Rent in advance demand question?

martin1981

I paid 6 months rent in advance as well as around £2000 deposit for a house rental. I wanted to pay in advance to get a discount on the monthly rental (which seemed to work).

It is a 12 month contract. I thought that would mean I would be totally covered for the first 6 months, and pay month by month after that until the end of the contract. Totally my fault for not querying it and reading the tenancy agreement carefully enough, but I did not notice it actually states the next payment of the monthly rental would be due 4 months after the start of the contract. So basically I'm having to pay the next monthly rental payment after the first 4 months, 2 months before I was expecting to. What's more they only told me today that the rent was late (which I didn't realise), with no notification in writing, 2 and a half weeks after it was due! So I had no idea I was in arrears until today, and will obviously now have to pay another monthly rental payment in around 2 weeks time as well (just before Christmas).

I won't have any difficulties paying it, but it seems irregular so wanted to check it, including the legality of the agreement (which is worded incorrectly anyway, see below). The landlord is actually fantastic and helpful, however I don't trust the letting company at all, who seem pretty incompetent. They make blunders every time I've had to deal with them, including the fact they told me the wrong moving in date because they failed to update me when it changed, causing a lot of inconvenience and stress when I had to move out of a short term rental property on the same day as picking up all my possessions from storage and moving into the new place (the storage was near my previous address, a long way from the short term property!). I should've had 3 days overlap which would've made things much easier. They even failed to provide me with the keys to the property on the day, even though I phoned a few hours before arriving at the new property and was assured the keys would be in the local office when I arrived (because I had friends helping me move in who had to wait this was also a major inconvenience for them, and I personally had to do a further 2 hour round trip in the car to pick up the keys from somebody else because that's the only option they gave me!).

Other friends who are renting also seem to think the 2 months in advance is unusual. This was not explained to me verbally at the time we took out the contract, not even mentioned. So I assume I was expected to infer this by checking the date it asks for the next payment of the monthly rental amount on the agreement. I asked the letting company about this today and they told me that paying rent 2 months in advance is "normal if it is a fixed length contract", and if other people I know are paying month by month, or one month in advance then they must be on an ongoing contract. This is not actually the case, because I've checked with a few people who are on fixed length contracts but are paying month by month.

However the agreement is also worded incorrectly, because if taken literally it actually states that the monthly rental payments will be due "for the remainder of the tenancy", which is clearly means the full 12 months of the contract! So even though I did not notice that the date of the first payment was stated as being 4 months after I moved in, technically the contract is actually asking for 14 months rent, NOT 12! I pointed this out to the letting agent today in an email, and said surely this actually means I would not be paying anything for the last 2 months of the 12 month period. They said in writing that I was correct in this assumption, despite being different to what the contract implies.

So, despite being partly my fault for not reading and querying the date it demands the first payment, I could equally well have assumed that I would be paying month by month after the first 6 months, due to the fact it clearly states I should be paying the monthly amount "for the remainder of the tenancy"? So I just want to know if they are actually entitled to demand the monthly payments to start now, given that the contract is obviously wrong/ambiguous, and the fact it was not explained to me verbally at any time? Like I said I can pay the amounts they are demanding, but if they're not entitled to demand it I don't see why I should, given that they've inconvenienced me already. Thanks in advance for any help with this!

clutton_2

ask them for a written statement of your rent account

it should be in columns and read something like this : -

Date rent due. Date rent paid. Amount of rent Due. Amount of rent Paid. Arrears/Credit


this should show that you are in credit by 2 months and that you are not in arrears...

Just because something is in a tenancy agreement does not mean that it is legal.... if it is not legal then you dont have to abide by it.

But give them a chance to produce a Rent Statement first - then come back to us and tell us what it says

they cannot legally ask you for rent twice for the same period.

Have they lodged/registered your deposit with a Deposit protection scheme ?

G_M

Bit confused, very strange contract. But.

1) 12 month contract and you paid 6 months up front
2) 4 months in agent demands more rent, relying on a debatable clause in the contract

correct?

Well, if you don't pay it what is the agent (or landlord) going to do? Evict? Impossible to evict a tenant in first 6 months unless in rent arrears. But you've paid 6 month rent, so no arrears, so no eviction.

In fact given it's a 12 month contract, impossible to evict a tenant within fixed term unless in rent arrears, so don't fall into arrears, then no eviction.

