Landlords making us pay quarterly, what’s the chances of being able to renegotiate o?

Hi, my boyfriend and I are both students in Edinburgh. We moved in together and share a flat. The landlord accepted us as students on the basis that we pay three months upfront plus the deposit. When we applied for the flat I initially thought this meant 3 months upfront then pay monthly as I’d always done in the past when renting. Then just as we got the standing order it said to pay 3 months upfront every three months. We were a bit concerned about this as summers are usually lean but thought we would get our loans in time to pay by September etc.

Turns out we don’t get our loans in until late September meaning we will miss the quarterly payment deadline by a few weeks. The rent is very expensive for Edinburgh as it’s a capital city and accommodation is competitive and expensive.

I’ve asked my boyfriend to call them and request that we pay one months rent in September then pay quarterly as of October so it synchs up with us getting paid our loans. He seems to think that such a request would mean we’re going back on our deal (verbal agreement that’s not actually even written into our contract) and would put us at risk of getting evicted (even though at no point would we be not paying the rent for each month.

I’m an artist and performer (its fun but also relevant experience for my degree) so was hoping to do temp work and go perform at festivals and events this summer leaving me with enough to cover my monthly rent and living costs but not to cover an £1,500 advance rent payment. He wants me to cancel all my gigs and take whatever job will have me until I’ve got the money to cover 3 months in advance. I’m not keen on this idea as you might imagine and a bit annoyed as he’ll be covering the rent with his parents money I.e. not working a **** minimum wage job.

He says it’d be dishonest/dishonourable for us to renegotiate with the landlord and put us at risk of eviction whereas I think they’re making enough money off us to be a bit more reasonable.

Can anyone weigh in with some advice please? I know I could just go ahead and call the landlord myself but I know this will make my partner upset and if he’s correct potentially get us evicted :/
Ideas?

A LL can decide what terms he wants.
A tenant need to read the contract/ agreement they signed about the payment schedule.
You have nothing to lose by asking, but if you have signed and fail to keep up with the payment schedule then you would be in breach.


I think you are correct and your bf is being naive. That said if its clear in the contract then you have signed something you were always going to have trouble with. Imo if it gets you evicted so what, just find somewhere else as you have an unreasonable LL.

I am caught between knowing its your fault as you signed it and it says the schedule v it is ambiguous. I think its less legal and more common sense.

It’s not written in our contract. I made sure it wasn’t. Verbal agreement between my fella and the landlord. Also in Scotland you can only have contracts that last for a month at a time so even if it was written into a contract it would no longer be valid after a month anyway.

It’s not written in our contract. I made sure it wasn’t. Verbal agreement between my fella and the landlord. Also in Scotland you can only have contracts that last for a month at a time so even if it was written into a contract it would no longer be valid after a month anyway.