diff --git a/app/models/room_advert.rb b/app/models/room_advert.rb
index 53450456..9b2ac80d 100644
--- a/app/models/room_advert.rb
+++ b/app/models/room_advert.rb
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ class RoomAdvert < ApplicationRecord
   validates :contact, presence: true
   validates :description, presence: true
   validates :publicly_visible, inclusion: [true, false]
+  validates :available_from, presence: true
 
   scope :publicly_visible, (-> { where(publicly_visible: true) })
 end
diff --git a/db/migrate/20241018155243_update_room_adverts_available_from_string_to_date.rb b/db/migrate/20241018155243_update_room_adverts_available_from_string_to_date.rb
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..7505d3b8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/db/migrate/20241018155243_update_room_adverts_available_from_string_to_date.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+class UpdateRoomAdvertsAvailableFromStringToDate < ActiveRecord::Migration[7.0]
+  def change
+    remove_column :room_adverts, :available_from, :string
+    add_column :room_adverts, :available_from, :date
+    change_column_null :room_adverts, :available_from, false
+  end
+end
diff --git a/db/schema.rb b/db/schema.rb
index 3cb6bb07..428b436a 100644
--- a/db/schema.rb
+++ b/db/schema.rb
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@
 #
 # It's strongly recommended that you check this file into your version control system.
 
-ActiveRecord::Schema[7.0].define(version: 2024_03_28_205012) do
+ActiveRecord::Schema[7.0].define(version: 2024_10_18_155243) do
   # These are extensions that must be enabled in order to support this database
   enable_extension "plpgsql"
 
@@ -490,7 +490,6 @@
     t.string "house_name", null: false
     t.string "contact", null: false
     t.string "location"
-    t.string "available_from"
     t.string "description", null: false
     t.string "cover_photo"
     t.boolean "publicly_visible"
@@ -498,6 +497,7 @@
     t.datetime "deleted_at"
     t.datetime "created_at", null: false
     t.datetime "updated_at", null: false
+    t.date "available_from", null: false
   end
 
   create_table "static_pages", id: :serial, force: :cascade do |t|