Tenant would like to change payment date from 14th of the month to 25th

Landlord Discussion
1

Openrent suggested creating a new contract via RentNow in order to change the payment date. But RentNow requires me to add a new advert etc. Is there an easier way? If this is the only way, does OpenRent give me the option to bypass the advert creating, referencing etc?

2

Hi Karis, apologies if youā€™ve been in touch with our team already by email, but if all you want to do is change the payment date, then I imagine this could be achieved via a written agreement, and wouldnā€™t necessarily require creating a whole new tenancy?

Sam

3

Hi Sam, I have also had a request from my tenant to change their rent payment date so that it falls on the same day as their salary is paid. You suggest we can do this via a written agreement. What does this process involve? Do we simply provide an agreement to our tenant? How do we notify Open Rent of the changes? My proposed change would be to request a payment for the days between expected and new payments dates, pro rateā€™d and then a full monthā€™s payment on the newly agreed date. Please advise as I have been going round in circles trying to get assistance. Thanks

4

Check your agreement: if notices can be made by email, then use that with suitable adjustment to ā€œrequest a payment for the days between expected and new payments dates, pro rateā€™d and then a full monthā€™s payment on the newly agreed date.ā€
However, salary payment receipt and outgoing payments may not coincide and may not arrive on the expected day. I suggest that you allow say four to eight days after the expected salary receipt date to allow for bank holidays and weekends, e.g. if the date falls on a Saturday, the money will not get into their account until Monday or Tuesday on a Bank Holiday Monday. Banking failures I am told often occur, so allow for the transfer to you to occur on the Wednesday. Better still, ask your tenant to continue paying as now: saves the hassle.
Regarding notifying Rent Now, await their response. As long as you have a record of that email, that is all that matters.

5

Hi Sue, thereā€™s a detailed answer to your question in this thread:

Sam

6

Sam, I donā€™t think this answers the question.

The question is about changing the due date mid-tenancy.

  1. The answer you gave is when a tenant starts the tenancy at mid-month. But that has led me to ask you a question: the implication is that the tenant pays the full monthly amount on say the 18th and again the full monthly amount the following month before the 29th-31st. My question on this latter item is, can the Open Rent collection service cope with a different first rent payment (half monthā€™s rent say) from subsequent (full monthā€™s) rent payments?

  2. Regarding the original question by Karis, with a slight twist in a possible answer: If one agrees to a part month rent (on the18th of a particular month, say) in mid-tenancy, will the Open Rent collection service
    a) keep chasing for the other half for months to come, or
    b) stop chasing after the month ends, or
    c) simply notify the landlord at month end and stop chasing the tenant for the apparent deficit? and
    d) do future full monthly payments not result in being chased for the missing part month payment, if the full month payments for subsequent months occur, say by the 18th of the month, in this example?

I recognise, that because of Covid19, you now record the amount of reduced payments without chasing for them if the landlord accepts this on their Dashboard (forgotten how), but what happens if they donā€™t: is the reduced payment chased until paid is the crux of item 2) above?

I recognise that if 2) meets the need mid-tenancy, then the landlord and tenant need to keep a record that the Open Rent collection service record of the amount out-standing as not an actual debt, but was a reminder that an agreement was reached and dealt with at the time.

7

Hi both,

As long as the full amount of rent has been paid before the rent due date, then the tenant will not get any chasing emails. Our rent collection system can handle multiple payments, so you can pay in several installments if needed. If you are concerned that the tenant will be chased for rent when they shouldnā€™t be, then you can use the ā€˜rent pauseā€™ button to turn off the chasing emails.

If you would like precise answers to how rent collection works pertaining to your tenancies specifically, you can email https://www.openrent.co.uk/faq#i-have-more-questions and our team will be able to provide an answer by seeing all your tenancy details.

@John45

  1. As long as all due rent is paid before the due date, then the tenant is taken to be fully paid up, with no arrears. It is as simple as that. It doesnā€™t matter what day the rent is paid as long as itā€™s before the due date. It doesnā€™t matter if itā€™s paid in several payments. Sorry if Iā€™m missing something.

