Partial rent - yes or no?
A landlord friend told me this week he won't accept partial rent. Not a dollar short.
His reasoning: the month you take $800 of $1,200, you've told the tenant the number is negotiable. And if you ever end up in front of a judge, your own payment history says you accepted less.
I get it. I also know the tenant who pays $900 on the 1st and the rest on the 12th, every month, and has never missed the full month.
The hard line is clean. The flexible version keeps a good tenant housed through a bad month. I don't have a great answer.
What's your rule - partial rent, yes or no? And if it's yes, where's the line?
Most Popular Reply
#1 Tenant Screening Contributor
- Honolulu, HI
This is where so many investors/PM's absolutely FAIL. They treat this as something unique that needs to be figured out, creating a new issue to negotiate, "track", and add to their stress.
Rent is due on the first. Period. Maybe you have a "grace" period, 4 or 5 days. Wonderful. And reasonable. It is ridiculous to need to "track" different due dates, or allowed "exceptions" to your written rental agreement. Can't pay the full amount when due? No problem. The "Late" letter, with additional fee added, will be sent on the day after your grace period ends. Once that letter goes out, then you ARE required to pay the full balance in full, AND in "Good Funds"...no personal checks. On day 31 after the late notice (or otherwise per local law), an eviction will be filed. Period.
"Pretending" the first of the month does NOT work for everyone is a joke. Tighten your criteria and screen better. If they routinely cannot pay on time, they can request their other creditors to adjust their payment schedules. Utils and nearly anyone will allow one permanent shift in the regular billing date. If they can't pay the rent, they have no place to keep all their other stuff, so you need to be first in line. Similarly, if you DID perform a mediocre screening, they should have some savings. Suggest they pay half the rent out of the savings for the first month, then follow a strict budget so they will be able to pay the full amount every month when due.
Reality is, if they are that tight on funds, YOU are one car repair, one bout of flue, one minor "emergency" away from needing to evict anyway. It's cheaper to start the process today, than it will be tomorrow. If you would rather run a Charity, look into IRS 501C regs.