Tenant is 3 days late on rent
Investor · Milwaukee, WI · Member since 2018 · 16 posts · 8 votes
Just bought our property last month and there was an existing tenant. In the current lease that he signed before we purchased the property he has to pay rent in full on the 1st. There was no late fees in the lease. Now it is March 4th and he still hasn’t given us rent. When I tried to get it from him he said he won’t have it until Friday March 8th.
What steps can I take to make this process easy for both of us. My property is in Wisconsin.
Any advice will be great!
Thank you!
Allow time for your tenants to become familiar with your management style and for you to get to know your tenants. Meet with them and share your values and expectations with one another.
Be FRIENDLY (professional & polite), FIRM (establish a clear rental agreement and enforce the terms), FAIR (abide by the law and consider what is reasonable), FAST (attend to matters in a timely manner) and FLEXIBLE (if the situation warrants it.)
Make the effort to establish and maintain a good landlord-tenant relationships. Landlords need good tenants and tenants need good landlords.
When a tenant is late with rent, we call or text them to let them know we haven't received their rent and check in with them to find out what's going on. If they don't have the rent that day, we give them our Rent Past Due Letter, which reinforces the terms of the rental agreement, our expectations, and the consequences of not being timely with rent. If they don't respond to that favorably, then we serve the legal notice to pay rent or quit. You must be prepared to follow-through after serving a legal notice and realize this is the first step toward eviction. Some tenants won't really respond until they get the legal notice. If it gets to that point more than once, then the tenancy usually can't be saved.
Here's our Rent Past Due letter. Feel free to modify it according to the laws of your jurisdiction and the lease agreement currently in place.
[Your Company Letterhead with name, address, phone info]
[Date]
Dear _____________________________,
Your rent is now past due. Please pay your rent promptly so you may continue to live in the unit that you now occupy.
As per your rental agreement:
Rent is due on the first (1st) day of the month.
Rent is late on the second (2nd) day of the month.
We allow a grace period through the fifth (5th) day of the month to pay your rent without incurring a late fee.
On the sixth (6th) day of the month we charge a late fee of fifty dollars ($50.00).
If we do not receive your rent in full in a timely manner, we will serve you with a 3-day legal notice, “Notice to Pay Rent or Quit”. Each time we serve a legal notice, we charge an additional twenty dollars ($20.00) posting fee.
If you do not follow the terms of the “Notice to Pay Rent or Quit” we may then begin eviction proceedings against you and you will be charged with the crime of “Unlawful Detainer” if a judge upholds our claim.
The amount of rent now due, as of today’s date _________________, is as follows:
Current Month Late Fee_______________
Current Month Rent_______________
TOTAL DUE_______________
Time is of the essence. If you have not already posted your rent via the mail, please call us immediately to make arrangements for us to collect the rent in person.
Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter!
Sincerely,
[Your signature and title]
"I’ve learned on my multi families just go there on the fourth"
This is a bad business practice, landlords should never be picking up a tenants rent, unless you are managing a C/D property, even then it is not good. Tenants are responsible for having rent in the landlords possession by the due date. It is never a landlords responsibility to chase tenants for rent. This practice simply is not scalable.
Never cater to tenants by picking up rent. You need to train them better. Issue pay or quit notices and get them in line.
Thomas it depends on the class properties you have and Mine are C class so I’ve had them for 20 years
I still tell them rent is due on the first
I still get my late charges
@Nathan Simons in texas we will post an advance 3 day notice. Or you can do cash for keys to get him out and find someone who can make payments on time and 3xs rent .
@Nathan Simons
Automatic rent payments may be a helpful tool for this tenant.
I use Cozy to setup automatic rent payments. It is a huge help with removing the stress of late payments. It's a free service as well. You can also get creative to offer more favorable rent payment terms to encourage your tenant to pay on time. For example if your tenant sets up automatic rent payments the ACH debit won't hit their account until the 5th. Just a thought let me know if this help!
@Nathan Simons I wouldn’t kick them out so quick, but that’s just me. In Florida, 5 day grace period is standard. Not sure about your area. Once you learn the local law, make sure to post a 3-day notice to pay or quit as soon as you can, even if you suspect they are going to pay you by the 8th. If you don’t post the 3-day and wait till the 8th, if they fail to pay, you can’t just start the eviction right then. The 3-day has to come first, then the waiting period. It starts the clock in your favor. This is why it’s so important to do that part as soon as possible.
As far as the eviction goes, I would post the 3-day ASAP and then wait until the 8th to collect. If they are playing games, start the eviction on the 9th. If you give them a chance to pay on their promise date and they were being truthful, you will have avoided a lot of time and cost associated with filing the eviction and then cleaning/fixing up the unit, marketing, and not to mention vacancy. If they do pay this month, be sure to remind them firmly that if they are late the next month you will not give them a second chance, and you will start the eviction process as early as possible. Just me.
