UK Landlord Forum / Life

Hi, I'm new to this.
A student is interested in renting a room and his mother will be the guarantor. So am i doing a credit check on him and on the mother?

Thanks

Please be wary of advice from a blog (especially my own)

1. Why bother credit check the student, it is unlikely they will have either a decent credit rating or a bad one.  But if it doesn't cost much then why not.
2. Yes you should credit check the mother.
But....
3. You should not rely on the mother and you should also take a decent enough sized deposit to make you comfortable you will be covered in the event of non payment.
4. Consider further bolstering the guarantee and deposit with rent payment in advance.

Best of luck

Thank you so much.
What is a decent deposit? 2 months? 3 months?

Also a foreign student -again, no credit check?

The size of the deposit is totally subjective and highly dependent on circumstance so I can't give a good answer but minimum three months and I haven't heard anyone get more than 6 months.

Is the mother also foreign?
You may struggle with a credit check if they haven't had much credit activity in the UK/own assets in the UK.
Am not sure how much a credit score will be able to tell you in such case.

Best of luck

Brilliant, thank you.

The parent are foreigners too.

How are you going to chase up the mother for any debt if she lives abroad? Seems that a guarantor of this nature is hardly worth having so all you can do is ask for a big deposit! Imagine trying to chase someone for a debt if they live in India or wherever - it's bad enough when they live in the UK!