Month
- A month, means different things to various people, so clarity is key.
- A calendar month includes all the days within the month in question.
- A lunar month has 28 days, as has February, on all but leap years.
- Some tenants calculate the calendar monthly rent by applying the lunar days. This has the effect of reducing the rent payable in the mind of the mental arithmetist, if applied.
- It is important to emphasise stronly at the outset the word "calander" if this is what is meant. Failure to specify will often leave it open for an optomist to interpret what is desired, rater than what is in meant. I have known groups drop-out at the point of contract signing due to one tenant misinterpreting the word month.
- Interestingly, students regularly pay quarterly. There are 13 weeks in a quarter, as opposed to 12 weeks in three lunar months, potentially obviationg the need to clarify what is meant by a month.
- Another way around the problem is to specify that the rent is so much per week .
- However, this then gives rise to yet another problem. If rent is payable weekly, than a weekly rent book is also required to be provided to the tenant by the landlord. Weekly rent calculations and collection is time consuming. Traditionally this is required for collecting benefit-recipient rents before it gets spent!
- The way around this when asked the weekly rent is to state that the weekly rent equates to £x - based on a calendar monthly rent of £y. It is also important to state the rent payable in the contract (tenancy agreeemnt) correctly as intneded.
Published: 10 November 2013
Last Updated: 17 November 2021