Dispute between landlord an tenant , how much to pay in rent ?

[HowMuchShouldBePaid]

For rent paid in advance , how much should the tenant pay ? ( if its £400 per month)

Tenant says £400 on May first will cover May, doesn't want to pay for March or April. Wants to move in asap.

Landlord thinks its due for 3 weeks of March then all of April and May, but is willing to only ask for April and May. Landlord had a family death so was not fully "on the ball" for a couple of weeks.

I'm looking for advice on how much rent you would expect to pay / receive ?

No contract in place.

Thanks

Well I would imagine a landlord wouldn't have kept the room until September. I think though it needed to be more concrete. Landlord should have been clear that payment was due on the 10th of March and have provide bank details. Landlord should have contacted tenant on 10th or 11th asking why they hadn't moved in and for payment.
Obviously likewise tenant should have communicated better too.
Understandable if you as landlord want to cancel arrangement now due to being let down on moving in date although to me there really should have been more formal communication and expectations. ²

19th April isn't early April.

A contract can be verbal and to be effective does not have to be written. The contract is whatever you have both agreed.

If that is the only communication between the two then they look to have been as lax as each other surely.

If they only move in in September is a moot point really. I would say that the onus is on the potential landlord to pin down moving in dates, key handover etc.

They are the one with the 'professional' position in this transaction. They are the one losing out on income. It's in their best interest to get the details confirmed.

Sounds like the potential lodger is young and easy come easy go about the whole thing.

The rent has been paid on the first of May, it's now the 5th and your OP implies the person has still not moved in?

Tenant says £400 on May first will cover May, doesn't want to pay for March or April. Wants to move in asap.

Meant to add that at least now the lodger looks to be committed.

Landlord can either accept or say sling your hook, I'm keeping the cash for messing around, and lose out on a lodger and a friend (lodger's Mum).

If landlord was that bothered they should have chased up, got commitment and dates in writing, or readvertised the room.

Since there is no contract and lodger did not move in rent is due from date they moved in.
The fact the landlord could have rented to someone else is by the by. You chose not to and also chose not to get a contract drawn up.

given that the Landlord is being so unprofessional about the whole affair - no contact available before the lodging arrangement, nothing in place yet, because knows the lodgers mother, I'm guessing the room wasn't rented out before, wasn't about to be rented out on the open market, and from the context is a favour to a family friend.

Get a contract in place ASAP, written house rules that landlord and the lodger are both clear on, and try and keep it on a more professional basis - otherwise LL risks giant row over something tine, and potential blow up with friend.
And only charge rent from when tenant/lodger moved in. If LL feels aggrieved by this, it's their fault for not being more organised and professional from the outset.

The landlord didn't send correct bank details until 19 April.
Tenant asked if they could pay on 1 May.
It doesn't appear that the landlord responded either way.
I'd read that as the rent being due from 1 May. Rent day is first of every month going forward.

room was rented out previously , previous tenant as asked to leave ,

lodger still isn't moved in , no communication in last 3 days

Yes , its been lax on all sides , but lodger was all set to move in in mid march ,and its suited their circumstances not to move in until later

lesson learned on all sides I think.

Has the landlord (you?) Replied yet??
They asked to pay on 1st no response.
Sent message to saybtheyd paid, then no response.
Although I guess now they've paid it doesn't matter that they haven't moved in yet.
If you are landlord I'd send message now confirming paying from May is fine and ask them to confirm when they'd be moving.
Presumably there has been more contact than what you've noted though as at dome point a discussion has taken place about when the rent should be due from.

Landlord needs to draw up a contract and do things properly. That's their responsibility.

There's no contract and this all seems very informal so lodger doesn't pay until they moved it.
If the landlord chose to keep the room open and not specify the date the arrangement started then that's on them.

Not a great way to start living together is it?!

Landlord here - they pay from date of moving in

If you are holding the room you give them a deadline if you want them in by a certain time

The landlord here sounds a bit clueless tbh

I'd suggest that the landlord now needs to messgae back and acknowledge receipt of the first months rent, confirm that this now starts the rental agreement from 1st May 2024, state that the next months rent is due 1st June and every 1st going forward for the duration of the agreement, and state that keys are available for collection at the lodgers convenience.

Then put it into writing properly with a lodging agreement signed by both parties when the keys are picked up.

Tenancy starts from the day tenant moves in. The issue is lack of contract (you) and lack of communication (both sides).

Lesson learned for next time, always have a contract/tenancy agreement regardless of the relationship.

Don't understand.. tenant moving in May so contract starts then...why backdate rent, surely that illegal..tenancy starts when landlord and tenant agreed they move in...start of tenancy. Landlord sounds clueless op so check they done all the checks and put your deposit in a scheme.

This is why you have a contract!

Informal arrangements like this are a recipe for disaster. If the tenant fails to pay the rent, you've got no legal recourse. If you want to evict the tenant further down the line, it'll be very difficult. If you take a deposit without placing it in a proper deposit protection scheme, the tenant can sue you for 3x the amount of the deposit.

You shouldn't be a landlord if you don't know what you're doing.

OP, if you communicated the situation to your lodger as clearly as you're doing here - ie, not at all clearly - I'm not surprised there's been a mixup.

What has actually happened?

If you wanted them to rent the room from March onwards then you should have had them pay on the 1st March. If they didn't, then the room isn't theirs.

No it doesn't. The tenancy starts from the date the tenancy starts.

If you take a flat on, say, 1st March, and sign a tenancy agreement saying so, but don't move your stuff in until 1st April, you're still liable for March.

But no tenancy agreement was signed - hence the issues!

If the tenant had signed a contract, of course they would need to pay rent. But they didn't, not did the pick up keys. So why should they pay rent?

This.

You rented a room. It doesn't sound like a very professional arrangement. Did you have people queuing up to take the room? You also stopped replying to the messages. Without a contract I would assume the tenant pays from when they collected the keys.

Yes, I know, in this case. But to blanket declare that a tenancy starts from the date a tenant moves in is absolutely incorrect. It doesn't.

Your tenancy starts from the date of the agreement, not two months later if you didn’t collect keys in a timely manner. They could have rented it out to someone else in that time.

Tenant pays from either contracted start date or day they moved in. Whichever is first. Until contract signed landlord can rent to someone else and tenant isn't required to move in or pay.

In any case, the OP is communicating what's actually happened so poorly that it's impossible to advise, really.

I think what she's saying is she offered someone a room, said it would be available any time from March, expecting the lodger to move in in March.

The lodger has taken that literally to mean "you can move in and start paying rent any time after March", turned up in May, and the OP feels out of pocket for March and April.

If she's communicated it as badly to the lodger as she has to us, it's not surprising there was an issue.

She can't now backdate the rent to March - the error was hers, a) for communicating it poorly and unprofessionally and b) for not having a contract determining the start date.