annoying tenants.. rent not being paid on time

[HerHonesty]

so my tenants reckon that because they money leaves their account on the 29th that shows they are fulfilling their contractual obligation to pay rent on the 1st of every month.

surely this is codswallop?? the first of the month is the first of the month? and the only proof of them fulfilling their contractual obligation is the money reaching the account?

dont suppose there is much i can do other than serve them notice?

[gomez]

Get them to arrange as a same-day payment - all banks now offer this at no cost - and hence money received before the first and everyone happy!

[HerHonesty]

aha good idea. they are such pain in the arses about everything its like pulling teeth.

[kidcreoleandthecoconuts]

You'd serve them notice because their rent payment doesn't reach your account on the first of the month? That's a bit unfair!
Maybe they can only have the money leave their account on the 29th because that's when they get paid? It takes the bank a couple of days to process the direct debit or whatever. What date does the money usually go into your account?

[HerHonesty]

well yes you say its unfair that but my mortgage also goes out on the 1st so each month i am a grand overdrawn for a few days which costs me money.

i know how much they earn - between them 80k, so they are not short.

[LaurieFairyCake]

How long does it take for the money to get to your account then? If I sent a payment on the 29th it would be there by the next day (sometimes the same day) - smile banking (co-op online account)

[LaurieFairyCake]

You could change your mortgage date as well - we did this when dh's work payment date changed. It just took a phone call - now ours is the 5th of the month.

[Fnergle]

It's their responsibility to pay the rent on time.

They might choose to send their rent in fivers strapped to the legs of carrier pigeons on the 15th of the month - doesn't matter when it leaves, it matters when it arrives.

Effectively, you're being paid late every month. How many people would put up with that?

tbh I think I'd change the rent date - make it the 20th of the month.

[OldLadyKnowsNothing]

I don't think you can change the rent-due date unilaterally. But if you can easily change the day the mortgage is due, that would seem the simplest solution.

As a tenant, I have to say I'm glad my landlords aren't that strapped for cash. What if repairs need doing?

[HerHonesty]

I'm not strapped for cash at all. and fyi i always to repairs on time and the property is very well maintained.

I just resent having to pay overdraft interest because of their f*ck up. Like most normal people i dont keep thousands of pounds sitting around in a current account earning no interest.

[mmrsceptic]

You can take all the late charges out of their deposit.

[OldLadyKnowsNothing]

No, you can't. The deposit is against damage greater than normal wear and tear, not for paying bank charges.

[noodlesoup]

If they are paying on the 29th it should be in your account by the 1st. Sounds like an annoying bank rather than annoying tenants. If they are paying every month only 1 or 2 days late with no other probs then it would be madness to serve notice. The void will cost you more than the avoidable bank charges and the new tenants might not pay the rent at all.

[mmrsceptic]

A deposit is meant to compensate a landlord for breaches of the tenancy agreement by the tenant. Breaches can be various but the tenancy agreement should state the rent should be paid on time.

The landlord can't deduct a "penalty" payment, only claim against actual losses eg non rent payment, interest, and I guess in this case charges.

It is completely up to them to ensure their bank sorts this out, and you do not have to provide free banking for them, which you are at the moment.

Of course, going at it like a bull out of a gate is going to annoy them so I would

write, telling them to ensure it never happens again because it's costing you money

and at the same time change your mortgage payment date

arsey tenants have a great deal of power as you probably know and can cost you a great deal of money

they can be a lot arsier than this

[OldLadyKnowsNothing]

mmrsceptic, I'm interested in your view of the deposit, which is utterly contrary to mine. (This may be because I'm in Scotland and you're elsewhere.)

I am a tenant. My lease - which, it is important to point out, is in no way a standard lease, (but does comply with current legislation) and does strike me as extraordinarily lax/trusting (from the landlord's POV) - mentions the deposit (pre the deposit scheme thingy) being held against actual damage to the property.

(That is an extraordinarily convoluted statement, I hope it's comprehensible.)

Anyway, elsewhere in my (non-standard, but legal) lease I agree that I am liable for bills incurred etc, and that I will leave the place fit for human habitation. Nowhere in my lease does it say that I am liable because my landlord runs up (easily avoidable) overdraft fees every month our joint banks cannot co-ordinate a simple, regular transaction.

Quite apart from anything else, if the OP landlord is running up overdraft fees every month rather than having a spare grand sitting in the current account, she's nuts. What are current savings rates on £1000?

[mmrsceptic]

Maybe it's different because it's Scotland.

It's the tenant who needs to pay on time -- otherwise they're in effect using the landlord as a bank for a bit of short term borrowing.

If the lease says rent should be paid on time then it's a breach not to do so.

Late payment is also easily avoidable and the onus is on the tenant to avoid extra costs due to late payment. Not up to the landlord to juggle cash flow when the tenant has signed an agreement. Of course, landlord might have to, but really shouldn't have to.

If it was me I would take from deposit. Bloody cheek. Being tenants doesn't make you hard up. You could be better off than the landlord but still you're seen as the victim somehow.

[ChopsTheDuck]

As tennants we had this issue, because our paydate was changed so we had no choice pay the rent late every month. Thankfully our landlady was a bit more understanding, and we did manage to set a new deadline.

My guess is maybe they bank with someone like alliance and leceister who won't do fast track payments for amounts over £250. We use them for savings and got caught out by that last week.

I don't think, if they are good tennants otherwise, it is worth making a big fuss about. Your bank should be able change the dates of payments out of your account for you so you don't go OD.

[HerHonesty]

i wouldnt have a problem at all if they said, you know what, we have an issue with getting the money to you on the first of the month, can we change this? completely understandable.

but when i said to them, not unreasonably imo, that if they were having problems paying on time i was happy to sort out alternative arrangements they completely flipped and said i was rude and out of order implying that they had financial issues and that paying on the 29th meant they were fulfilling their obligations.

so whatever i do i cant win with them. will move mortgage date to the 5th.

current savings rate on most current accounts is oh, about 0.01%

[mmrsceptic]

cheeky so and sos, they are wrong

see if you can get the bank charges out of the deposit

[ABetaDad]

It means cleared funds should reach your account by 1st of each month but in reality it is quite tricky for that to happen guaranteed because of weekends, holidays etc.

My rent is due to reach the landlord on 8th but I send it on 2nd to make sure it gets there. The 'same day payment thing does not necessarily work as banks sometimes do not credit the money to the account until the next day anyway - as my bank explained.

Could you reach a compromise agreement where they send the money on say 27th and move you mortgage payment a bit. Problem is they may get paid on last day of the month.

Technically, you may be able deduct your bank /OD charge from their deposit if you really want to get heavy - but you would have to out that in writing and go through teh Teancy Deposit Scheme arbitration.

[HerHonesty]

no interest in getting heavy, have sort of written off the costs but tbh most annoyed that they think they are in the right and were really aggresive when I asked them if they could possibly pay on time.

they are quite confrontational people and I do find my relationship with them quite difficult. and like i say i really cant please them whatever i do!

[mmrsceptic]

don't annoy them then

they might not pay the last month's rent leaving you with no deposit