Late Rent because of errors on check

[Dale Loo]

Hello,

My tenant is upset because I am charging him a late fee because his check had an error on it and the bank would not cash it with that error. He says he should not be assessed a late fee because he sent me the check early enough that I could have let him know about the error. Unfortunately, I did not see the error prior to going to the bank, nor do I really think it is my responsibility to proofread his checks. Am I in the wrong????

Also, these types of instances seem to happen from time to time with my other tenants as well. I really want to move away from checks- any luck using other systems? Like online?

[Michael Noto]

@Dale Loo Is the tenant a quality tenant who just made a honest mistake?  Or are they the type of tenant who has a new excuse every month?

If the tenant is solid then I would let this slide, but let them know that if it happens again you have to charge a late fee.

I have seen landlords chase quality tenants away because they get nit picky and what does the tenant do?  They simply move on because they have other options, options where they will not be bothered by minutia.