Is it legal for tenant pay rent for full year upfront?

[quincy]

Maybe the tenant is one who pays his credit cards off in full each month, too.

 

[cbg]

I have retirees who pay their insurance premiums a year in advance. None of them are weirdos.

 

[quincy]

I see nothing “weird” unless weird is defined as unusual, which paying a year in advance is. Because advance payments should be placed in a separate account, there should be no issue with a refund if something occurs that necessitates a tenant’s lease termination.

 

[Helpmeee]

A Tenant who wants to pay a year in advance is a weirdo. They have some weird reason for wanting to do something weird. I mean why would someone with a great credit rating want to do something that makes no financial sense?

Why are they weirdos, they have high credit scores, no criminal record, which I checked as I wanted to make sure they weren't drug dealers or some sort of criminals, they have the money to buy a home but unfortunately the husband isn't working yet as he's disabled right now because of an accident, so they can't qualify for a mortgage, and the money that they are using too pay the full year is from a lawsuit from the car accident, so I don't see anything weird about this situation as they have showed me proof of everything. Plus they have a higher credit score than most people. Great reference with the property manager where they live now, And zero criminal record which is what concerned me the most. So to me they sound pretty AWESOME! And we're renting to them, plus I pay my cousin who owns a pool service company to do the pool service weekly at the rental house, so he can see if anything unusual happens at the house and lets me know, so it's not like they will pay the full year and they can do whatever they want.

 

[STEPHAN]

I have had FL tenants that paid a year upfront. I did the usual credit check and background check and it was all good. I never had a problem with them. We agreed on an annual lease term, so one payment for a whole year and no monthly payments, so I did not separate out the money. Only the security deposit that I asked for any kept separated until they moved out.

 

[LdiJ]

My brother paid his rent for a year upfront once. He had just sold a spec house and had a lump sum of money. He wasn't sure when he would have more income coming in and wanted the safety of having the rent paid up.

One of my daughter's friends is part of the working poor. She gets subsidized rent but still has to pay a decent chunk herself. She gets a big tax refund every year and she has used it to pay her rent for the year, upfront, for the last several years.

There can be many practical reasons why someone with a lump sum of money available might choose to pay something as important as housing, upfront.

 

[xylene]

I have retirees who pay their insurance premiums a year in advance. None of them are weirdos.

That's weird to pay for something you might not get to use.

My brother paid his rent for a year upfront once. He had just sold a spec house and had a lump sum of money. He wasn't sure when he would have more income coming in and wanted the safety of having the rent paid up.

He was afraid he'd have no income... exactly what a landlord does not want.

Holding on to money is much safer than paying in advance.

One of my daughter's friends is part of the working poor. She gets subsidized rent but still has to pay a decent chunk herself. She gets a big tax refund every year and she has used it to pay her rent for the year, upfront, for the last several years.

There can be many practical reasons why someone with a lump sum of money available might choose to pay something as important as housing, upfront.

Thats a weird plan. She'd be better off paying monthly and having the cash.

And shown, barely scraping by is not great to a landlord.

Accelerating payments without ownership is virtually never a good idea and when someone wants to do it, that usually means something weird.

 

[quincy]

It sounds like Helpmeee investigated the tenant and did not find any red flags.

Paying rent in advance does not mean the tenant still can’t be evicted on other grounds than failure to pay rent, by the way. If the thought of future eviction is a concern, the lease just needs to spell out what can lead to a termination of the lease, like criminal activity (drugs, vandalism, etc) or exceeding the number of occupants permitted to reside in the unit/house.

 

[cbg]

xylene is entitled to her opinion. Since you may never use your insurance even if you pay it month by month, I fail to understand her point, however.