@Nathan G. Thanks for the tip. Would you recommended I hand this letter to him in person or send it in the mail?
Be very careful with this and know your local L/T laws! In New York, the landlord cannot legally hand deliver or serve his/her own tenants; this must be done by a process server whom is not a party to the contract being breached. Additionally, mailings are only considered a legal form of service under certain extenuating circumstances which must be justified to the judge, and only then should be sent certified AND first class mail simultaneously.
I agree with @Marcia Maynard.
As far as how to send the letter, I'd say it depends on how serious you are. I will say that when I'm serious I send it Registered Mail w/return receipt and separately by regular U.S. Mail. If the tenant refuses to accept the registered mail but the copy sent by U.S. Mail is not returned by the postal service then it is considered as received where I live.
I agree with @Marcia Maynard.
As far as how to send the letter, I'd say it depends on how serious you are. I will say that when I'm serious I send it Registered Mail w/return receipt and separately by regular U.S. Mail. If the tenant refuses to accept the registered mail but the copy sent by U.S. Mail is not returned by the postal service then it is considered as received where I live.
Thanks Scott for sharing how you do it.
How to send the letter depends on the landlord-tenant law for the jurisdiction. We hand deliver or mail via regular first class mail for regular communication letters, such as our Rent Past Due letter. For legal notices such as "Pay Rent or Quit" we must serve in a specific manner, starting with trying to hand deliver to the intended person. If that's not successful, then hand delivery to another person at the residence of suitable age and mailing first class. If that also is not possible, then posting notice and mailing first class, known as "Nail and Mail". In Washington State we don't need a process server or third party for this. If the tenant doesn't respond appropriately to the initial legal notices to comply with the terms of the rental agreement, then we turn it over to our attorney to proceed and their process server will deliver subsequent legal notices.
For simple communications, some landlords have success with email and/or texting. If we don't receive rent on time, we will first reach out to the tenant by phone or text. Most tenants respond favorably to this and we are able to resolve the matter amicably and quickly.
For serious matters, when we mail by USPS First Class Mail, we pay extra to get a "Certificate of Mailing" ($1.45 by 2019 prices) to have proof we mailed the item (letter or legal notice) when we said we did. For example, when mailing the "Final Report" letter about use of security deposit after move-out, we get the "Certificate of Mailing". We just need to show we did what we are required to do by our law. We can't control how it's received on the other end and we're not held accountable for how it's received.
When something is sent "Certified", "Registered", or "Return Receipt", it will cost the sender more and may not be necessary, unless the landlord-tenant law for your jurisdiction requires it. If a tenant is required to sign for the item, they may try to avoid signing or may simply not be at the residence when delivery is attempted. This may cause an unnecessary delay. Doing both First Class and Registered may give you peace of mind that the item was delivered and received by the intended person. The only question remaining, did they open it, read it, understand it, and respond appropriately? The jury is still out on that one. :-)
certain kind of tenants require landlords to pick up $
Many are incapable to mail it or would never send it but are good tennats
Eli, going to a multi units and picking up cash rent payments sets you up to get robbed. What prevents one of the tenants from calling a friend telling them when you will be there collecting. This happened when I worked at the bank and a landlord was telling us what happened.
In my state, it costs a minimum of $3500 in legal and related fees, plus (in reality) 3 months lost rent, to evict--and that's best case. Have tenants that the housing court will find sympathetic--elderly, disabled, and/or children in the household? Then you will wish you had paid the tenants $4000 and a box of %$&*#*@ chocolates just to leave.
Three days late is nothing, IF you can depend on them to pay consistently each month within a reasonable amount of time. Are they just disorganized and need a text reminder? So text or call with a friendly reminder and see what happens. You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar, it is said.
I have just such a tenant. He mostly pays on the first or second day of the month, but sometimes I have to text him a friendly reminder on day four of five. Then says "oh sorry!! I was [insert lame excuse here]", and pays immediately. He's disorganized, but financially sound. We all have our issues. He's been my tenant for 18 months and has yet to be more than a week late.
All I really care about is a steady flow of rent and that he takes care of the apartment. All he cares about is a friendly and respectful landlord who attends to any repairs or issues promptly. Note that this is a higher-end apartment and I'm getting higher end rent. But regardless, I try to remember to treat all people how I'd like to be treated. If I nailed a "7-day notice to quit" to his door for being a few days late, without trying a respectful approach first, I might find myself shopping for a nice box of chocolates.
I respectfully disagree with another poster's approach "you have to train tenants to pay on time". I were a renter, and my landlord treated me as if he were training a dog, that would almost certainly end badly for both of us.