Delayed rent payment due to weekend or bank holiday

Mr.Generous

As a landlord I can say the rent arrives on the 1st working day after it's due unless the Tenant does a manual transfer on the due date.

I know where you are coming from Tallac, If my credit card is due on the 20th and I pay it on the 21st because of a bank hol I'd get charged interest. But unfortunately you don't have the clout or the legal team to get away with slamming late payment charges for this, and, as Property Rental said, you will come to appreciate any tenant that pays the rent using automated payment, They are much more likely to pay!!

pjs493

Mr.Generous said:

As a landlord I can say the rent arrives on the 1st working day after it's due unless the Tenant does a manual transfer on the due date.

I know where you are coming from Tallac, If my credit card is due on the 20th and I pay it on the 21st because of a bank hol I'd get charged interest. But unfortunately you don't have the clout or the legal team to get away with slamming late payment charges for this, and, as Property Rental said, you will come to appreciate any tenant that pays the rent using automated payment, They are much more likely to pay!!

Although with your CC example, if you have a DD set up, it would be settled on the next working day without penalty. I’m pretty sure that in the case of my CC the due date is always a working day and the money automatically comes out my current account by way of DD anyway. 

anselld

Why on earth, when everything is automated anyway, do banks not process on the weekends?  It seems crazy.

DullGreyGuy

anselld said:

Why on earth, when everything is automated anyway, do banks not process on the weekends?  It seems crazy.

Some do now, but mainly those not on legacy systems.

At the end of the day it depends on how it is set up... most people if it's due on the 1st will simply set it up as a standing order to be paid on the 1st. Assuming you aren't with a modern bank then any payment due on a non-working day will be pushed back to the next working day just like a DD will too. 

Even with traditional banks there are other options, at least both NW and Barclays have the option of setting a SO to be paid on the last working day of the month and so instead it gets pulled forward if the end of the month falls on a Weekend/bankholiday. 

Murphybear

Schwarzwald said:

, tallac said:

I don't want to be heavy handed but neither do I want to be taken advantage of.

technically it should arrive the day before then.

but practically, this really is not a biggie, either or is typically fine, 1 day early or 1 day late.

How do you think you are taken advantage of? Missing out on implied interest income for 1 day?
Assuming rent is £1,000 pcm and 4% interest rate .... you want to make a fuss for 0.10 cents? really?

When I was studying for my ARLA exams we were told that the Landlord cannot demand the rent in advance therefore it can be paid the next working day 

pjs493

anselld said:

Why on earth, when everything is automated anyway, do banks not process on the weekends?  It seems crazy.

I’ve recently noticed with incoming bank payments, eg if I transfer from an account I have with one bank to an account I have with another bank, that I make at a weekend show up in the receiving bank immediately. But on the Monday, the date of the transaction changes to the Monday (assuming the Monday isn’t a bank holiday).

I recently got caught out with this as a ‘end of working day’ thing too when moving money into a fixed term savings account. I must have missed the ‘end of working day’ deadline on the Friday and the money bounced back to my current account on the Monday. When I enquired as to why the money had been returned, I was told I’d transferred the money too late. 

se2020

You would normally set the rent payment for the first of the month as people usually get paid on the last day of the preceeding month.
More chance of getting paid then.
Asking for it early (ie before payday) us just asking for trouble.

A decent tenant will just set up a standing order. You can't expect a decent tenant to check the payment date every month and manually adjust it as required. 

Whatever payment date you decide on will always fall on a non-working day eventually. 
In my case, it's 3 times this year.
I would not be happy if my landlord wanted me to make 3 manual payments to save a total of 4-5 days late rent.

If my landlord mentioned or chased up rent that was more than one working day late I wouldn't be impressed either. 
Fair enough if it happend every month at the start of the tenancy but not once I had been there a while.

I would apologise and sort it out asap but, at the same time, I would then expect the same sort of prompt standards from the landlord.
If you nag me about the rent being a day late don't expect me to put up with a dripping tap for 3 weeks until you can get a cheap plumber to fix it.

I'll be nagging you for a next-day repair and sending you a bill for the 6p of water I'm loosing daily...

bobster2

tallac said:

The tenancy agreement says rent payment should be paid in full, in advance in cleared funds on 1st the month.

What happens if the 1st is a weekend or a long bank holiday weekend? As I understand, standing orders setup on the 1st of the month where they fall on a weekend or bank holiday will be paid on the next working day.

So as a landlord, if the payment has not been received on the 1st where this day is a Saturday, what is reasonable?

Should landlord request tenant to ensure payment is cleared on or before 1st of the month (as per the tenancy agreement) or
Should landlord allow until the first working day (which may be a 2 or 3 day delay)?

I don't want to be heavy handed but neither do I want to be taken advantage of.

I feel a polite reminder for the tenant that payment must be cleared by the 1st of the month is best approach so it nips it in the bud.

Thoughts?

You say you don't want to be heavy handed - but if you make a big deal out of this you would indeed be being heavy handed.

Even if a responsible tenant sets up a standing order for the 31st you won't always get it on the 1st. E.g. long-weekends. Months with 30 days and the SO will normally not go until the 1st - and again what if that is a Sunday?

You know when the 1st is a weekend, you know when bank holidays are - so will know the reason when it doesn't appear on the 1st. It's not just like a tenant is randomly paying late.

se2020

A better solution might just be to say that the rent must be paid by standing order set up for the 1st.

 If the tenant is paying manually I can forsee the 1st falling on a Saturday of a bank holiday weekend, tennent being away with the kids on holiday that weekend, forget about paying it on the Tuesday when they are still trying to do the washing and sort the car out... if you start yelling at them on the Wednesday because the rent is 5 days 'late' it could cause issues...

If you make them set up a dated SO you will know exactly when it should be arriving and can budget accordingly. If it does arrive late you will be aware there is some sort of financial issue...

BikingBud

bobster2 said:

tallac said:

The tenancy agreement says rent payment should be paid in full, in advance in cleared funds on 1st the month.

What happens if the 1st is a weekend or a long bank holiday weekend? As I understand, standing orders setup on the 1st of the month where they fall on a weekend or bank holiday will be paid on the next working day.

So as a landlord, if the payment has not been received on the 1st where this day is a Saturday, what is reasonable?

Should landlord request tenant to ensure payment is cleared on or before 1st of the month (as per the tenancy agreement) or
Should landlord allow until the first working day (which may be a 2 or 3 day delay)?

I don't want to be heavy handed but neither do I want to be taken advantage of.

I feel a polite reminder for the tenant that payment must be cleared by the 1st of the month is best approach so it nips it in the bud.

Thoughts?

You say you don't want to be heavy handed - but if you make a big deal out of this you would indeed be being heavy handed.

Even if a responsible tenant sets up a standing order for the 31st you won't always get it on the 1st. E.g. long-weekends. Months with 30 days and the SO will normally not go until the 1st - and again what if that is a Sunday?

You know when the 1st is a weekend, you know when bank holidays are - so will know the reason when it doesn't appear on the 1st. It's not just like a tenant is randomly paying late.

Easter Monday this year was 1 Apr, how early would you expect people to pay it? 28 Mar might be before people have funds going in.

What happens when Good Friday is 1 Apr and you don't get paid until Tues 5 Apr?

@tallac If cash flow is that tight that a few days here or there causes you problems then you may wish to reconsider if being a landlord fits with your needs and resources.