Tenants are habitual late rent payers. In the year only paid on time twice. Not renewing lease I want to give 60 days notice instead of 30 days notice.

Some persons believe I should stick with 30 days. Rationale for advance notice to ensure tenants exist in a timely manner so I can market unit.

Just to put out a different perspective-

I only do MTM (for various reasons), and , I have good success with letting tenants get a different payment date every month, if they want. I agree with most on this board that this isn’t a good plan for most landlords.

Here’s how my method works: rent is due on the fifth. IF tenant will not be able to make it on the fifth, they MUST text me with a new date they will pay, I must approve the new date. There is a $25 late fee for this. If, for some reason, they don’t have it all by the new date, they MUST text ahead of the date, with another new date, I must approve, and there is a $10 fee.

Some things to this: I do go over, have a conversation with them, make sure they still have a job, still have means to pay. I NEVER let them go over one month into the next. They will not get caught up. Ok, that isn’t true. I have let two go over, one eventually got the boot over volatile behaviors (rent caught up,) the other is still with me years later, pays on time every month. Still owes a very small amount from an overdue water bill, that I earn 18% on, and has that almost paid off.

Keep in mind, I have a Mom-type personality, don’t have a lot of properties, and, have a strong ability to train/teach.

If tenant doesn’t text BEFORE rent is late, they will get a five day Pay or Quit on their door. Those of you who know Wisconsin landlord laws can spot the two egregious errors I made in this. But, my tenants don’t know. I am not doing anything illegal, just wouldn’t have a legal leg to stand on with that five day Por Q. ( My proper Notice should be the 14 day Notice to Vacate, no remedy available to tenant) Ssshhhhh..... The five day gets their attention, they don’t make the mistake of not texting again.

I do my method because, in my experience, tenants have a fear of landlords, and, in my city, sadly, the MOST segregated city in the US, there is massive distrust of ‘the one of these things that don’t look like the others.’ I am the one who doesn’t look like the others, in my rental area. Once my tenants know I deal fairly, and want us BOTH to be successful, trust develops, my system works.

Again, my system isn’t for most landlords. I have patience, ability to train/ teach. My system keeps my tenants in place longer, the houses are kept very clean, tidy, my tenants all get along with neighbors. I am very slow at rehab/ turnovers, (and a lot of contractors who work in the suburbs refused me to work in the city.) so, for me, and my skill set, keeping a tenant and developing them into a great tenant is my best plan for financial success.

Just a perspective....your mileage may vary ( ymmv)

Oh, kindly find a moniker other than your actual name. Or, maybe this is a nickname, not your actual name.

Busy you have made getting rent complicated. Maybe on one or 2 units-- its a go but not when your rent roll is 100? It's like Abbot and Costello's "who's on first" cause I don't know who's on 2nd going into 3rd.

TS,

What Ken and busy said about notice. I'd give 30 days notice but understand they might take longer so same as if you had given 60 days.

Ideally collect the rent THEN give notice.

Thinking: Understand you have trained them it's OK to be late by allowing this 12 times.

Me? It's obvious they don't have the money on the first. I would put them on PayDayPlanRent - weekly, with autodraft from their checking account. Bite sized pieces taken out each Friday. YOU control the payment, not waiting and HOPING they pay.

Rent divided by 4, plus $10, 52 times a year. No longer about the month, just Friday , Friday, Friday...Just like their paycheck!

HELP them give you money.

BRAD

PS Weekly rent will bring in a 13th month of rent each year.

MYOB, sure, I agree, my method isn’t for everyone. I said that many times in my post above. What I have made is a

SYSTEM THAT WORKS FOR ME !

The original poster either doesn’t have 100s of units yet, OR, original poster is in waaaaay over his head IF he has 100s of units and hasn’t figured out a

SYSTEM THAT WORKS FOR HIM!

I was only presenting my system , as, it was clear to me that the original poster hadn’t figured out a way to deal with late rent payers. I AM NOT saying anyone else’s methods are wrong. In fact there are many, many good ideas, all different, all can work, depending on the knowledge, skills, and abilities of the person implementing them. I VERY MUCH like Brad’s system, in fact tried it on my two chronic lates. The one tenant probably merits a diagnosis of O.D.D., and that was getting in the way of it working for her. (No, I am not legally qualified to diagnose O.D.D., but have worked with it enough to spot it.) The other tenant was going ‘through a rough patch’ went through several different jobs, so the pay dates were constantly changing. So, that is where I developed my current system.

I agree with you FULLY that my system gets hairy in the months when everybody has something come up. AND, to top it off, I have a couple of tenants that have taken my Dave Ramsey (and others) references to heart. Two tenants who work seasonally are paying ahead, so when they are off in the summer, they are paid up. I have to keep on top of that, cuz they get months and months ahead.

But, MYOB, you and I are very different personalities. What’s in your skill set is very different than mine, and vice versa. I’ll NEVER have hundreds of units. Heck, I doubt I’ll ever have more than a dozen. MOST landlords don’t. And that’s the great thing about this landlording gig. There is room for all kind to be successful.

Cheers!

Busy sorry I'm a "get to the meat" kind of person (as most here know).

I love any system that works for the user. AND yes you did make it clear the system isn't for everyone. With all the other clutter out there in the LL world I don't want to remember what I need from this one or that one that's different than others. I really don't want to skirt the laws of GA so I follow them as far as rent billing goes. We go to court A LOT (I mean a lot) so I can't get tripped up by some smart body judge who's just itchen to put Mr. Bad LL in jail-- for anything. So I try to avoid being to cute with the tenants. My policy is it says this and this is what the law says-- so that's how we roll with it.

I have a long time tenant who habitually pays late. I made 150 in late fees last year from this tenant. I increased the late fee to 50 so I'll make more, they're not going anywhere and I inherited them from the PM company + they low maintenance. So extra for me!

I'm not a gambling man but I'd be tempted to put money on your tenant using the security as last month rent. If you can tolerate it raise the rent and late fee, otherwise cut them loose. If your state allows 30 days then go w/ that.

Unless you are collecting good late payment fees this place should have us new tenants about 11 months ago, ask the manager how this happened and deduct from pay next time.

Being a Landlord is a training business, what have you done to train these residence about paying on time? What can you do better so you don't have to "enjoy" another vacancy with the next set of residence?