What is “Rent in Advance”?
This is a concept that can be misleading due to its title and often creates confusion for tenants, especially at the end of any lease. ‘Rent in advance’ doesn’t mean that you have paid a lump sum of rent and therefore do not need to pay rent in your last week(s) of a tenancy. It refers to the concept and obligation of a tenant to pay their rent before it comes due. In the example below we have a lease that began on
Wednesday 4th September and ‘one week’s rent in advance’ has been paid. This simply means that the tenant has paid the first week’s rent for the period ending on Tuesday 10th September (the area in red).
To ensure the rent is received by the Property Manager before it is due, the next payment would be due to come out of the tenants account on Tuesday 10th September to ensure it reaches the Property Manager by the 11th. This then covers the tenant up until and including Tuesday 17th (the area in green).