Have I overpaid rent?

David555

Apologies for probably the world’s stupidest question!

I moved in on January 15th and paid 6 months rent upfront, I ended up paying my next rent instalment on May 15th. Should I of paid it then or waited until June 15th? I’ve now made 9 payments in total, 6 up front and 3 manual monthly payments.

I only started to question it when the estate agents were sending out automated texts saying the rent is over due, the most recent one saying £2100 was due which = 2 months rent. As per their and the landlords request payments are made directly to him so don’t go through the estate agents system marking payments as received hence the texts saying rent is overdue. I’ve emailed the estate agents informing them and asked if I am actually in credit but no reply! 

Landlord never mentioned I had over paid, but not all would I suppose. I just wanted to confirm before I message him about skipping Septembers payment to get back on schedule. 

Many thanks,

David 

theartfullodger

Suspect some of that/those payments is actually (legally) a deposit and not properly protected.  So option to sue for up to 3x that deposit.  

David555

Ahh yes I should of mentioned I paid a deposit separately which was approximately a months payment on top of the 6 months in advance for rent.

The deposit appears to be registered in a tenancy scheme, the whole rental was done via Leader estate. I haven’t dug out the paperwork for awhile but there was paperwork about it and a big report detailing any damage/wear and tear to the property before I moved in so I wouldn’t get charged for it.

I’m still living here for the time being and foreseeable future. Just confused if I’ve overpaid by a month, I have a fear of missing payments so tend to pay all my bills way sooner than needs be

Gavin83

It does sound like you've overpaid by a month and should have made your first payment (after the initial 6 months) on June 15th. I make it out that you should have made 8 payment so far, so the 6 up front plus the 2 extra, last one being on August 15th. Easy enough to work out though. Take your monthly rent, multiply it by 8 and compare it to what you've actually paid.

PRAISETHESUN

There's no reason why you want pay all your rent up front if you wanted (apart from it being misconstrued as a deposit) and overpaying your rent ultimately won't have any issues apart from cashflow problems if you needed the money for something else. You could ask for it to be refunded, or just have it allocated to your next month. Ultimately, as long as you've paid 12 months rent at the end of your 12 months fixed term you'll be fine.

You might want to keep a record of your payments direct to your LL (and possibly even get payment receipts from them confirming it has been paid and received) if you're getting reminders about "overdue" rent from your agent.

David555

Cheers Glad I came here to ask!

In a ideal world I would loved to pay monthly from the start, having cats and being self employed it seemed the only way to be considered for anywhere was to pay the whole 6 months + deposit upfront frustratingly

I’ll pop the landlord a email explaining I’ve overpaid and hopefully skip my next months payment to get back on schedule. I will also ask for receipts on the rent I’ve paid, got bank statements as proof also should the estate agents have any doubts payments have been made beyond the initial 6 months upfront. Quite thankful in a way otherwise I’d never of noticed I’m a month in advance on my payments! 

Just glad I kept insisting on not joining their credit file no deposit subscription service thing for I think around £50 a month, my credit file would be in tatters with them reporting payments being missed when in actual fact I’ve overpaid!