Guarantor Responsibilities

Guarantors are a parent or sponsor who will aid The Courtyards in ensuring that residents will meet their financial obligation for their lease. An eligible guarantor must not be another University of Maryland student or the resident on the lease. When incoming residents submit their application, they are required to include the name, phone number, and email address of their guarantor. A verification email is sent to the guarantor to notify them. The Courtyards will communicate with guarantors for assistance in reaching residents in financial matters. It is our hope that guarantors can help to inform and educate residents of their financial responsibilities. Serving as guarantor for an account does not grant automatic access to resident information. Guarantors may not be other University of Maryland Students or the Resident. A lease may be cancelled or denied if a prospective resident fails to provide adequate guaranty of lease.

When completing their leasing appointment, the student must bring the Guarantor Form, completed with the guarantor prior to the appointment

Management of Sensitive Information

The Courtyard’s Lease requires that the person signing the lease supply their Social Security Number on the front page of the lease. We understand that this maybe uncomfortable for some people, unfortunately it is necessary to sign a lease with The Courtyards.

This is necessary in order to verify the identity of an individual; the Courtyards must collect Social Security Numbers which are the only precise identifier of an individual. No other information –be it full name, address, birthday, etc.—is as accurate at identifying an individual as a Social Security number. This precision is vital when reporting derelict accounts to our collections agency which then uses the Social Security Number to report the non-payment to a credit scoring agency.

The Courtyard’s ability to ensure consistent payment is dependent upon our ability to have credible outside enforcement. In addition to providing financial assurance to our organization, a Social Security Number provides financial security to the residents and their guarantors. Given that the Courtyards experience a high rate of resident turnover, we often have many residents with a similar name. Since the Social Security Number is the most unique identifier of an individual, it ensures that the account being sent to collections matches the person who owes the funds.

Professional staff members who must pass a background check prior to employment are the only staff that have access to leases. In addition, all files are handled with precise security measures in order to secure the leases and social security numbers.

After a resident has moved out, their lease has ended and is cleared of any balance the Social Security Number on the resident’s Lease is blacked out. If the past resident owes the Courtyards funds, their file continues to be securely held in the office. Once their balance is paid off, the Social Security Numbers on the lease are blacked out. If the balance remains unpaid, the Social Security Numbers on the resident’s lease is blacked out after the account is sent to our collection agency.

Annually, past resident files are digitally archived by an outside contractor, saved to DVD, and the hardcopies are destroyed. Archiving is completed for a full lease year. A lease year is only archived once we ensure that all accounts are either settled or in collections and all Social Security Numbers are blacked out.