--32.215.xxx.xx

Oh, just to clarify, she said the lease did not state there was a specific day to pay if you are paying late. --32.215.xxx.xx

Jo, its late at the close of business on the 1st, not the 11th. Your tenant is absolutely late, but I can somewhat understand her confusion. --50.107.xxx.xxx

For me - rent is due on the 1st. If not received by the 3rd, $75 late fee. Iif a rent payment is not received, with the late fee by the 5th day of the month, eviction proceedings will commence. This is in my lease and I go over it verbally at the lease signing. --24.61.xxx.xx

So if your lease says that then proceed on Monday with your contact... inforce it. --99.203.xx.xx

I had this happen this month. Tenants grandmother died in a South American country and she had to help with the funeral. They paid yesterday, the tenth, which is the date on which the state allows eviction to start. I had spoken to her and her partner and knew what was happening. They both work and are very smart and good people. So I waited and got the rent in cash. I weigh this against the kind of tenant I have and their behavior and how difficult it would be to get another tenant. So you might want to consider this also. The male goes to work at 7 AM and doesn't get out until 4 or 5. He's an apprentice electrician. If the job runs late he can't get to the bank with his check. So yesterday he went to work late to cash his check and leave the money with the female. Less affluent people have all kinds of issues. My relatives were all well off so when I was a tenant I never had to give them money. --73.178.xxx.xx

NE,,in Connecticut,the State has some wishy washy law that gives everyone a ten day grace period.back in Northern Ireland or Canada,that doesn't happen.............................charlie.... --32.214.xxx.xx

I'd have to read the actual verbiage of your lease to see if it's confusing or not. Leases need to be CRYSTAL CLEAR. Just like newspapers write for 5th grade reading comprehension level. If your lease says "rent is due on the first, but it is late on the 11th", then I agree that would be confusing. Can you post here for review? --173.20.xxx.xxx

I guess it can be confusing because it seems like if you pay the late fee, you are of the hook...so...I would like some suggestions about possibly adding some clear wording to help address this situation. What's in your leases dealing with this issue? --32.215.xxx.xx

"I told her" won't fly. --99.59.x.xxx

Yes. I see now that state laws play a part in this one. I would have to tailor my lease around it and to my benefit somehow. I certainly wouldn't waste time filing for eviction, that's for sure --174.201.xx.xxx

"Rent will be paid whenever I get around to it sometime before November" is not acceptable. It tells me she has no plan and is just putting you off. But I'm not a detective and I'm not going to argue. I am going to offer a one-time shot to help her do the right thing, and failure to comply means she goes bye-bye. --173.20.xxx.xxx

Jp. My lease says there is Rent is payable on the first day of the month as follows: then I write in a statement that says "After five days a late fee of $25 is assessed that is payable as additional rent. I use those words so I can collect the late fee if I have to go to court. Court won't pay late fees unless this wording is used. That's all it says so my tenants also have no idea of the real deadline. I am going to add the following. After ten days of lateness, the State of NJ allows the landlord to begin eviction. I think that should do it. It doesn't mean I will. I have four other tenants that have been with me for ten to fifteen years and each one of them has had a problem at one time or another and paid the rent late. I have made so much money from not immediately throwing them out. That's a total of fifty tenant years. Now with a two month vacancy every two years that would be a loss of 50 months of rent and about 30 thousand dollars give or take a few. --73.178.xxx.xx

It seems late fee gets added on from the 2nd to the 10th, then it is time to file - be sure to follow your state and local tenant rules, something may have changed after you went thru the rules when you opened for business, the court will hold the business person to the highest standards. --76.188.xxx.xx

Interesting. In MA, late fee can't be charged until they are 30 days late. That doesn't mean that is actually an option. --71.10.xxx.xxx

--32.215.xxx.xx

In my lease's it states rent is due by the first. If received after the 5th of the month, there will be a $25 late fee assessed for the 6th of the month and $5 added for each additional day until a total of 10% of the rent for the late fee. --47.156.xx.xx

Filing for eviction for non payment of rent is something she will understand. --108.51.xxx.xxx

Change the paradigm. Get ACH set up and tell tenant that you will "take" rent payment on the 1st of each month. --72.172.xxx.xx

--68.10.xxx.x

!I was never a stickler on late fees,so consequently never had a problem so far.when they pay they pay.since '57 they've always paid on the first of the month,never had any reason to question them..........charlie...................................................................jo,we always had students pay per semester up front............... --32.214.xxx.xx

--68.50.xxx.xxx

--32.215.xxx.xx

My issue with this, although you are asking about late fees, is that if she pays by the end of October, for October, she is not going to have November at the beginning of November... in other words, how is she going to come up with two months rent? --72.70.xxx.x

Jo, late fees are extra money but also extra headache. Some times a tenant can have an occasional blip and be right back on track. More often then not it is a cycle that doesn’t end. By the time they get October paid near the end of the month with late fees, they don’t have November. If they can’t pay you or are bouncing checks as well, the extra fees, cc interest, etc just puts them farther under water financially. It is expensive to be poor or have poor money management skills. I would rather their problems do not become my problems. I have made the extra $1000 a year from tenants that never paid on time, but I am happier now that they are someone else’s problem. --24.61.xxx.xx

I dont talk to them, we just file. due by 1st,. late by the 11 eviction starts on the 12. NO MORE TALKING TO THEM. --74.104.xxx.xxx

If tenants have normally been good,I usually let it go,I don't charge a late fee.if they have a problem with paying their monthly rent,why make it more harder for them..........charlie.......................... --32.214.xxx.xx

I'd rather have her pay late and stay rather than have a vacancy, but we'll see how things go next week. --32.215.xxx.xx

Jo, If you would rather have her stay and want to manage her and get late fees. I never let them stay past the 5th without my beginning the eviction process unless they gave me some of the money and a plan for paying the rest in writing through email before the end of the month. I probably should have put them on a bi-weekly payment plan, but was new to landlording. I did this for years with one group because they came with the building, had no security deposit and were semi-hoarders. I didn’t want to do the renovation so I dealt with the late payments and figured I was making an extra $1000 a year for my extra work. Of course, in my case, it all went south when they got bed bugs and wouldn’t follow the protocol. Lesson learned, I should have moved them on their way before it cost me a lot more. --24.61.xxx.xx

If she had communicated with me before I had to chase her I would have felt differently. Your advice is excellent though. --32.215.xxx.xx