Delayed rent payment due to weekend or bank holiday

Mr.Generous

I don't get the idea that all rents are due on the 1st, rent due dates for me are set from tenancy start date - so if tenant moved in on 17th rent is due every 17th. I suppose I could have complicated matters by charging a part months rent first month, is that what people do?

propertyrental

Mr.Generous said:

I don't get the idea that all rents are due on the 1st, rent due dates for me are set from tenancy start date - so if tenant moved in on 17th rent is due every 17th. I suppose I could have complicated matters by charging a part months rent first month, is that what people do?

Most LLs set the rent due date according to the tenancy start date. Tenancy started and tenant moved in on 17th? So rent is specified as due on 17th each month.

Occasionally the 2 dates are not aligned. This tends to happen when eg tenancy starts on 17th, but tenant gets paid on, say, 30th. LL and T therefore agree that rent will be due on 30th or 31st to make life easier for the T. This can cause issues

a) when calculating the start/end dates of subsequent periodic tenancy (and hence dates for T to serve notice)

b) when calculating final rent due

Best approach is for T to pay an initial pro rata rent payment covering the initial 13 days (17th - 30th), and then paying a lesser final rent payment at the end (as those 13 days have already been paid in advance).

Alternative is for the 13 days rent to be added on to the final month's rent.

Provided each side is clear what rent is due and when, and clear records kept, none of this is a real issue.

Jami74

I've just checked my bank account. 3 times in the last twelve months the standing order for rent has gone out one or two days after the due date because of weekends. 

gazfocus

I expect rent from my tenants by 23:59 on the first working day of the month. The tenancy agreement states 1st, but practically I allow for weekends and bank holidays.

I did experience one letting agent when I was renting that if rent wasn't in their account by around 12 noon, they would send an email reminding me that rent was due. It always annoyed me and rubbed me up the wrong way so I do try to be a bit more patient with my tenants.

theartfullodger

See the experts, Shelter...
https://england.shelter.org.uk/professional_resources/legal/costs_of_renting/rents_and_rent_increases/payment_of_rent

""" 

General points

Rent becomes due on the morning of the day specified for payment in the lease or tenancy agreement, but is not overdue and the landlord does not have cause of action, until midnight on that day.[1] Rent can be payable on a Sunday, but where the rent due day falls on a bank holiday, it will not be payable until the following day.[2]  """"

That's from s.1 Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971. see..
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1971/80/section/1

- I love the wording "" If it appears to Her Majesty that, in the special circumstances of any year, it is inexpedient that a day specified in Schedule 1 to this Act should be a bank holiday,  """  Who exactly currently is that "Her Maj"???

This is for England, dunno for NI, Wales or Scotland. Do let us know which country...

Done any training in being a landlord and/or laws and regulations governing landlord/tenant matters?? There are more than 100.

I merely humbly ask as when I started as a landlord I thought I knew what I was doing. Oh my stupidity, oh the hubris!!  Painful, expensive, long-drawn-out, complicated. 

I entirely concur with.. "" 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.  """ 

I reckon an LL needs at least 7 months rent in reserve to cope with government action, the tenant-from-hell, agent-from-hell, repairs etc etc etc..

Best wishes to all

pjs493

Mr.Generous said:

I don't get the idea that all rents are due on the 1st, rent due dates for me are set from tenancy start date - so if tenant moved in on 17th rent is due every 17th. I suppose I could have complicated matters by charging a part months rent first month, is that what people do?

Whenever we had a new tenant we’d always do a partial month if they moved mid-month and then rent would be due on the first. I think we did this because when we first rented out the property it was via a letting agent because we were overseas with the military so it seemed easier to just have the property managed by an agency. That’s what they did. 

After having a terrible experience with agencies not doing a good job (including failing to properly background check a tenant who later did a running owing three months rent, and not chasing him for the missing money), we decided to just manage the property ourselves and followed the previous practice. We’ve found most tenant like to pay at the beginning of the month after getting paid at the end of the previous month. 

tallac

Thanks for everyone's input. My initial concern was, giving flexibility of 1 or 2 days late, would then into being late for 1 or 2 weeks and snowballing from there. However, it seems reasonable to wait 1 or 2 working days after it's due before chasing it up. In this case it did go through on the weekend so it might have been a manual bank transfer (rather than a standing order). Anyway, grateful for everyone's input here.