Tenant asking to not pay

[Will Reed]

So me and my wife just purchased our first rental and first house ever. It had Tenants in it and one of them is asking not to pay this month. (the first month we are collected rent as new land lords) They are saying because there father died and they are incurring the cost. They then said they will pay double next month. 

Advice from land lords with experiences would be much apricated 

[Andrew Syrios]

I would not accept this. You have to be pretty tough when it comes to sob stories (many of which are false). Set policies and stick to them. And then just reference the policy, "I'm sorry, but that's the company policy and I can't change it for any one tenant otherwise it would be a violation of fair housing" or something like that.