How far ahead do you accept tier payments

One of my residents is asking me if they can pay tier a year ahead in the summer. A week is a long time in politics, a year is an awful long time.

I have no intention of going anywhere, I'm just not sure what to do. I don't want to say no as it may sound like I intend to bail, but I don't want to say yes incase something crazy happens outside of my control.

One of the few times I can see a good use of a SL bank, shame there's no trustworthy official ones.

Anybody else accept tier way ahead?

How would a reliable SL bank help in this matter?

I'd put the upfront payments into a different account and withdraw them weekly to pay the bills and it would be sat there all safe in case of trouble. A bit like how I have different RL savings accounts, safe money, current money.

There is one trustworthy SL Bank:

One of your alts.

Couldn't you cash the money out, put it in a real world bank, and be just as secure, or more secure, as you would with the money in an SL bank?

Beezle, you haven't met my alts! I don't trust my alts!

SuzanneC yes I could do that, open a new web saver, put it in there, but then I have to get it back into SL as and when to meet my costs. The bank issue is a side issue, I can tie the money up in SL or RL if need be.

I'm more concerned with how far in front people accept tier payments, I'm a short term lease guy generally, saying that this person has been leasing from me for about a year already.

What exactly is your problem?

If someone pays you 3 months of tier, write down the date and the length. Ta-da, bookkeeping done!

Absolutely no good use for a bank in SL. Period. Even an alt of your own isn't safe. Just keep it on your av, or cash it out to RL if you absolutely feel the need to.

I'm asking if people generally accept tier payments 12 months in advance. A lot can happen in 12 months.

I have one tenant who pays me a year at a time. I take his money and let him alone for a year. He knows that if I got run over by a truck he'd lose his equity, and accepts the risk.

I'll be the voice of descent on this one. Although you both have a very good long term working relationship, a year in sl seems like an eternity. To many things can go wrong in either sl or rl that is beyond the control of either person. I go month by month on the skybox I rent out even though I have known my renters in rl for most of my life.

Just my 2L

As long as they know that well..they could be screwed by something, then there's no reason not to.

A lot can happen in a week, hon, yet people still pay that much.

well I've just had someone offer to pay a year in advance, or monthly depending on what I wanted.


My answer was "whatever suits you". They're paying a year upfront entails a risk for them that I might crash and burn, leaving them out of pocket should I not be able to make good their loss; but I would expect them to recognise that before paying

Inc

I generally do not give refunds, so no way in heck would I accept a payment that long. So much can change. I prefer to have the smaller weekly payments anyway so I can get a better idea of the real activity of the unit.

The way I do it:

a) three months of reserve tier stockpiled

b) up to three months of tier payable in advance

That limits my liability and their loss, and also keeps the dispute figures small if there is ultimately a problem.

* * * * *

Generally there is no way I'm going to take a year's payment in advance. I get it offered all the time.

Here is what would have happened, if I accepted that about a year ago:

A % of properties totally abandoned, because tier payer moved on and is playing a different game

B% of properties where the tier payer totally forgot tier was due, or on what day, or what their alt du jour was the month they got the place

C% figuring 'well I'll check in within a month or two no big deal'*

* Tier for Caledon and its crown colonies is now precisely 6810 USD/mo, making it a 'big deal' for those of us trying to track down people last seen some months ago.

* * * * *

So no, I don't offer long term pay-ahead ( greater than 3 months).

Bad for me, bad for the resident, bad for visitors and customers of the residents.

If there was an issue and a refund comes into play, I prefer to limit my liability, so all leases are payable only up to 4 weeks at one time.

8 weeks is the most I will take, 2weeks is minimum and 4 weeks to get a discount, and I won't refund unless they can find a replacememt t tennant.

You could always say that the longest 'normal' tier period is 3 months, but that you will accept terms longer than that with the caveat that the renter understands that there are no refunds.

P2

I don't take anything more than 4 weeks at a time. Generally I don't give refunds,but will if there are un-used paid weeks(whole weeks.) I do not want to be stuck having to refund that much at once. Not to mention, so much can happen in life that can change my circumstances in an instant.

I don't think it was mentioned, but do they have a reason to want to pay that far ahead (sightseeing the north pole for 12 months)?

If it's because they wouldn't be able to get in-world easily (or at all) that might make a big difference.

If they'll just be in-world they might agree with the "no refunds" in principle now, but might feel differently 6 months down the line and refusing wouldn't necessarily make you look very good if they run around to make an issue out of it.

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I also don't think you should be worried about how turning it down makes you look: if you were dishonest you'd just take the money and not care what happens between now and then.

Why do they want to pay that much ahead of time? They won't be around? They don't want to remember? Why not have a script pay rent automagically for them? My rent is paid before I even log in (if I even do that day)! No bank or escrow needed...