At the depths of the 1997 recession I purchased many low income apartment buildings for a song. The issues were with the prior owner's management, of the lack there of. New laws in my City's rent control ordnance states that a landlord can not change the way a tenant makes payments. Too many new owners would evict all because they didn't receive the rent by the 1st of the month. Many tenants wait for their social security checks or pension checks and can't pay rent before they received and cash those checks.

So the idea of my forcing blood from a turnip is absurd, I just have to suck it up and work with my tenants.

Working with a tenant you know is often better than working with a new tenant with no prior dealings.

So, instead of me chasing my tenants for the rents I started to use "Mr Landlord" tactics. Rewards and benefits for paying rent on time. For one example on the anniversary I would raise my tenants rent. This would build in an automatic late fee built into the rental amount. I would explain also to my tenants that if the rent check's envelope was post marked the 1st or before, I would give them a credit equal to the rent increase, payable to them every six months. After I tried this tactic I got half of my late payers to pay early.

What bunch of sorry excuses. One thing I don't tolerate is failure to communicate.

Indeed, do you think that they could have written a check at their bank for "Cash" to obtain the money on Tuesday Sep 4? I rather commend you for duly chasing after them until they paid the rent, but it irritates me to think that they would be playing you and taking advantage of your patience.

You have trained them to jerk you around. Not sure who has the time for that def not me. Re read your comments " They never pay on the first

I always have to call and ask what day they will be able to pay.

On the third I called the male and he said he would stop and get the cash after work. He did not show up and no phone call.

I left a note on the female's windshield on the sixth saying the rent was late.

Female calls me on the sixth to tell me her debit card had been hacked

male had lost his cell phone and they could not find it which is why he did not call me. I finally got a call from him on Saturday

Robert J, you have some of the most interesting stories, and I understand your incentives in your dealings.

I think this forum gives excellent advice with Zero Tolerance being a prime one, and it's also good to hear about alternative strategies too.

Hi Ally;

I really dont like calling people and asking for money. Even if it is my rent. I think they will see the call and reject it rather quickly for the most trivial of reasons. I also think me calling every month hounding them for rent shows a lack of trust for them on my part.

For these tenants of yours, I really think I have the perfect solution. As soon as possible, raise their rent 100 dollars per month. Then put in the raise that rent paid in cash on or before the first will automatically receive a 100 dollar credit (So that rent paid on time saves 100) I still have my late fees for after 10 days or what ever the state allows.

This way they are looking for you to pay their rent (so that they receive the 100 dollar credit), instead of you looking for them to collect.

The optics of this scenario I feel are better because you are not questioning their trust until they are late.

AllyM, admit it - you enjoy the drama. I take it you enjoy putting the tenants, who you know WAY too much about, in charge.

I hate to say it, but I hope any newbies here see your posts and know that they are examples of how not to be a landlord.

Before reading all the responses to you I wanted to give you my initial take.

Your being blinded by the cash. When cash is involved BACK UP- WAY UP. Cash makes you do things you shouldn't do.

I suspect that dear Ms. Ally, if she has children, always went into their room in the morning to gently wake them up. They ignored her and she returned two more times before they finally complied. When they were late for the school bus, she probably thought it was her fault for not getting them up on time, then drove them in so they wouldn't be late.

Mine: Bought them an alarm clock & showed them how to use it. If they were late, they walked or rode a bicycle.

Different perspective on who is responsible for what.

"Do you want to be right or do you want to be rich?" This comes to mind, because let's face it, not everyone manages the same way. I am sorry to say that I identify with her. Legally, I tell my tenants that I must treat everyone the same. Humanly, it can't/doesn't always work like that. Do I wish I lived in a perfect world and that I could "fix" these tenants into behaving correctly? You betcha sweet bippy!

But we've been doing this for 30 years and while our success rate isn't bad, I've made some mistakes that I've learned from that I will not make again (utilities in their name before keys, increased deposit amounts, etc.) Some I will undoubtedly make again, giving someone a day or two without charging a late fee (depending on their payment history, payday, or postmark). Some very nice people try hard, work hard, occasionally make bad choices, have illness/accidents & it's up to me whether I want to be part of the problem or part of the solution.

