Last Month’s Rent

photo credit: allygirl520

Should you collect last month’s rent when your tenant moves in? Most landlords do not collect a last month’s rent, instead they collect as much as they possibly can for a security deposit and use that to defray any costs or rent that is left over after the tenants move out.

The reason is that a last month?s rent which is labeled as such and collected at move in can only be used as rent for the last month. So if your tenant decides to move and gives you 30 days notice, they aren’t actually responsible for rent that last month because they already paid it when they moved out. If you haven’t collected a security deposit any repairs or clean up fees you incur will be your responsibility.

Or consider the case where you’ve collected the last month’s rent from your tenant several years ago when they first moved in. In the meantime property values have sky rocketed and you’ve raised the rent accordingly. When your tenant decides to move you’ve already collected the last month’s rent at the original rate and you cannot collect any additional amounts toward that rent. If you want to remedy this situation you’ll have to ask for an additional amount every time you raise the rent so you can add it to your original last month’s collected amount.

Basically, it’s easier for a landlord to collect a large security deposit in case the tenant doesn’t pay the last month’s rent and then return any unused amounts promptly.

Tags: Rental Property Management, landlord, rent, tenant

Category: Rental Property Management