Tenant paying rent ahead of time

[Martin Guerrero]

Has anyone over had tenants pay for 5 months up front? Curious to know how other landlords see that or have handled it in the past.  Had a tenant just sign a lease income and references checked out, she paid the security deposit and first months rent.  I use rent redi about a week later she made 5 months rent payments through rent redi. 

[Nathan Gesner]

Quote from @Martin Guerrero:

Has anyone over had tenants pay for 5 months up front? Curious to know how other landlords see that or have handled it in the past.  Had a tenant just sign a lease income and references checked out, she paid the security deposit and first months rent.  I use rent redi about a week later she made 5 months rent payments through rent redi. 

 I manage 400 rentals, 13 years experience. Tenants paying in advance is not a bad thing or a red flag, as long as they are already approved, existing tenants. I've had tenants that paid rent a full year in advance, one of them did it for over 10 years. He was old, had plenty of money, and just liked to take care of his bills once a year.

It's definitely a red flag when someone is first applying. They often offer to pay rent in advance as a means of skirting your screening, jumping ahead in line, or other bad reasons. 

As Amanda said, accept it but don't spend it until it's actually earned each month.