Tenant lost job and last months rent

[Keith A.]

We have a tenant that lost her job but got a new one shortly afterwards. She mentioned the new job is withholding the first paycheck and that she would need to be late a couple weeks to catch up.

She paid deposit, first and last so would there be any issues using her last month for May and then she would be responsible for the rest of the lease and have to pay the last month? If so, would you create a document to that affect and have her sign it indicating last month is being used early?

[Aly W.]

Definitely get it writing. I recently had a tenant who moved out, and told me that she had paid first, last, and security when she moved in and would be using the last month's rent for the last month.

She only paid first and security when she moved in, which I pointed out to her in the lease, but she insisted she paid the last month's rent in advance, and refused to pay the rent for her last month there. Most tenants do not read their leases, and will conveniently forget what they paid when they moved in.