Yes you can. It’s not widely known that, under common law, tenants’ rent is technically due in arrears.
However, the tenant is required to pay rent in advance because the tenancy agreement, which they have signed, stipulates this condition.
If a landlord and tenant agree, there’s no reason why the rent due date can’t be changed. For example, if the tenancy period currently runs from the 3rd to the 4th, instead of requiring rent to be paid in full on the 3rd, you could agree to extend the due date to the 13th, aligning it with the day after your tenant receives their salary.
This adjustment could help ease any financial strain on a tenant, and it is a common practice. If a tenant doesn’t provide a request to the landlord via a letter to make these changes it assumes that the monthly period dates remain unchanged, and if the tenant fails to pay by the new due date, the agreement to modify the payment date will be void.
Permanently Changing the Payment Date
If you find that the adjusted due date works well, but you prefer the rent to be paid a full month in advance, you can make this change when renewing the tenancy agreement. For instance, you could shift the tenancy start date to the 13th of the month instead of the 3rd, ensuring that the new payment date aligns with the beginning of the tenancy period.
To make this transition, the tenant will need to pay a prorated amount to cover the days between the original and new tenancy periods. For example, if the tenancy initially runs from the 3rd to the 4th and you wish to change it to the 13th to the 14th, the tenant would be required to pay 10 days’ worth of rent to cover the interim period.
However, making these changes might be more trouble than it’s worth, and it may be simpler to keep the existing arrangements at renewal, especially if the tenant is paying rent regularly. The most important thing is that rent is being paid on time.
Keep in mind, too, that adjusting the rent due date could potentially put a landlord in breach of the tenant fees legislation, which mandates that rent amounts must be consistent across all rental periods.
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