Day 21 of 21 day challenge. Thank you all a lot for your support and advise. Thank you Hoosier for the suggested question. If someone moves out on August 30th,do I need to start my new lease on November 1st or can/should I move someone in "mid month"?

You can start your lease and end your end any day of the month

We move them in as soon as possible, whether it's mid-month or the beginning of the month. However, that being said, we NEVER permit anybody to move in unless they've paid one FULL month's rent and the full security deposit.

That means if they move in December 15, they're going to pay me one full month's rent (and the SD), then when January rolls around, I'll collect the pro-rated rent from the previous month.

Let's say someone wants to move in Dec 15th. Okay, first, I don't let anyone who is approved and has the funds to move in slip away because of weird payment timing. Get 'em while the getting is good! This is not hard. Simple math tells us the answer.

Whatever payment plan they choose allows us to calculate the per diem rate, which is written into the lease. Let's says they choose a bi-weekly payment that is $280. Bi-weekly covers 14 days rent, so the per diem rate is $20.

We collect the first full payment ($280), plus the security deposit, plus any pet fees up front regardless of what day they move in. We then prorate the SECOND payment based on how many days they were actually in the unit during the first period. If they were only there 12 days before their second payment becomes due, they only owe $240 for the second payment. All subsequent payments are the full amount and line up perfectly with whatever payment cycle they choose.

It's all written into the lease with amounts, dates covered by the payment, etc. Spelled out clearly.

Our lease always runs to the end of a full month, so for bi-weekly payers we also prorate the last payment thru the last day of the month. I've had several folks whose leases ended on the 30th and their final bi-weekly payment date was the 29th. So they only owed 2 days of rent for that final payment ($40). We do not prorate if they move out earlier. The lease end date does not change based on their payment plan.

Easy cheesy!

I move people in whenever their schedule and their funds meets my schedule of a place being available.

I'm not tied to either rent or move-in being connected the 1st. My tenants are not the kind of people who carry around a years' salary in their bank account as a cash cushion. They live paycheck to paycheck-- so I can adapt to their reality, or I can have empty houses. :)

So, if I get someone who's approved for possession around the first week of the month, I'll usually prorate the first month's rent so that instead of paying $x, I do (x/30)(number of days left in the month). It means a bit less move-in funds for me off the bat, but at the same time, it means a bit more money to use for utility deposits and transition costs. Then rent is due on the first, and all the subsequent income is normal.

If I get someone who's approved around, say, the 8th-20th, I'll give them a choice. "Would you like to pay [approx 1.5 months' rent] and not have to pay rent again until the month after next? Or would you like to pay regular rent, and tie your due date to [whatever the day is]?" And so I'll end up with people who are due on, say, the 15th, and our rental periods will run from the 15th of one month to the 14th of the next month.

Congrats 6x6!

I agree with others like Jason...move them in as soon as you can, collect full month at first, then pro-rate the second month.

I've always ended my leases on a natural month, but you can do what you like in these cases. In other words, if they move in December 15th, do you want the lease to end on December 15th? Or do you make it December 31st?

(I actually sometimes use a 13 or 14 month lease to avoid people moving out at the holidays, which is a difficult time to re-rent. For example if they move in December 15th 2018, I'll tell them during the showing that this is a 13 month lease and that our leases end on a natural month...so the lease termination date would be January 31st 2020.)

6x6er,

"COME ON DOWN!!!

You're the next winner on the Landlord Is Right!"

THIS is for YOU! www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmyV_dBZHU0

Johnny, What do we have for our winner?

Well Bob, it s NEWWWW CAAARRRR!

Enjoy!

BRAD