I’m a letting agent and have a bit of a situation with a leak from a flat above one I manage. It is taking an eternity to try to sort an insurance claim (6 weeks so far) and as a result, my tenants are living in a flat with taken up wooden flooring and a ripped out found floor cloakroom while everything dries out. One tenants dad is guarantor and has told the tenants to withhold rent until things are sorted or they are awarded 2 months free rent as compensation. Obviously as guarantor, he is the person I would chase for rent payment once his daughter is late paying, on his instruction. My question is, does he have the right to get so involved and make a complaint as he is not a tenant, just a guarantor? I am doing everything I can to resolve this as soon as possible.
He has this evening sent me an email containing profanities which have shocked and offended me and I’d rather not deal with him. Where do I stand?
1 Comment
In theory it is possible for the tenant to authorise the guarantor to be acting as their agent (in exactly the same way a landlord often authorises an agent to conduct management of a property on their behalf). However, even if this were the case, an agent has no authority to do anything that’s not been instructed.
The question therefore depends whether the guarantor is simply acting alone in their complaints in which case you can refuse to deal with the guarantor or, if they’re acting as agent, then you are in fact communicating with the tenant (just through the guarantor).