What does it mean to have your monthly rent prorated?

Question

My lease expires on August 9 and I have to pay well over the prorated rent for 9 days for the month of August. I thought you calculated prorates by dividing your rent by the number of days in the month. My landlord told me my rent is higher than this because she prorates by 360 days, not by days of the month and that she does this to prevent me from paying for more than 5 days I won't be living in the apartment. I don't understand this logic or definition of prorration at all. I pay rent on a monthly basis, too, so what dollar amount is she dividing by 360 days? I think I'm being scammed!

Answer 1

I am a landlord and I have never heard of prorating by the year. I prorate by the month myself. I would say she is trying to peg you stupid and confusing you but I have never heard of it this way. Go to the fair housing authority in your city or just the housing department and they can tell you what is legal or not and if you are being scammed. Does your lease state anything about how she prorates?

Answer 2

Unless your lease provides for annualized pro-ration of the partial month's rent, it must be based upon the number of days in the month. Even if it provides for annualization, it must specify a 360 day year (common in some financial calculations, by the way) or the actual number of days in the year will be presumed.

As a practical matter, the difference is minimal. For example, a $600 monthly rent would equal $7,200 annually. Using a 360 day year, the daily rate would be $20. Using a 31 day month, the daily rate would be $19.35. Therefore, the 360 day annualized pro-ration for 9 days would be $180.00 and the days-of-the-month pro-ration would be $174.15. (Using a 365 day year would result in a daily rent of $19.73 and a total of $177.57.)

Unless the lease provides for annualized pro-ration, tell the landlady to pound sand. A well-written lease will explicitly specify the daily rate for partial months. Lacking that, how much did you pay when you moved in for the first partial month? If if was based on a days-in-the-month calculation then the landlady has no basis for stipulating otherwise at the other end of the contract.

Answer 3

This *could* make sense if she did 365 days and your monthly rent x 12

Can you give us the numbers??

Answer 4

you are being scammed. If u renew fine but after this lame explainatuion your landlord gave I would look elsewhere. Your thinking is correct.