Changing Rent Payment Date

macman

OP, you've got to be 2 months in arrears before your LL could even serve an S8. Not a few days...

Nooglienoo

wesleyad said:

I've allowed rent date changes, it's better for me for the tenant to be comfortable on their rent date than scrimping each month.
Just propose a pro rate supplement to take you from the 28th to the 5th. For you this would be 8 days rent, about £160. Then you pay as normal on the 5th every month. Everyone happy unless there's a reason the LL needs the money before then (mortgage payments etc)

Thanks for the reply. I'm struggling to get my head around pro rate amounts and wondering if you could clarify a few things. So if I pay this month's rent on 25th as normal (its a few days early as requested by the LL), then again on the 5th of next month. Where would the £160 come into it? I pay £625 on 25th October, then £625 on 5th November. In theory I'm not paying rent late im paying it early (as I've paid this month normally and next month 20 days early) but would that leave me out of pocket? And would that still need a pro rate amount?

Nooglienoo

Comms69 said:

Nooglienoo said:

Comms69 said:

Nooglienoo said:

Comms69 said:

Ultimately not a lot they can do about it. Whether you pay early or late. It's largely irrelevant. 

As we are renting I think there is quite a lot they can do about it! If we was to pay late - rent arrears is a perfectly reasonable excuse to evict us - even during the contract period. 

Oh so sorry, i didnt realise you knew everything about evictions etc - hence your rather naive question....

But just FYI - there's no way a court would order a possession for this. Just not gonna happen. 

(not that a letting agent can ever evict anyone)

Was there any need for such a rude reply?

I felt yours wasn't as civil as you'd like to make out... Obviously my first answer wasn't good enough

Anyway i'm out. Not my circus; not my monkeys

I was not intending for my reply to be taken as uncivil and I apologise if it was received in that way. I wasn't trying to come across as hostile or rude. 

Comms69

Nooglienoo said:

wesleyad said:

I've allowed rent date changes, it's better for me for the tenant to be comfortable on their rent date than scrimping each month.
Just propose a pro rate supplement to take you from the 28th to the 5th. For you this would be 8 days rent, about £160. Then you pay as normal on the 5th every month. Everyone happy unless there's a reason the LL needs the money before then (mortgage payments etc)

Thanks for the reply. I'm struggling to get my head around pro rate amounts and wondering if you could clarify a few things. So if I pay this month's rent on 25th as normal (its a few days early as requested by the LL), then again on the 5th of next month. Where would the £160 come into it? I pay £625 on 25th October, then £625 on 5th November. In theory I'm not paying rent late im paying it early (as I've paid this month normally and next month 20 days early) but would that leave me out of pocket? And would that still need a pro rate amount?

No it's fine. You pay rent on a set date for a period. The date of payment changing doesnt affect the period it relates to.

e.g. most salaries are paid on a set date e.g. 27th but for the period 1-31st. No need to pro rata anything

Nooglienoo

macman said:

OP, you've got to be 2 months in arrears before your LL could even serve an S8. Not a few days...

We're just trying to remain decent tenants as we like the house and ideally want to stay here long term. Even if they can't evict us (though its good to know thanks for information) We are just trying to keep in the "good books" so we have a good long term let ahead of us. It is something im sure the landlord will appreciate clearing with them first. I just wanted to know if paying at the end of this month then the beginning of next month would be the correct approach - or if in theory that wouldn't work out correctly. 

saajan_12

OP, basically your options are:
1) Request a change to the payment date. Your tenancy periods would remain unchanged, but you pay a part payment on your usual payment date, say £X. Pay your usual £625 on the 5th each month, and then when you leave, your final payment would be £625-X on the 5th of your last month. This is provided the LL agrees. Get it in writing to avoid any complaints of late payments down the line. 

2) Just pay early, so £625 on 25th Oct as usual, and then pay on the 5th of each month instead of 25th. If say you leave 27th Oct 2021, your last rent payment would be 5th Sept 2021. You could just as easily put this money into a separate account on the 5th and get 20 days of interest (tiny) before paying to the LL, but up to you. They can't stop you paying early. 

3) IF you don't want to abide by your tenancy agreement, then just pay 5 days late and there's likely little they can do to evict you in the current situation. Note they can charge late fees if these are specified in your agreement, and IF / when we get out of the pandemic and courts normalise, there is a Section 8 discretionary ground for consistent late payments, whereby it would be up to a judge whether eviction is justified, and if not, if the LL does get sufficiently annoyed, they MAY choose to evict via Section 21. But we're talking years down the line. 

Nooglienoo

saajan_12 said:

OP, basically your options are:
1) Request a change to the payment date. Your tenancy periods would remain unchanged, but you pay a part payment on your usual payment date, say £X. Pay your usual £625 on the 5th each month, and then when you leave, your final payment would be £625-X on the 5th of your last month. This is provided the LL agrees. Get it in writing to avoid any complaints of late payments down the line. 

2) Just pay early, so £625 on 25th Oct as usual, and then pay on the 5th of each month instead of 25th. If say you leave 27th Oct 2021, your last rent payment would be 5th Sept 2021. You could just as easily put this money into a separate account on the 5th and get 20 days of interest (tiny) before paying to the LL, but up to you. They can't stop you paying early. 

3) IF you don't want to abide by your tenancy agreement, then just pay 5 days late and there's likely little they can do to evict you in the current situation. Note they can charge late fees if these are specified in your agreement, and IF / when we get out of the pandemic and courts normalise, there is a Section 8 discretionary ground for consistent late payments, whereby it would be up to a judge whether eviction is justified, and if not, if the LL does get sufficiently annoyed, they MAY choose to evict via Section 21. But we're talking years down the line. 

Thanks for the reply - this clears things up completely! Ill speak to the LL/letting agency if they're happy to proceed which of the above two options would be best for them. Like you mentioned - our tenancy agreement does mention late rent payments which we obviously want to avoid so won't pursue option three. 

SaintJudy

Marvel1 said:

Set up a new bank account for bills only, standing order from main account for X amount to bills account day after payday, sorted.

This is exactly what I do. My rent is due on the 4th and I'm paid on the 18th, so on the 19th of each month the sum of all my bills (rent and direct debits for various things) gets transferred by standing order to a Monzo account I set up specifically for this purpose. Then during the course of the month that Monzo account quietly pays out all of the direct debits and the rent, completely separately from my main current account. Because that money is moved out of my main current account pretty much as soon as I'm paid I know that what's left is my spending money for the month and my bills will always be paid. Easy.

KP20

My rent is due on 28th each month but the standing order is set up for the 5th (so I pay approx. three weeks early) for the same reason you've stated. Should not be an issue, and as a landlord/agent I'm sure they'd rather it's significantly early than late.

Durban

It's all well and good the replies saying " just do it anyway , you hold all the cards ".

This is true and there isn't much a landlord can do about it and any landlord with a decent tenant which you sound as if you are would accommodate you moving your rent date and paying pro rata for the other days.

I believe that a lot of the letting agents now can link to the credit agencies and this can work in your favour by paying regularly on time , you can build up a decent credit rating if ever you wanted to buy in the future or wanted other credit.

Equally it can work against you if you are a late payer.

From your post and replies , it sounds that you want to be a good tenant and I am sure that the letting agent could accommodate you somehow.

Although Comms69 is extremely knowledgeable , I also find him / her very rude.  I am sure if anything that I have said re letting agents and credit agencies is wrong , I will soon be told.