Whose responsibility is it to pursue a guarantor?

Hi Norman

It really depends on what level of service you signed up to with your agent. The fees you are paying are not necessarily a good guide, even though you might expect them to be.

For example, I have come across landlords in London who pay 8% a year to an agent, just because the agent did a tenant find. In one case the rent was £180,000 a year and the landlord was paying £14,400 plus VAT as a lump sum every year, effectively for very little indeed. I only found out about that one when the agent sent the landlord a bill fort a second instalment of £14,400 + VAT at the end of the first year just because the tenant was prepared to sign another tenancy!

On the flipside I pay 4% + VAT to my agent (min £24.99 pcm + VAT) plus a further £10 per month per tenant and they do absolutely everything, including any legal work. Please see >>> https://www.property118.com/letting-supermarket-full-management/68829/

The bottom line is that you need to check very carefully what you are signing up to. Like most landlords, I too learned some very expensive lessons in the first 10 years of renting property by getting ripped off.
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Norman it all depends as Mark says on your service level with your agent. If this was let only or fully managed then the agent would have sorted out the guarantor as part of the tenancy. If it was managed then its down to the agent. That’s what you pay them for. If it’s let only its down to you to chase the guarantor. There should be a Deed of Guarantee in place between guarantor and landlord stipulating what happens in the event of a late rent. If its just a guarantors name on a tenancy agreement then that may not be sufficiently binding on the guarantor for them to pay. And you don’t need a solicitor to write a letter asking for the rent. You can do it.

I agree with Gary with regards to writing to the Guarantor.

I’d also suggest that your letter gives them 21 days to pay up, failing which you reserve the right to make a claim via https://www.moneyclaim.gov.uk/web/mcol/welcome for the balance due plus costs without further notification. Again you can do this yourself, you don’t need a solicitor.
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