  2. Iā€™m not sure what ā€œagree[ing] to a a part month rent (on the18th of a particular month, say) in mid tenancyā€ means, Iā€™m afraid, so I canā€™t answer your question. But if you want to know how to proceed with a real (i.e. non-hypothetical) tenancy, then our team is ready to help all OpenRent landlords via the above email address.

Best wishes,
Sam

8

Thank you Sam. You did miss the point, but I will leave that as a matter for Karis and Sue14 to take up with you should they still feel the need to change the date.

It was of a theoretical nature for me, but a practical solution for them, if your system could accommodate their needs. It just so happens that at least two people felt they needed to do something to accommodate their respective landlord-tenant relationships.

I agree with you, in principle no change is needed if the tenant is willing to pay before the contract due date. All it takes is to use savings or to forgo luxuries for a few days if needed to achieve the revised payment dates.

I like so many others appreciate the time that you put into monitoring these questions and offering solutions or opinions on them.

9

So my situation is that the tenant moved in and paid the original monthā€™s rent on the 23rd of the month. They would now like to pay on the 1st, but obviously wonā€™t want to pay a full monthā€™s rent on the 23rd and then again on the 1st. So I would like them to pay the pro rateā€™d amount (8 days) on the 23rd, then the full amount on the 1st, but donā€™t want them chased for non payment. Is this possible?

10

Iā€™ve changed dates on the last 2 tenancies - I did it via email.
As everyone was in agreement and we treated each other fairly, I have not had to test the legal enforceability and any other unintended consequence of this approach.
Anyway here is an example of both my change date email, and end of tenancy email (anonymised)

before:

Hi

You asked to change rent payable date to 1st of the month.

Here is my maths - please shout if questions or you disagree.

You started on Sunday 21 July 2019 and have paid up until 20 August (inclusive). Next monthā€™s rent currently due on or before 20 aug (in advance, for 21/8 through to 20/9 inclusive)

Letā€™s do a one off pro-rate to the end of the month - so that a full monthā€™s rent then becomes due on the first of the month

21 Aug to 31 Aug inclusive = 11 days. The rent is Ā£2,200 PM irrespective of number of days in month. There are 365 days in a year. Therefore amount due is 2200 * 12months / 365days * 11days = Ā£795.62

So
ā€¢ on or before 20 Aug 19 - pay Ā£796 for the period 20 Aug - 31 Aug
ā€¢ On or before 1 Sept 19 - pay Ā£2,200 for the period 1 Sept to 30 Sept
ā€¢ On or before 1 Oct - pay Ā£2,200 for period 1 Oct to 31 Oct etc etc

At the end of the tenancy we would do a similar calculation for any part months, such that overall payments would have equated to the Ā£2,200 per month.

I suggest you set up a standing order for the rent due on the first of each month. In which case, let me know you have done so and I will be happy for the standing order to go on the first working day of each month (ie 1 Sept is a Sunday, so money on Mon 2 Sept would be ok)

Please let me know if you are happy with the above, so that I can know what to expect and when.

regards etc etc
PS - if you confirm, then we can take the above as an agreed variation to the contract terms

=======================
after

Hi All

Current lease is finishing on Mon 20 Jan 2020

You have paid up to 31 December, therefore we need to calculate the rent for the remaining period (20 Days)
1 Jan to 20 Jan inclusive = 20 days. The rent is Ā£2,200 PM irrespective of number of days in month. There are 365 days in a year.

Therefore calculated amount due is 2200 * 12months / 365days * 20days = Ā£1,446.58

However, you paid Ā£795 in August, (see below) - so I propose you pay only 2200-795 =Ā£1,405*

Please pay Ā£1,405 on or before 1 January

Thanks

Please let me know if anything unclear

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11

Hi, this is really useful, thank you. Just to confirm that the tenants werenā€™t chased for full rental payment when the pro rateā€™d amount was paid? Did you inform OpenRent of the changes?

Thanks again

12

Hi Sue14 - only just seen your question
Didnā€™t tell open rent, nor did I need to as I donā€™t bother with their (free) rent collection service. Therefore only the first month goes through Open rent (upon which they rightly insist to ensure that I am not a wrongun), after that is done, the above arrangement is made for future payments - which go straight into my account so open rent donā€™t see them

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