Frequently I read postings about tenants who are current on current month's rent but still owe for previous month, late fees, billed repairs, utilities, etc. To avoid this you should have a clause in your rental agreements stating how monies received are applied. As part of my clause about RENT in addition to the amount of rent due date, return check info, late fees, etc I use the following to address how monies received are applied.

The Landlord shall apply all monies received from the Tenant first to any non-rent obligations of Tenant (including but not limited to , late fees, returned check fees, constable / sheriff fees, court fees, repairs, and disposal fees) then to delinquent rent and lastly to current rent / use & occupancy charges. Tenant agrees that this application of monies by Landlord takes precedence over any designation Tenant may write on a check or a money order unless agreed to in writing by the Landlord.

Thank you.

(I have writing in my lease which states in who's name the utilities will be in. Years back I had teni agree that yes, they would pay the utilities however I was to pay them first.

My writing isn't good enough to share but I wanted to share the dilemma as it came up then).

I have never understood this bizarre accounting practice. How can a tenant be "current" on February and not have paid December or January?

First off, I don't let tenants get more than 1 week behind, so that kind of fixes the problem right there. ;-)

Also, each tenant has an account. There is a "Balance due." It includes EVERYTHING: all rent, late fees, pet fees, damage fees, ELT fees, etc.

In general, money paid for a specific purpose must be used for that purpose. What is usually at issue is only whether or not there was agreement between the parties as to the purpose of the payment. Statute or not, a judge will usually apply that principle.

If the tenant writes "February Rent" on the memo line of a check, and the landlord accepts it, then he is obligated to use the money for February rent.

If your manager applied the funds and gives a reciept showing this you should be OK if it is also shown in the lease, in my area you can not collect for any court officer before filing, the eviction bailiff fees are added on by the judge when you win there.

Vee, in MA in order to start a non payment eviction we have to serve & be able to prove that the tenant received their 14 day notice. There are 2 different notices one for term tenants aka yearly lease & another for MTM tenancies. These notices have very specific wording & type size.

I normally serve these myself by having the tenants sign & date 2 copies one original for them & another original for me. If the tenants cooperate by signing it saves them a $50.00+ process serving fee. If they don't cooperate then this fee is immediately entered into their rent ledger. Any monies received after this are first applied towards these fee then any other charges. In order to preserve our evictions rights & not restart the time line we must give them a receipt stating that the monies are being used for use & occupancy.