Our tenants have a guarantor as one of them failed their references due to being self employed. The guarantor is querying the AST guarantor section on signing the tenancy agreement.
He messaged to say we have been checking the draft contract and everything seems as expected, but there is one bit in the Guarantor’s section which seems slightly unsuitable.
“15.3. This Guarantee is irrevocable and shall continue beyond the Guarantor’s death or bankruptcy (falling as a liability on the estate) throughout the period that the Premises are occupied by the Tenant and is not limited to the Term of this agreement.”
The Guarantor is happy to sign the contract if we amend the section above by specifying a timeframe applicable , i.e. 12 months. So please replace “…and is not limited to the Term of this agreement” with “…limited to 12 months”.
Can anyone advise? As from what I can see I can’t change the section anyway, it’s the standard openrent template. The jargon used is slightly unclear too.
The reason that our standard OpenRent contract has that clause is that if the tenant(s) remain at the property after the fixed term then the tenancy would become a contractual periodic tenancy. Therefore, if the guarantor’s responsibility expired while the tenant remained at the property the landlord would be open to additional risks.
If that the end of the fixed term the guarantor wants to step back then you can always issue a new contract that does not include the guarantor. Issuing new contracts can be managed through your OpenRent account at no additional cost.
Alternatively, you are welcome to use our custom clause option to add an additional clause to your contract. However, please note that OpenRent does not check any custom clauses therefore we would strongly advise that you seek independent legal advice before adding a clause.
I wouldn’t change it. If you aren’t careful, you could end up in a situation where the tenant stops paying after the initial term and then you have no guarantor.
Or worse, if you don’t word it right, they stop paying during the term, but you don’t get any money out of the guarantor within the period of the lease and they turn round and say that their guarantee has expired.
You are the one in control here - if they don’t like it, they don’t have to rent your property - plenty more fish in the sea!!