How is monthly rent prorated

Speaking of the lease, how closely have you studied the lease terms? Let's be honest, none of us enjoy reading through them—and often we don't. However, by not understanding what your landlord expects from you and what you can expect from them, your request for prorated rent may fall on deaf ears.

Particularly if your landlord has a section dedicated to these questions in the lease. Look for any headers that talk about notice of termination, auto-renewal, or move-in and move-out dates. While some leases contain a clear section that addressed prorated rent, sometimes the term is hidden under other sections. Pay attention to any kind of notice period you need to give your landlord in order to be eligible for prorated rent. Prorated rent isn't nearly as complicated as it sounds. The practice makes complete sense.

It allows renters to pay for the amount of time they're using the space for. Many landlords understand that our own lives often defy the strictness of calendar years, which is why the practice of prorated rent started in the first place. Asking your current or future landlord about their perspective on prorated rent is a great place to start. If you don't need to spend extra money on renting a place when you're not even there, then why would you? The only thing you need to do is open the line of communication.

List with us Sign up Log in. Renter Life. Rental Management. Company News. Product Updates. Apartment List Blog. Share this Article. By: Justin Chaplin. September 17, Why, you ask? What is Prorated Rent? Justin Chaplin. Justin is a Content Manager and contributing author at Apartment List, helping people navigate the world of renting.

Read More. Subscribe to our Newsletter. Rather than charging a daily or weekly rate which is typically more expensive , the monthly rent is prorated by the day. Whatever the percentage of the month your tenant occupies the unit is the percentage of the monthly rent they would pay.

For example, if they move in on August 7th, rent would be due on the 7th of each month. Typically landlords find it easier to prorate rent for a short first month and make the rent payable on the first of the month thereafter to keep all units on the same schedule. Other cases where prorated rent might apply would be when a tenant moves out before the last day of the month when the lease expires on the first day of the month, or when a tenant needs to stay one or two days beyond the end of the lease term.

There are several ways to calculate prorated rent, but all involve determining a percentage of the rent that is equal to the number of days in a month they will reside on the property. This method is simple to calculate and easy to explain to tenants. Take your monthly rent and divide it by the number of days in a month. You multiply this amount by the number of days the tenant will occupy the unit. Since the number of days in a month vary and your rent may fluctuate depending on the season, the prorated rent will likely be different each time you calculate the results.

The above equation may be beneficial for renting to tenants who have agreed to rent on a month-to-month bases or less than a year. A better option to compensate for mid-month arrivals or departures is prorating the amount due. This allows tenants to pay partial rent based on the days occupied rather than rent for the entire month.

Say your school term doesn't end until May 5 and your dream internship starts on May You're not going to be able to move in on May 1, yet you have to move in before June 1. If you pick a move-in date of May 17, you'll live in the rental for 15 days in May. Prorated rent allows you to pay for 15 days of rent, rather than the full 31 days in May. We all hope and assume we'll be safe and happy in our rental.

However, this isn't always the case. If you have to evacuate your rental early due to health reasons such as mold sensitivities, prorated rent will prevent you from overpaying for an unexpected partial month's stay.

As much as we wish we could predict the future, we can't. You might need to extend your rental period due to sickness during your move out time boooo or a job offer from the company you're interning with yayyy. Whatever the case, prorated rent provides you with fair payment terms while you get ready to move out. I don't need to tell you that a full month's rent costs more than a partial month's rent. Prorated rent helps you save money, especially in situations when you only live in your rental for a few days of a month.

If you're looking at short-term or mid-term rentals, prorated rent is particularly useful. If you're living in an apartment for three full months and two partial months, you don't want to pay rent for five full months. Proration allows you to pay for only the days you live in your rental, potentially saving you thousands of dollars. Imagine you're moving in on May 27 and moving out on September 5.

But with prorated rent, you'll only have to pay for a proportion of the rent for May and September. That's quite the savings! Prorated rent also helps you avoid the high rental fees associated with daily or weekly rates. Prorated rent is just a proportional amount of your monthly rent; you won't face an upcharge for your partial month's stay. The due date of prorated rent depends on property management and whether the extra days occur at the beginning or end of your rental period.

If you're moving in towards the end of the month and the beginning of the rental period, your landlord may include your prorated rent payment with your security deposit or with your first month's rent. Or they may charge you a separate payment due at the end of the month. You might choose to stay a few extra days at the end of your rental period and move out at the beginning of the next month.

Extra days at the end of the rental period are often included with the rent for the last full month or billed to you after you move out. It's best to talk to your landlord about when your prorated rent payment is due before you sign your lease agreement. Some landlords might be willing to discuss when payment is due, while larger real estate companies may have policies that are set in stone.

Landlords generally calculate prorated rent in one of three ways: by the exact days in a month, by assuming all months have 30 days, or by the number of days in a year. I'll go over each of these rent calculations below.