Say you have a tenant

and he pays you late 90% of the time. last month was very late. He had to send the rent to you in pieces since he had a financial emergency.

His late fees according to the lease are $20/per day past the 5th. He owes $500 in late fees. His rent is $930.

I understand people have difficulty. He does pay the rent eventually but almost never on time.

I really didn't lose any money with him paying late. The late fees are more of a deterrent (not working).

The market is very soft and having a tenant is a good thing.

what do you think is fair to collect?

I don't want to hit him with giant late fees especially since it may hinder him paying me the rent next month.

he already sent out May's rent and it will be considered on time and paid in full.

I was thinking $200 may be fair but maybe that's a bit much considering the rent is only $930.

thoughts?

Re: Say you have a tenant

Have you ever charged him fees before?

I think half is more than generous, considering that you have the fees stated in writing.

Re: Say you have a tenant

You backing down=you backing down. Stick to your guns or he will continue to pay late and expect a reduced late fee. If you want to offer to split the late fees into payments, that would be extra nice.

Re: Say you have a tenant

Yes, he's paid me about $100 in late fees already one month.

Other months were around $80 or so.

I know how tough it is in this economic environment so I'm sensitive to it but it's supposed to be a deterrent.

I always paid my rent and mortgage on time. Rent maybe I was late a day or two at the most but that was because it was cash and I had to coordinate handing my landlord the rent in person.

I think he gets paid on the 6th and that's what's holding him up. Either way not my problem..but it really is.

He's a single guy that doesn't abuse my apartment. Happy about that. This place has very little maintenance and the maintenance people know us and take care of little stuff for us like a super would.

He's a bit strange. We will talk about stuff and then he'll turn the conversation around to tell me how little he thinks apartments like mine are worth in this market. Trying to get me nervous about pizzing him off about the rent I guess.

Re: Say you have a tenant

Re: Say you have a tenant

Totally giving in, but what about making his payments due on the 7th? He only gets paid once a month though?

Re: Say you have a tenant

personally our lease says to be paid on time otherwise $20 per day it is late with in three days of the due date (the first.) We have to hunt down our landlord to pay them and the live downstairs. The was the first month we only called once to pay them. If i was you i would say x amount agreed in the lease to be paid by x amount of time due to lateness. If they say anything say for one time only - ONLY i will take half the amount and call it even but if it happens again you get a late fee. If it keeps happening we will have to take another step.

The only issue of this is if the person is a scumbag they may destroy the apartment but they might be doing that already.

I am hoping with the fact we have paid on time, even let three months with out heat when we first moved in with out deducting rent and the fact we had no TV service for several months even though it is in our lease will help us when we try to leave a few months earlier then our lease let's us go. Then again we figured they won't give us back our security never know.

Re: Say you have a tenant

I was thinking about doing that and having him pay after he gets paid. I thought that was too nice of me! Go figure.

The bank takes in out of my account on the 10th. If I get the rent by that date, I'm happy. I think I'm just more aggravated that I have to chase him. He knows it's due..he doesn't avoid me when I call him.

I bought this place for my folks and then they had to come back to NY to take care of my brother. The condo is worth less than I owe. The best case scenario is that I keep it rented until the market allows me to break even. That's the plan. He can rent something else for less.

DH wants me to hit him for the whole $500! I don't think that's a great idea considering what we have to lose.

Re: Say you have a tenant

Posted by Nifheim

personally our lease says to be paid on time otherwise $20 per day it is late with in three days of the due date (the first.) We have to hunt down our landlord to pay them and the live downstairs. The was the first month we only called once to pay them. If i was you i would say x amount agreed in the lease to be paid by x amount of time due to lateness. If they say anything say for one time only - ONLY i will take half the amount and call it even but if it happens again you get a late fee. If it keeps happening we will have to take another step.

The only issue of this is if the person is a scumbag they may destroy the apartment but they might be doing that already.

I am hoping with the fact we have paid on time, even let three months with out heat when we first moved in with out deducting rent and the fact we had no TV service for several months even though it is in our lease will help us when we try to leave a few months earlier then our lease let's us go. Then again we figured they won't give us back our security never know.

Re: Say you have a tenant

Re: Say you have a tenant

Message edited 5/4/2009 8:09:21 PM.

Re: Say you have a tenant

Re: Say you have a tenant

Re: Say you have a tenant

I will give you my perspective as a former landlord.

Our house has an appartment upstairs. It was rented before DH got the house and I moved in.

I smelled smoke. I knew the tenant was smoking. He swore to DH he was not.

He bumped his head on a wall in our house in the middle of the night. Because of that he fell the next day in a parking lot. He had cerebral palsy to start with. For 2 weeks he was on and off work. Claiming that it happened because of our appartment. Really!!!! So he lost waves. Start to pay late. DH worked with him. After a few months, I biatched to DH to do something. The guy stopped his phone line and what was supposed to be for emergency only he used our phone. One day I picked up the phone to call someone and he was on the phone. DH had to talk to him. Again guilt trip that he lost waves because he hurt himself in our appartment. Who the heck bump in head on the wall because they did not turn the light on and it's MY fault.

Anyway, DH worked with him. Split the rent to be paid 2 times per month vs 1 time. No late fee! Etc.. DH wanted to get the money and not have him walk out on us.

8 months later he had caught up.

Then on a Friday afternoon (DH was in Canada for his bachelor party), I found his keys on the stairs by the back door (his entrance!). I thought... oh he forgot his keys. Friday night nobody comes home. I am thinking he forgot his keys, he thinks I am still at work. He crashed at someone's house.

Saturday nobody is here. I called for him from downstairs in case something has happened to him and he is actually passed out upstairs. I finally go upstairs. He is not there. All his stuff he here. Except the TV. Bed in unmade, some clothes are still in the closet, etc.. The whole place has the microwave, computers, etc..

Sunday, get in touch with DH and tell him our tenant is gone. Don't know if anything happened to him.

DH comes home on Sunday night. I tell him to call the tenant's boss.

The boss told us "Oh I guess he did not have the guts to tell you... he left with a friend and moved to Atlanta".

The guy left all his $hit in our appartment. EVEN the dirty pot in the sink of his last meal with crusted pasta in it. We left messages on his friend's phone number and gave them 2 weeks to get their stuff out of the appartment. They never called back. We trashed it all. The gross bedding, the disgusting microwave. You name it. We hired a cleaning company to clean the place after he was empty.

We found cigarette burns on the 2 year old carpet. A disabled smoke alarm.

We never replaced the tenant. The $$ was nice when he was consistent but then it became a problem. His 1 month deposit did not make up for the damage he did or the loss of income.

BUT we are tenant free.

I would address the issue NOW. Hopefuly it won't turn into a nightmare like mine.

Message edited 5/5/2009 10:26:05 AM.

Re: Say you have a tenant

Re: Say you have a tenant

Message edited 5/5/2009 1:26:09 PM.

Re: Say you have a tenant

Re: Say you have a tenant

He was short on the rent in April because a family member fell on hard times and he lent them money expecting to get it back shortly. He emptied out his savings to do it (not bright) but I don't know the whole situation. He said he sold stocks and mutual funds to replenish and to pay me rent. I got it all before April 30. I've also received May paid in full and on time. He pays a few days late most of the time which is ok because he always includes the proper late fees. It's a bit aggravating to chase him some months and he always has some story.

He has his job but the family member lost his and was in danger of losing their house. Real or otherwise, I don't know.

The late fees are about half a month's rent. I have a maintenance person coming in to clean the carpets and make an inspection. I'll do that first. If I find that there are some things that weren't taken care of I will assess how much in late fees I will charge. That's an excellent idea.