Tenant has decided to change the day she pays her rent?

Doesn’t affect the tenancy agreement. But technically she will be 4 days in arrears when her tenancy ends. The monies can be collected then or taken, after you gain possession, from the deposit.

But hopefully you will document this agreement re change of tenancy payment date and that at the end of the tenancy, should there be 4 days arrears owing, how this money will be paid/deducted from the deposit.

If/when you increase the rent you could always adjust then but make sure you fully document.

Work with your tenant –

First question: do you really want to keep this tenant who is costing you £4,800pa plus the track record of poor paying of rent?
If no, action a S21 while you still can. Remember, you’re not required to be a charity just a professional landlord who offers the market a decent home.
You know it doesn’t pass the sniff test that she doesn’t have the money to pay the 4 days rent when her benefits switch from the 8th to the 12th.
Anyway, if you do decide to persevere with her send a letter notifying that she owes for 4 days rent and then mentally write it off as it’s small fry compared to the bigger cost of the below market rent you’re suffering.

Reply to the comment left by Andy at 11/03/2025 – 10:28
I confess that I am struggling a bit with “the rent for the property is £400 below the norm for the area” although it may be that your personal circumstances mean that you don’t need more income – if the property is mortgaged and extra rent would tip you into the upper tax bands for example.

However, you do say that the tenant ALWAYS pays as soon as her money arrives.

That being the case (and allowing for the fact that the tenant does not pay market rent) I think that what I would do is investigate whether this tenant is prepared and willing to help you to gain a grant to upgrade the EPC of this property and accept the works being done whilst she is still in residence.

If she is just paying 4 days late, this is really not an issue. Her payment date stays as the 8th monthly, so dont agree any change to this in writing, but if she is paying on the 12th, no big deal.

Reply to the comment left by Boris at 11/03/2025 – 11:36I agree with the 4-days-isn’t-a-big-problem message.
I do not take benefits tenants because of the additional risks involved. However, if you have a benefits that ALWAYS pay on the day she receives her money because you know that she is a reliable honest person who prioritises rent over paying for other things, and if she receives the rent herself but always pays you directly, then it is is possible that what you have is someone with a guaranteed income.
There could be a risk of the council trying to get their money back off you if they found that she was not entitled to benefits, but if you know that this is not the case and your tenant is honest then it seems to be that you could investigate what the benefit of having an honest benefits tenant could be to you, i.e. grants.

I would document the exchange, a few days I would not demand a change of payment to balance the books, it is simply not worth the time and effort.

I would be worried that the tenant cannot afford the change, if that is true, you have bigger issues ahead, if it isn’t then she is pushing, to see how far she can push it.

Again like mentioned above, short term pain now, so in a few months time the rent income increase by £4,800, you would have to evict the tenant, as she clearly would be looking at social / council housing, as the rent she can just afford now.

Hope as go’s well

4 days is not a major issue, but document the change and the outstanding, just in case of future issues.

It might be worthwhile to establish what the tenants entitlement is for rent payments from the benefits funder. You could then at least set your rent to that level. It would be no extra cost to her and may assist you. If the funder is Universal Credit, you may already be at their maximum, which tends to bear little relationship to the reality of the area the property is in.

My best advice would be agree this verbally. It won’t affect anything and she won’t be in arrears when the tenancy ends. The tenancy period will remain as it is and the rent payment date will remain as contracted. She will still have to give notice to end on the last day of a tenancy period.

Reply to the comment left by DPT at 11/03/2025 – 15:44
My best advice is don’t agree with anything: Just keep a copy of the correspondence from her that clearly states when she says she’s going to pay you and investigate what grants she might be entitled to that will help you improve your property.

Reply to the comment left by Beaver at 11/03/2025 – 15:49
I don’t think that’s very practical. The tenant will just presumably keep asking if she’s concerned that the position has not been accepted and the landlord can’t hold out forever. My suggestion about agreeing verbally is that the tenant has no evidence that the contractual payment date has changed.