Late Rent Notice
I need some advice on an awkward situation that has come up with our current tenants. Over the course of the last 1.5 years our tenants have often paid their rent late. Usually, this is no more than 3 or 4 days, but on occasion it has been over a week late (they do incur…
I need some advice on an awkward situation that has come up with our current tenants. Over the course of the last 1.5 years our tenants have often paid their rent late. Usually, this is no more than 3 or 4 days, but on occasion it has been over a week late (they do incur a penalty if the rent is more than 7 days late, but this is not what the issue is about.)
We have asked the tenants to let us know on the due date if they will be late with the rent. We live in a two family house and so are paying the typical costs of a residing landlord. Our request for them to give us a heads up is only so that we can make the necessary arrangements to cover the short-term decreased cash flow. However, our tenants feel that they are not obligated to do this given that the lease does not state that they are to communicate with us if the rent will be late. Aside from how we feel about this argument, we have decided to honor their preference and amend the future rental agreement accordingly.
So my question is what kind of clause would you recommend that we include in the lease to ask them to communicate with us on the due date if they will be late. Does anyone have a similar clause in their lease with their tenants/landlords? Or should we take a different angle and enforce stricter late rent penalties to avoid the issue all together? Thanks for any and all advice.
as a landlord with 2 tenant for many years- You do sound a bit over the top worrying about a few days. I doubt any court is going to go along with you. In other words, you sound a bit unreasonable and controlling.
Sorry, hit the post button before I was finished.
Be clear about what you expect and people will follow through. By asking them to tell you when they are going to be late, you are clearly stating that you expect them to be late.
Itʻs just weird to me that you are complaining about them being late, when you are the one who set the expectation that they could be late in the first place.
I donʻt understand why you are asking them to let you know that they are going to be late. It seems like the kind of wishy-washy door that opportunistic people tend to plow through.
Be clear about what you expect and people will tend to follow through.
I’ve been a landlord for 25 years. Two family house. The rent is due on the first of the month. There IS no grace period. I make that clear to them before they sign the lease (along with lock the door, don’t damage my property and don’t store garbage in the house). I don’t get crazy if they’re a couple of days late on occasion. The ones who were consistently late (and/or gave me checks that bounced) were problems in other ways as well and I did not renew their leases.
It has happened with more than one tenant who was consistently late with the rent that their paycheck did not clear in time for them to pay the rent on time. I made it clear that they had to work out their finances so the rent came from the previous check and/or borrow from relatives to pay the rent, not essentially borrow from me by being late with the rent. I said it nicely. Each of them got it and turned out to be long term tenants, paying on time.
You are being too easy on them and I would not renew. Your request is simple enough and they are rude. I also agree with the poster who recommended that you adjust your finances so it’s not so stressful when you get the rent late.
I’ve found it’s very difficult to pay on time if you have to mail the payment in. You don’t want to pay too early, but you don’t want to pay late, and weekends and holidays interfere. Then my landlord sometimes doesn’t cash the check for three or four weeks, which unnerves me. But whenever I lived in someone’s house, I always slipped the check under the door exactly on the day it was due.
I agree with Ringo.
Even with late fees, you have then have a new hassle of enforcing them. How much new aggravation are you going to expend on that???
With this tenant, put the pressure on them to pay on time, but assume that they will not. If they are consistently yet reliably late in their payment, it may just be their nature….procrastination. If you just make yourself a little financial cushion to work with, YOUR problem will go away (no the late payments will not go away). You can still pressure them for timely payments and if they comply it is just icing on the cake.
honestly, as a former landlord, I’d be thrilled with any tenant who paid in full every month, even if it were a week late. if that’s the only issue I had with these people, I’d be THRILLED. wait until you get a bad tenant.
Does seem odd that they don’t just honor your request to give them a head’s up about when they expect to pay–what’s the big deal? But to answer your initial question, you can combine some of the suggestions and simply include in the lease a provision that says they have a 3-day grace period unless they notify you by the due date that they’ll be late, in which case they’ll get a 7-day grace period. But, I wouldn’t do that (it just begs them to give you notice each month) and just shorten the grace period perhaps with only a very modest penalty if they pay betwen 3-7 days.
I use three days before there is a late fee. Since the rent is due on the first of the month, three days is plenty of time to be late and still be on time. In one house where I inherited tenants from the previous owner, his leases stipulated a late fee if the rent wasn’t received by the 1st of the month, with the late fee escalating with each passing day. That seemed a little brutal. I’ve always found that every tenant that I’ve rented to who intended to make good on their end of the deal and keep the relationship on a positive tone has payed the rent occasionally early, and certainly by the 2nd without any discussion.
As for putting anything in the lease, the only thing worth putting in the lease are the actual terms – the day rent is due, the day after which it is late, and the penalty if any.
Unless you are a bad landlord and you are late paying your bills, doing repairs and providing services, there is no reason for the rent to be late unless your tenant is having financial problems and comes to you beforehand for a workaround of some sort. It could happen.
But no, it isn’t mean to expect the rent on time in order to maintain a cash flow managing your house. And if you’re not going to enforce the rules of the business deal, then you either shouldn’t be renting or should give the space to a relative and spare yourself the hassle.
As for the comment that was made: “most landlords are thrilled if they get the rent by the 10th”??? sorry, but which planet is that on? some of these comments just crack me up…
good luck.