Guarantor question...

My boyfriend and I put down a £300 deposit for a flat in London.  We recently relocated to the UK after living in the US for 3 years and have little credit history here or employment (at the moment - prospects are good though).  We DO have a guarantor who is more than willing to sign for us(my boyfriend's father in Northern Ireland, a British citizen).

The letting agency told us that they cannot accept a guarantor in Northern Ireland and that we have to have a guarantor who lives in England.

Because of this, they asked us to put down 2 months rent as deposit.  I don't feel comfortable parting with such a large amount of money, especially since the lease is only for 6 months AND I certainly don't trust them enough to believe that I will receive all of my money back.  (not to mention that we are dealing with our US dollar savings - don't really want to part with so much money at first - we are broke!)

My boyfriend's brother says that not accepting a N. Ireland guarantor is discrimination - any thoughts on this matter?

Maybe the guarantee is not enforceable in N. Ireland?

I hate letting agents!

don't know about NI, but when I was looking into going into private student accommodation, there were places that stated that the guarantor had to live in England or Wales because of different laws in say, Scotland (and probably NI too).  I'm not quite sure why that is, but I don't think it's discrimination- it's a legal thing.

UK legislation applies to N. Ireland but N. Ireland has its own court structure.