When COVID-19 hit, many landlords found themselves with empty pockets when it was time to begin rent collection. People stopped paying rent, but those days are long gone, even though some tenants still refuse to pay their rent.
If you have tenants making late rent payments a habit, there are some steps you can take to start seeing your money each month. Read on below and find some useful rent collection tips you've not heard of before.
Take Time to Review the Lease
The first thing you need to do when people aren't paying rent is to stop and check the leasing agreement. No one is perfect, which means there is the potential that you've anticipated their rent was late, but it wasn't.
When you review the lease, you will find the date listed on the agreement for when the tenant should pay rent. It will also note when their rent is considered late.
A rule of thumb as a landlord is to require that every tenant pay their rent on the first of the month. By doing this, you don't have to go back and forth guessing when rent is due.
Send Out a Reminder
Life happens, and sometimes people become so busy that they forget they have to pay their rent. With that being said, the easy thing to do is to send your tenant a reminder that they are late paying their rent.
When you create this email, it's best to include the amount that is owed and a reminder of when the rent should be paid each month. It also helps to list the additional fees associated with paying your rent late and what happens if something like this continues to occur.
This helps you create a paper trail of documentation in case you have to go to court to evict the tenant.
Pay Or Quit Notices Exist
Sometimes if late rent has become a pattern for a tenant, the next step will be to send a pay or quit notice. This type of notice is often the first step in the eviction process and provides the tenant with one more chance to pay you the rent that is owed.
We recommend speaking to a lawyer with experience in these types of cases because they can help guide you through it. They can also help to ensure that you're not infringing on any laws that could cause you to face penalties in the future.
Start the Eviction
There will be times when the only solution is to begin the eviction process, even if it's not something you want to do. You're losing money when you allow people to live in your property without paying.
This means you need to do what it takes to get the current tenant out and find someone to live there that will pay their rent each month.
Rent Collection: What to Do When People Don't Pay?
When it comes to rent collection, the last thing you want as a landlord is to deal with late payments. However, it's something that happens, and in some cases, you've got to start the eviction process or serve the tenant with a pay or quit notice.
Contact Blue Line Property Management and let us help you learn how to deal with these types of situations.
