How to account for rent cheque?

[Mike or Penny Novack]

First off, I do realize that this is more of an accounting question, but 
I took the liberty to post here................. the rent that I pay 
should be accounted as an expense. However, the way that I do it is that 
I give to my landlord a cheque with the rent amount, each first day of 
the month. This seems to me like being a liability, which disappears 
when my landlord cashes the cheque.

It's also a "jurisdiction" question and I can't tell you the rules for 
where you are. Here (anywhere in the US) the money in the checking 
account legally ceases to be yours once you have made "constructive 
delivery" of the check. Handed it to your landlord, or put it in the 
mail (which is why here, postmark date is legally relevant). This is 
complicated because here, checking accounts do NOT have "overdraft" as a 
matter of course, though that can often be arranged. In other words, if 
you write and make "constructive delivery" of checks for more than your 
account balance you are technically violating the law. Of course, if by 
the time the checks get back to your bank there is enough money in the 
account, you are unlikely to get caught for having used "float".

In other words, here, the proper date for the transaction is the one for 
which you have made "constructive delivery". Normally that would be the 
date on the check (again, technically illegal to "postdate" a check, 
date it later than the "delivery" date on the presumption that it could 
not arrive till a few days later, especially if a weekend involved).

Michael D Novack