Question

England | Moving in a Tenant (England) | Start of a Tenancy (England)

Tenants wants to pay 2 months at the start of the tenancy. More trouble than it’s worth?

23 Oct 2020 | 2 comments

A new tenant has a satisifed CCJ but cannot provide a guarantor. He has offered to pay 2 month’s rent at the start of the tenancy so he is always ahead of himself as a gesture of goodwill. I assume he thinks he won’t need to pay the last month’s rent when he comes to leave but does this not create problems about whether the extra month’s rent is a deposit or not? I already have 1 month’s rent as a deposit from him so can’t protect another one.

If I enter into the tenancy builder that he’s paying 2 month’s rent, the next due date comes up as December. It sounds like I will just have to tell him that the only way he can be ahead is by paying the 2 months’ rent at the start (28.10.20) and then continue paying monthly from December. That’s right isn’t it?

Answer

2 Comments

  1. guildy

    You’re exactly right. If you were to take 2 months but then also claim rent normally, that two months extra would be regarded as a deposit and would be a prohibited payment under the Tenant Fees Act.

    However, you can like you say, take the two months and then charge rent again in two months time.

  2. kaysproperty

    Thought so. Thank you for confirming 🙂

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