Q. When I rent out my properties I always ask tenants for two months’ rent up front and then monthly in advance. Will I be able to do this once the Renters Rights Bill comes into force?

A. The rules about rent in advance (at the time of writing) are not straightforward and it depends on whether the tenancy has started or not.

Before the tenancy starts, you cannot take any payments up front (apart from a holding deposit) until the tenancy has been entered into, i.e. before the tenancy agreement has been signed, committing both parties to the tenancy.

Once that has been done, you can take the tenancy deposit and up to one month’s rent in advance – but no more. If more rent is taken, this will be a prohibited payment.

Once the tenancy has started, you cannot require tenants to pay rent before the rental period, although you can require them to pay the rent in advance at the start of the period.

For example, say the tenancy periods run from the first day of the month until the last day of the month. You can require the tenant to pay the rent in advance on the first day of the month. But you cannot require them to pay it earlier than that, i.e. in an earlier tenancy period.

So, you can ask them to pay February’s rent on 1st February, but you cannot require them to pay it in January.