Prorate 1st month or change due date?

[Jon S.]

... do you prefer to prorate the 1st mo rent or change the due date? I’ve always pro-rated the 1st month but now that I have property mgmt software it can easily keep track of multiple due dates. I have a tenant moving in on the 5th and am thinking about just making the 5th of the month their due date for rent instead of the 1st. Any reason I shouldn’t? Thoughts?

[Chris Szepessy]

I would just pro rate the rent. Even with the software, I think it would just be easier to have all rents due on the same day. It’s probably not an issue if you only have a few properties, but as you grow it’ll get harder/more inconvenient.