Over 8 million people find themselves paying their rent late regularly. Most property managers only count late rent payments on the third or fourth day of the month.
Do you have tenants consistently paying rent late or not at all, and you want to know what you should do about it? We've got some helpful tips below to help you get your tenants back on track.
Find the Right Tenants
The first step in ensuring you don't have to deal with late rent payments is to ensure you're taking your time checking tenants' rental background history. When you run a background check, you must review it in-depth because it will tell you if the potential tenant has had issues with being late on rent or not paying it at all.
Taking time at the beginning of the rental process to check their history will reduce the chances of you dealing with a tenant that makes collecting rent a challenge.
Check the Leasing Agreement
Before you contact a tenant and speak to them about their rent being late, you've got to ask yourself if it's late. This is an easy question to ask, and all you've got to do is check the leasing agreement signed by yourself and the tenant.
This will detail the date they're supposed to pay their rent each month and how much of a grace period you've provided them until you officially count their rent as late. Once you've confirmed the rent is late, you can move forward with other methods listed below to collect it.
Send a Late Rental Notice
If you've determined that your tenant's rent is late, the next step is to send them a notice. This lets them know that their rent is late, and you should also include information about the additional fee they have to pay for the late rent.
It should also be noted how many days they have to pay their late rent and a way to contact you if they have any questions about what has happened or if they need to make a plan to pay the rent.
Pay Or Quit
We understand when paying rent late becomes a consistent problem; it can cause your rental income to fluctuate each month. If this sounds like what you're dealing with, the only option you may have is to begin the eviction process.
Once you've started this process, the next step will be to serve the tenant with a pay or quit notice. This notice lets them know they can either pay the rent that is owed or move out.
Late Rent Payments & How to Deal With Them
When it comes to late rent payments, as a property manager, it can become annoying and a hassle to deal with. Ensure you've checked the lease before reaching out to the tenant and, if necessary, begin the eviction process.
Contact Dallas Property Management for more tools and resources you can use.
