at the end of a tenancy

[house_dweller]

Hi,

I want to know how the rent is sorted at the end of a tenancy, from my agreement it says rent is paid in advance, so does that mean my tenant will leave the week after they've paid their last rent?? and what if they leave halfway during the week (count up the days i suppose)??

In a maze.

Many thanks!

[flyernzl]

Communication with the tenant is always a good idea in this situation.

Good:
The tenant pays the last full weeks rent as usual.
You meet with the tenant on the day of departure (ideally you should have also met with them about a week prior to pick up any likely damage and let them know what level of cleaning is expected) and you have an up-to-date rent payment schedule available for them at that time.
You go through the property, assess the cost of repair of any damage, additional cleaning costs, unpaid utilities (eg water) plus the last few days of rent at one seventh of the weekly rent per day and mutually agree to deduct that amount from their bond refund.
You then both sign the bond refund, part to you and part to them.
I find it a good idea, when I sign up a new tenant, to write the day of the week that the tenancy starts on the TA as well as the date. Then, when the tenant gives notice, I try and get them to end the tenancy on the day of the week prior to that. Thus there is no part week to sort out at termination).

Bad:
The tenant gives notice, and immediately stops paying rent.
At the end of their 21 days notice they have chewed up most if not all of the bond.
They depart, probably without meeting with you, leaving mess and damage.
You have to file a one-party bond claim, and are probably still left out of pocket.

[house_dweller]

Hi flyernz,

One thing i have yet to get into my head. The rent landlords receive from tenants are actually for the previous week they stayed...(?) (this is what i'm guessing, because under my TA it mentions, rent "to be paid in advance")
so...
on the last week of the tenancy no rent will be received because the previous week's rent is for the final week (? is this right/wrong) unless they overstay a few days and in that case the rent will be 1/7 of rent p/w times the days overstayed.

Is this wrong?

This is probably very shallow stuff that i'm not gettin...

[flyernzl]

If the rent is in advance, the tenant pays, say, one weeks rent on Monday and that covers their occupation of the property from that Monday to the following Sunday.
The following week's Monday payment then cover the next Monday-Sunday.

So if they move out on the Wednesday and are paying, say, $400 a week then they make no payment on the last Monday, and on departure on the Wednesday you charge them 3/7ths of $400 to cover the Mon-Tue-Wed period.

I hyave had one tenant (over all these years) who actually paid the full week for the week during which she departed,, so I had to refund her the odd days!

[Nice]

Work out from the day they moved in how much rent they have paid v how much they were due to pay.

Keeping good records of rent is a legal obligation of you as a Landlord. If you do this, then the payments at the end are clear and obvious.

If you can't manage this, then employ a Property Manager.

[Gladdynook]

Easiest way to think about it is, did you let them move into your property without paying any rent? or if you asked for rent up front then they are paying in advance.

I suspect every single tenant is paying in advance, so when they come to leave they will stop paying a week (or two if on fortnightly) before they leave.

[Arpoo]

I would go back to my rent records and determine if rent is paid in advance or in arrears first.

Then, count the days leading up to the last day for the rent.

And most importantly, make it very clearly what needed to be paid by when to the tenants.

[klauster]

Avoid disputes or shortage of rent

When given notice renters often stop paying while saving for bond, etc for the new tenancy.
In accordance with the RTA we charge two weeks in advance. At the end of the tenancy tenants receive an account statement – that prevents disputes or a shortage of rent before leaving.

[ninercharlie]

The key to getting this right in my view is maintaining a good rent record. The Dept of Building & Housing suggested spreadsheet is good - I have used a version of it for many years. It shows date rent due, days the rent period covers, and amount payable, and it shows date rent paid and amount paid. The balance on each line shows the amount the rent account is in credit, if zero the rent is up to date, or the amount of arrears. You can find it at the Dept of Building and Housing site > Tenancy Tag > Landlords > Forms & Information > Landlord Pack > Keeping accurate rent records > Download rent summary from start of tenancy spreadsheet. (Providing a URL would have been much easier!!). The record copes well with a frequent situation where the rent due date and rent paid date are not exactly the same, especially where rent paid day is determined by a pay day. It is easy to calculate the last week's rent: weekly rent divided by 7 multiplied by the number of days in the last part week.

[mattinvestor]

Talk to your tenants. But if they pay rent in advance, it usually means they cover the week and the month that just started. i am sure you would have this issue if you communicated with your tenants and would find gopod ones at the first place. Communication is the key to eveything!