Simple.

DVardysShadow

G_M wrote: »

Bit confused, very strange contract. But.

1) 12 month contract and you paid 6 months up front
2) 4 months in agent demands more rent, relying on a debatable clause in the contract

correct?

Well, if you don't pay it what is the agent (or landlord) going to do? Evict? Impossible to evict a tenant in first 6 months unless in rent arrears. But you've paid 6 month rent, so no arrears, so no eviction.

In fact given it's a 12 month contract, impossible to evict a tenant within fixed term unless in rent arrears, so don't fall into arrears, then no eviction.

Simple.

Hmm, this looks like a botched attempt by the Agent to contrive 2 months arrears at 6 months if the next 6 months rent is not paid - by setting the clock going for arrears at 4 months. But it does not really fly, IMO

martin1981

Thanks, I really appreciate all the replies! Yes the situation is exactly as G_M has described. The thing is the landlord has been very helpful and reasonable with everything, so I wouldn't particularly want to annoy him. However the letting agent caused me so much stress when moving in (for the reasons I described in the original post, like the keys not being available) that I don't see why I should comply with their demands here, even though as I mentioned it wouldn't actually inconvenience me much financially to pay what they are asking in advance. It's just the principle of it, I don't like being messed around by any company making unreasonable demands, and they have already messed me around a lot so I'm prepared to put my foot down here! It didn't seem right to me but it's great to get other's opinions, and it confused me in particular as I've never actually rented before (so not familiar with all the ins and outs).

I will request a statement of account as Clutton has suggested. But it seems very obvious that they've no right to demand this, especially as the clause in the contract which they're referring to is worded wrongly anyway (implying I'd have to pay 14 months for 12!), and they've even admitted as much in writing in the email I received today. And there's no way they can actually claim that I'm "in arrears", having paid 6 months already!

Also it is very clear from the paperwork that the deposit is a completely separate thing from the 6 months rent paid in advance. This is actually one of the reasons I was so surprised they asked for the rent today. To answer TheArtfulDodger's question, the deposit I mentioned (around £2000), is about 1.5 months worth of rent. I actually have no idea if this is covered/registered by a deposit protection scheme, actually I don't even know what this means. But I will certainly be reading up on this tomorrow to get clued up on this, and to find out if it is or not. Thanks again for the quick replies, this is a great forum!

G_M

Who are you dealing with? Is this coming from the agent or LL? If the agent, and the LL is "very helpful and reasonable with everything" then clearly the thing to do is talk to the LL about it. Is he even aware what his agent is doing?

Is he aware of the other probelms you've had with the agent? I know as a LL I would be grateful to hear how my agent dealt with my tenants, and whether they were happy or disgruntled.

clutton_2

As a LL of 11 years, i would be horrified if any agent of mine was treating my tenants like this....

keep it very short and very professional... ask for a rent statement and dont get into discussions until you get it. What went on in the past re moving in, is simply not relevant to this current rent "arrears" demand. It may be of some use later on down the line, but keep to the rent question right now.

good luck

I assume you are not living in Scotland as different laws apply there.

martin1981

Hi there,
I'm currently dealing with the agent, so the demand for the "arrears" is coming from them. In theory I'm only meant to deal with the landlord after speaking to the agent (rather than contact him directly), but I next time I speak to him I will make him aware of the other problems.

I will see how the agent reacts when I make them aware that I believe the demand is not right, and take it from there.

G_M wrote: »

Who are you dealing with? Is this coming from the agent or LL? If the agent, and the LL is "very helpful and reasonable with everything" then clearly the thing to do is talk to the LL about it. Is he even aware what his agent is doing?

Is he aware of the other probelms you've had with the agent? I know as a LL I would be grateful to hear how my agent dealt with my tenants, and whether they were happy or disgruntled.

martin1981

No I'm not living in Scotland.

PasturesNew

When I paid 6 months in advance, it was as expected and my usual "rent in advance" was due the day after that first six months finished. No funny business.

Agents are in a world of their own aren't they.

martin1981

Yes, I can't believe they've tried to fob me off today as well by telling me this is "normal"! I don't trust them at all, but will definitely put my foot down here.

PasturesNew wrote: »

When I paid 6 months in advance, it was as expected and my usual "rent in advance" was due the day after that first six months finished. No funny business.

Agents are in a world of their own aren't they.