Guarantor for my son- problems

[Jacket27]

I agreed to be the guarantor for my son for a flat while he was at college, 2 of his friends were joint tennants but did not need guarantors as they were working. Unfortunately my son and his friends decided to move out without telling anybody a month or so after the initial 6 month written tenancy was up, they also I am told left the flat in a mess.

My son has never contacted me since moving out though his sister has seen him out and says he now has a job in the same hotel where his friends work and they live there. The letting agent went to see them there apparently and told them they needed to pay the damages / arrears and lose their deposit (Also provided by me). They wouldn't agree and the hotel manager told the letting agent that he couldn't have him bothering his staff. So the letting agent then came to me and told me I had to pay instead, and kept the deposit towards the month- 6 weeks rent he said was owed before the landlord took possession again. I was sent a highly inflated invoice for the work done on the flat total £3100, including carpets and cutains that weren't there when they moved in and including items like £400 for screwing a doorplate on. I queried it and asked for a detailed invoice, the landlord said no to the LA can only give me a short breakdown or I have to pay for it- need to go out and do my own pricing if there are things I don't want to pay for. I did this and proved it was inflated- got it down to £1500 not including the disputed items, I stated this in a letter to the LA, and sent a cheque for £500 (my son's share of the debt) as an offer- this was cashed, and I heard nothing for 2 months.

Now the LA has come back saying the landlord wants all the money and that I am liable for the other boys debt because it was a joint tenancy, and that because the LL has not let the property because he was waiting for the one above to become free and then hand it over to a housing association, he is now implying that I owe rent for the last 6 months as well for all 3 of them- that I will be recieving a solicitors letter to that effect. I have asked if they are chasing the 3 boys- no- it's more trouble to chase them at their place of work and I am more likely to have more money to pay for it- so it's easier to chase me!

Can they ask me for more money even though they accepted and cashed my offer cheque? Is there no obligation for them to chase the actual tennants? How can they charge me for rent for months after they took possession and the initial 6 months was up anyway? Any advice what I should do?

[MrShed]

Did you send the letter as full and final offer?

What did the guarantor agreement state with regards the liability? IE liability for one or all of the tenants? What was the exact wording in this regard?

You are, in effect, jointly liable with the tenant(s), and so you can be equally pursued with the tenants(IE they can pursue you instead of tenants should they wish). However, you have a solid case against the tenant(s) - IE your son.

[Jacket27]

Thankyou for your reply- Yes I sent the letter as a full and final offer- the LA admits receiving it and cashing it- I don't know if he passed the letter to the landlord, it was sent by recorded delivery and the cheque was cashed 4 days later

The guarantor statement says this


1. You agree to provide a guarantee for --- during the time of the assured shorthold tenancy, which will run from 25 August 2006, until either -- or the landlord of the property ends the sgreement by giving at least 2 months notice in writing.
2. We agree to give -- an AST because he aske dus to do so and because you agree to this guarantee
3.Under the guarantee, you will be responsible for making sure that -- keeps to all his responsibilities under the tenancy. If he does not, you will have to pay instead, not only unpaid rent, but also any cost of repairing or putting right any problems caused to us by -- or his failure to keep to his responsibilities.

Do I also have a case against the other 2 tennants?

[Jacket27]

-- was where my son's name was inserted- no-one else - sorry!

[MrShed]

- Did you actually state the words "full and final offer" in the letter?
- Actually, that guarantor agreement is slightly ambiguous, and I shall explain why. Technically, that agreement only makes you liable for the losses due to your son. HOWEVER, your son can become liable for the entirety of the rent. Therefore, I would assume(although I am only 90% on this) that you are in fact liable for all unpaid rent.
- With regards a case against the other 2 tenants, again I am not 100%, but I would guess that you would in fact have to sue your son for the entire amount, and then HE would have to sue the other 2 tenants. Something of a chain!!!

[Jacket27]

yes I did- and that I would be happy to show the invoice to trading standards- the work was done by the "boyfriend" of the landlord apparently- we showed the invoice to some people we know who have companies and they said the prices for labour were unbelievable- ie £400 for 2 mins work to screw a face plate on a door.

Also can I be held responsible for the rent until now- as the LL kept it empty for a HA to take over but needed to wait till the other flat was free according to the LA?

[MrShed]

If you said full and final settlement, and they have cashed the cheque, then they have no legal right to further pursue you. If they wished to have more money, they needed to reject the offer.

[Jacket27]

That's exactly what I said to the LA- he said - oh I don't know about that- I asked if he had given my letter to the LL -and he said he couldn't remember he was just passing on messages- is my copy of the letter and the recorded delivery ticket enough to prove this? if the LA didn't realise and cashed it not realising the significance - is the LL still bound by this do you think?

[MrShed]

In my opinion, he absolutely is bound. It is more of a "legalese" question than a tenant/landlord question, but certainly my understanding is that if an offer is made as full and final settlement, and that offer is accepted, it removes the potential for further claims, regardless of the reason for acceptance.