BiggerPockets

Do you remind your tenants each month when the rent is due? Lately, I have had more and more issues with late payments. I have not sent reminders in the past and had not had much late payment trouble. The last couple months, I started sending a reminder email the evening of the 1st if the rent isn't in yet. My tenants pay online and can pay up until midnight on the due date.

Does your mortgage company or the bank that has your car loan send you reminders?

"Reminders" should come in the form of a late notice (with late fee info attached) sent out by mail, email, text--whatever--as soon as rent is late. It's either due on the 1st or it's not.

Sending reminders sets a bad precedent, and tenants will expect to be coddled well into the future.

I too found that a few of my tenants were having trouble making it on the 1st. Turns out they could never be sure if their last-day-of-the-month paycheck deposit got through in time. So, I gave those tenants the option of paying by the 5th. They were thrilled, and now the rent is no longer late. But I do not remind them. I am too busy for that.

Actually, all my mortgage companies and credit card companies do send me a reminder - the monthly statement.

I text my tenants on the last day of the month with a reminder. Along with small discount for payment on the first (about 3%), this has worked well for me.

In the past I used to invoice every month. My payments were much more consistent, plus I would get my late fees paid just by mentioning it in the invoice!

The only reason I stopped was because the person that I had in place to do it left the company and got involved in his family business. Once my new secretary is trained, this will be added to her tasks.

Good luck! :mrgreen:

I just started doing this last month. I only have 13 renters total, and I just send them all a group text 5 days or so before it is due.

I have 5, soon to be 6, tenants and most use an online payment site, www.erentpayment.com, which auto-debits their account on the 1st.

The 2 tenants that don't use the online payment site always get a text from me on the 2nd of the month reminding them the rent is due and the late fee will apply. When their leases renew, they will be required to pay online. Reminding them every month seems to work for now.

I go around to each apartment on the 28th or 29th of the month and leave a self addressed envelope at each door. Tenants will then mail me the rent and serves as a reminder as well. This has worked quite well for me, especially when I used to collect in person which was a nightmare. Tenants seem to so easily forget that rent is due and they can pay when they get around to it. Unfortunately, we cannot just shut off their service like you would electricity or cell phone when bill is not paid, tenants are well aware of this which is why us landlords are usually the last to be paid.