Guarantor for tenants?

Has anyone accepted tenants with a guarantor? We’ve gone through the process of showing our garden apartment, and found a couple that we liked who also want the apartment (not easy I discovered, to find both things), but they have salaries that are short of the typical standard ratios of income to rent (usually 40x rent should = income). I asked if they would be willing to add a guarantor, and they said they would (the tenant’s mom). I’m wary, but at the same time, they really did seem like the best fit for us, and we have to share a garden, so it matters. Any advice or specific documents that I should use? Are there lawyers who would draw up the papers for this for not so much money, or is that over kill? Thanks!

WRPListings

in General Discussion 5 years and 9 months ago

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stoopsitter | 5 years and 8 months ago

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We really prefer to price our garden floor rental a little below market rate. If you use StreetEasy you’ll get a LOT of applicants and have plenty of well qualified candidates to choose from.

helen40

in General Discussion 5 years and 8 months ago

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The new rent laws include many changes, but there is no obligation to renew a one year lease. There was discussion of requiring a reason for non-renewal but that was not included in the final law. And almost none of the new laws apply to smaller buildings with under six units.

I would always prefer a tenant who can afford the apartment without a guarantor. How long have you been seeking a tenant? Are you above market and therefore not seeing lots of offers?

resident2 | 5 years and 9 months ago

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Tenants living above their means will always be an issue/problem.
A Guarantor for a student etc so long as “in State” I will accept, because you know the guarantor is responsible /paying.
For working “independent” people it does you or them no good to encourage them to live above their means. For some I used to allow a parent/ guardian to “buy down” the rent; ie if the rent was $2,000 but on their income 30% only covered $1,500 a month. $6,000 would be paid up front, so that the tenant could live within their means ….. in recent years with the ever greater irresponsible entitled attitudes of some, it has become a major attitude problem for the “spoiled” child that continues to live above their means in other areas of their life. The last one even the parent told me to evict their “spoiled child” from their Ranch in Wyoming; the parents lived in Wyoming; the child (22 years old) in Fort Greene.
With the new rent laws you will see more & more of the smaller independent Landlords being confronted with this situation. The big corporate developments that have been filling t he rental market in recent years would routinely take over stretched tenants, and have full time lawyers & rent collections staff to get them out. They will not be renting (giving them a chance) to them anymore, because it will not be so easy to evict them.
So as an independent Landlord it is even more crucial to not rent to people than cannot comfortably pay their rent. For people making less than $50,000 a year that means < 25% of their gross = $1,000 per month.

GreenThinker | 5 years and 9 months ago

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Worst case scenario, if a tenant decides to stop paying rent, it’ll take 1 year + to legally remove them and you’ll never see any money owed to you, no matter if there’s a guarantor or any other documents you might of signed with them. If the guarantor lives out of state, don’t even bother at all. With the new rent laws, even 1 year leases don’t mean much, because now you’re legally obligated to rent the apartment again if they decide to move out before the lease expires. 40x rent is steep in todays world, anything around 30x is reasonable. Plenty of people live month to month. If you have a good feeling about them, i say just go with it. Lawyers are overkill, just google blumberg real estate forms.