How I Avoid Late Rent Payment

[?] Subscribe To This Site

How I Avoid Late Rent Payment

by Adam Shapir
(Denver, CO)

As a landlord I find that late rent payments used to be one of my most common yet tricky landlord issues. I had to learn the hard way that preventing late rents is a lot more effective versus allowing it to happen then scratch your head for solutions.

So how do you stop late rent payment cold in its tracks? Firstly you have to realize that even the most reliable tenant will be tempted to delay paying the rent if they can get away with it scot-free.

You may be a nice person but it does not pay to be an overly forgiving landlord.

Play hardball by having a late rent penalty and making sure that it's enforced strictly. Try not to give in to any excuses or reasons especially in the early months of the tenancy. For excellent tenants who have been with me for a long time, I will tend to overlook the occasional late rent.

From my experience, most tenants will begin paying rent on time once they have to fork out late rent fees a few times. In the long run, this strategy has made rent collection a breeze for me and I'm sure it will do the same for you.

Comments for
How I Avoid Late Rent Payment

Average Rating

Click here to add your own comments

Rating

Tenant late paying constantly NEW
by: Anonymous

I have a tenant who is constantly late in paying. Over and over I have charged him a late fee which most of the time he's paid. He has lived there now for 7 1/2 yrs. I put up with it because he has been there a long time, but I can't believe anyone would rather keep paying the late fee, I sure wouldn't.

He moved in a dog which he was not allowed to do & he has let my beautiful sod lawn I put in completely die. The sprinklers I automatically set he turned off because he doesn't want the dog to run around on a wet lawn I guess. I can't figure it out especially since I pay for the water. He blocked the driveway so the gardeners could not get into the back to mow so many times I finally gave up and stopped sending the gardener over.

This month I remodeled the bathroom in his unit because it really needed it. He probably thinks it was done for him, but I did it for the property so it will look better for the next tenant. Now I guess he's mad because he has been disrupted; I see he hasn't paid the rent on time again. No phone call of explanation nothing. I guess now he figures he doesn't need to pay. Last month he sent me a note requesting his rent not be raised because of the bathroom remodel. I haven't raised his rent in 2 1/2 years & yet he feels it shouldn't be raised. It's below market as it is.

The only thing I can figure out to do, because I'm tired of wasting my time arguing with him is to hire a property management company. He can deal with them & I know for sure they aren't going to be as nice as I've been. It's too bad it has to come to this but it's just too frustrating to me. I worry about having problems from the property management company. I don't like how I see they are allowed to keep the late fees, this I feel will make it where they will want the tenants to be late to collect it. I'd rather just get my rent on time and not get the late fee although I have benefited financially with them.

Rating

To avoid a bad tenants
by: TFG

I have added in my lease agreement a Zero Tolerence for Criminal Activity Adendum. If the tenant for any reason, criminal or disturbance has the police report to the property it is a violation of our lease agreement. This ensures the tenant will not be to loud and will reduce criminal activity. Also when advertising the apartment I state that I do background checks, credit checks and proof of employement. The more through you are the better the tenant you get. If they are good people and do not have anything to hide then they will try to rent from you and they will know that others living there are also good people. It makes it a safe comfortable place to live.

Rating

Total rent default
by: Anonymous

Wow! I know exactly what you mean. As a property manager we had a tenant who didn't pay the rent for 6 mos. Took them to court at a cost of several thousand dollars in attorney fees.
They stole electricity by plugging into the "common area" outlets!
After 6 mos I thought it appropriate for this person to leave by the end of the 6th month. After all, they knew this was coming. However, they asked the court via their attorney if they could have another 10 days PAST the end of the month due to the incovenience of the holiday,etc.
Can you imagine?!
Guess what? The extra days were granted, even after 6 months of no rent! They were not even ased why they didn"t pay the rent for 6 mos.!!
I understand the principle regarding favorable tenant laws, i.e., the landlord is considered to be in the advantagious position by owning the property and that they can be abusive and negligent as well.
However, the whole thing has gone the other way when landlords are left absolutely powerless in some situations. It needs to change.

Rating

Tenants from Another World
by: Anonymous

I can't believe that rental boards are giving the tenants so many rights. I have a tenant who has been late with the rent for the last 10 months. Also I had 8 letters of complaints from neighbors about her bad behavior and swearing, fighting and yelling all the time. I was also assaulted on my own property by these tenants stating to the rental board that I now had a fear from these tenants. I got my report back after the hearing that I did not have any evidence and that these tenants could still stay in my house. We now have the police involved just for protection against these people. MY God!!!!!!!!!!!! Where are our rights as landlords and owners of our properties? Something needs to be done about the laws that are in place for us.

Click here to add your own comments

Join in and write your own page! It's easy to do. How?
Simply click here to return to Share How You Handle Late Rent Payment from Tenants

footer for propertydo

How I Avoid Late Rent Payment

Comments for How I Avoid Late Rent Payment

Comments for
How I Avoid Late Rent Payment