Private residential tenancy model agreement: easy read notes

38. The Guarantor

The guarantee clause includes a space for the guarantor's name as well as the guarantor's address and for the guarantor to sign the Agreement. These should all be filled in if a guarantor is needed.

A guarantor is not always asked for by a landlord but it is quite common for the landlord to ask for a guarantor, if the tenant has a low credit score or is thought to be a higher credit risk, such as if the tenant claims benefits.

The guarantor (if any) agrees to meet the full demands of the tenancy, on the tenant's behalf, if the tenant does not comply with those rules.

Parents of young people or students are often asked to be guarantors. Joint residential tenancies have joint and several liability and so the guarantor is guaranteeing all the joint tenants and not just one particular tenant. The guarantor might have to pay costs which were due to another joint tenant(s) not having paid rent or causing damage to the property. These costs can include legal costs in trying to get payment of the rent arrears or other costs.

If the tenant does not do something which they should, or does something that they should not do, the landlord can get the guarantor to do what is required or to meet any costs of fixing what should not have been done.

For example, if the tenant does not pay rent or some other payment due under the tenancy, the landlord can claim it from the guarantor instead.

Also, if the tenant does not repair some damage to the property which was caused by the tenant, the landlord can ask the guarantor to repair the damage - or the landlord can do the repair themselves and then claim the cost from the tenant or from the guarantor.

Also if the landlord:

• spends money or does work that the tenant should have done; or
• pays other people, for example, lawyers and Sheriff Officers, to take action against the tenant to try to get the tenant to comply with their duties under the tenancy,

then the landlord can also claim those costs from the guarantor.

The guarantor's liability continues after the tenancy ends - to cover any duties breached during the tenancy where the costs are still due to be paid.