obviously too late to change the contract now, but something to be aware of for others.

When my kids were at university, I was painfully aware that if any of the 8 students decided to burn the place down or stop paying rent, each of the 8 parents would be jointly and individually on the hook.

Given that all 8 had student loans that more than covered the rent, I was a little incredulous, that any of them should be asked for a guarantor. They are grown adults, and proof of 8 loans should have been enough.

Someone I knew who was working agency was given notice, and suddenly could not act as a guarantor for thier son, meaning that the whole rental arrangement with his friends that they were attempting to arrange was put in jeapody. Supply and demand meant the letting agent, just shrugged. Not there problem.

When I was contracting, I was using spareroom.co.uk to find midweek digs. 50% of the house shares, were students trying to fill a room, in a house they couldn't afford with one missing student.