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Usually, the best time to move in for a tenant and landlord is the first day of a month, however how to calculate the rent and put it in the lease agreement if tenant is moving-in in the middle of a month?
What is the best way to do so with lease agreement?
I assume you're using a typical rental agreement form, such as from the CA Assoc of Realtors. It will have blanks you can fill in regarding how much is owed for everything being paid for by the tenant.
If they move in on the 15th of a 30 day month, you would take off 14/30 of the monthly rent (since they don't get possession the first 14 days) and charge them 16/30 of the rent. So if rent is $900/month, you would charge ($900)(16/30) = $480. If they move in on the 15th day of a 31 day month, do the same, but with 31 instead of 30. If the move in in February (28 or 29 days), you should still use 30 to calculate how much they owe, since some judges fall back on the default "30 days is a month" standard.
If you want to collect the security deposit and one full month's rent prior to handing over the keys (which I HIGHLY recommend), you can either require that they (1) pay the deposit, the portion of the current month that they're moving in, plus all the rent for the next month, prior to giving them the keys, or (2) you could require them to give you the deposit plus funds equal to one month's rent, and then on the first of the month after they move in, require that they pay the remaining partial month balance that they owe. To illustrate option (1) using the numbers from my above example:
Move-in costs = $900 deposit + $480 partial month + $900 next month = $2280 from tenant prior to getting the keys.
To illustrate option (2):
Move-in costs = $900 deposit + $900 one month's rent = $1800
Rent due on the first of the next month = $480 remaining balance owed
I've worked in two different places that used the two methods listed above by Galaxy Girl.
I just ask for the deposit of one month's rent amount, plus the prorated rent for the rest of the month. Then on the first of the next month, they pay their full month's rent. It's easier for tenants to come up with that much money, in my experience. And I haven't had any problems doing it this way.
I take the monthly rent and divide it by the number of days in the month, then multiply the daily rent amount by the days left in the month. I'm not great at math, so I like this simpler version for my pea brain :-)
So, for move-in for September 15th, I'd take the $900 rent divide it by 30 = $30/day x 16 days = $480. Same answer, different way to get there. Plus $900 deposit = $1380 that I would require to get the keys on Sept 15th, along with a signed contract, of course.
Here's the wording from one of my contracts:
c. [Prorated rent] Upon move-in or before, Tenant shall pay to Landlord for the period of January 15, 2013 , through _January 31, 2013 , the sum of $534.00 _ as rent, payable to (Owner/You) by personal check or money order.__.
The security deposit amount is in a different section of the contract.
Do you need to prorate th lease? Why not make the lease terms from the move in day of the first month to the day before of the next month. The lease will end mid-month of the last month. Nothing requires a landlord to use a calendar month.
We have a policy where if they move in before the 15th of a month, we prorate the days in that month and they pay that. if they move in after the 15th, we prorate the days but also they must pay the next full month's rent. This keeps the possibility of people moving in with 5 days' rent paid and then not paying rent on the 1st when it's due.
Prorations are generally based on a 30 day month regardless of the actual days in that month. So, $2000/30X16days=$1066.67 If you add tax to your rent, add it to the final amount, not the beginning amount.
When we have this situation, we add it to the last page of the lease where the deposit amount, how it's paid etc. is entered. Under that we have several blank lines, and we enter "$2000.00 to be held in Trust Account as Security Deposit" and "16 days prorated rent for April 2013 $1066.67 due by April 14. So it's all there for the tenant to see when they sign the lease, plus we go over it with them.
Then, next month the rent is due on the 1st just like any other month. We don't get into leases beginning on the 14th and running for 30 days - that first month is an exception, actually. Keeps things simpler. We also end leases on the last day of a month however if a tenant needs their lease to end on a certain day we can do that.
The important thing is to have a standard policy and way of calculation that you use consistently with every tenant.
p.s. Get the full deposit as soon as they are approved. Have the lease ready for them to sign when they come in to pay the deposit. We continue to advertise and show until we have a lease signed and a deposit paid.
Rent amount ivied by the amount of days in that month. Take the sum number and add up the days tenant is " uing" for that month
$900 rent / 30 days = $30
$30 x 15 days = $450
I meant there is no space or blanks in the rental agreement form you can fill in regarding how much is owed for everything being paid for by the tenant.
Or you can just include the paragraph I gave you before for prorating.
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