I think your market also dictates whether you can be a hardbutt all of the time, or whether you want to reno/update & wait for that hard to find replacement with a better job, attitude or whatever.

J, FL. That end of the street is not a bad neighborhood and he went and got the cash and brought it right here.

I don't have children but when I was a child I had to get the parents moving in the morning so I would not be late.

Blinded by cash? Cash doesn't bounce or take two days to clear. You wish you were getting cash myob.

Jeff CO, If I try to "whip people into shape" without their consent, that is not management. I suspect you have a threatening appearance along with your manner of speaking, that makes getting things your way a lot easier. I use diplomacy.

I have an easier time than some of you. I only have six units now instead of twenty. If you are living from "paycheck to paycheck" I guess you need to be more authoritarian to your tenants. It was also very unlikely that they would not pay. They like the place and the female just changed jobs to be closer. I hope this helps people to evaluate each case of late rent and not just drop the ax on their necks.

AllyM, I never said anything about whipping people into shape. Where did you get that from? ¿Eres loca?

Pay(VA), the old ""Do you want to be right or do you want to be rich?" line is tired, ridiculous, and should be eliminated.

The two concepts are not mutually exclusive. You can be right AND rich. Furthermore, landlording isn't about being right, it's about making good business decision, maintaining control of the business, and following successful landlording practices.

Ally M - I have rented SFH, only a few, for over 25 years. You will learn that excuses doesn't help you or the tenant. you must set the expectation, you must be firm and you must be consistent.

And as for as "Now if I had put that note on the door, their would have been a lot of drama" that note on the door may buy you a lot more respect than you think. Worst case if they leave you may get a better tenant.

AllyM,

Ya know I love ya!

So I’ll tell ya straight: you were scammed.

“An excuse is the skin of a reason stuffed with a lie.”

This story sounds like it came straight from Deadbeat University 101 class “How to give your LL an excuse he/she will swallow”

-lost phone. She doesn’t have a phone? Drop off a note.

-card hacked. Too easy. Prove it. And hacking a CC does not cancel your paycheck.

-holiday. Phones still work on holidays.

-maybe out of town (assumed). Phones work from anywhere.

-letter on windsheild. OMGoodness!

-cash. Activates the LL greed gland. And unsafe.

We stopped accepting excuses 3 years ago (ZT) and they simply pay. No arm bending or turnip squeezing.

Zero tolerance did not fail.

Used correctly, ZT is a tool that ensures that both residents and land lords are aware of the expectations and the LL treats everyone fairly. ZT doesn't mean the LL is forced to evict someone the day after rent is late. ZT simply means the LL has a policy and follows it the same for everyone. It can include exceptions so long as those are spelled out.

What happened in this scenario created what legal people call "precedent." Down the road, if the LL does not expend this same degree of effort on other late tenants, it would be easy for an attorney to claim illegal discrimination and/or favoritism. In other words, the LL has set her policy on what she does for collecting rent, not on purpose, but as a reaction to tenant's irresponsibility.

Love it or hate it, ZT is what most industries refer to as "Business SOP (Standard Operating Practice)". The reason we have SOPs and follow them is so that we do not appear to be random and whimsical when we do X or Y or Z.

A wise LL can properly craft a ZT policy to say what you will or will not do, when you will or won't do it, and then once you have it in place, you simply follow the policy. Then no one can say you treated person X differently than person Y without just cause.

I think people here have misunderstood what ZT is all about and haven't properly thought it thru. You can have a ZT that works like mine:

* If rent not paid, a text is sent on 1st day late.

* Tenant may switch to alternative payment plan if needed, by paying payment conversion fee and signing payment change addendum.

* Tenant must pay all fees due on whichever payment plan is currently in effect by day 7, or LL may file for eviction.

* Exception to policy: If tenant doesn't want to switch payment plans but cannot get caught up fully within 7 days, we will accept 50% of the base rent due along with all late fees and will grant ONE 7 day extension.

ZT policies are easy to create and customize as the LL sees fit for his/her business practice. You can make your filing day the 3rd or 5th or whatever floats YOUR boat! Your ZT can include a personal phone call, or 2 calls or 10 calls. It really doesn't matter how you want to do it, as long as you treat everyone the same.

If it were me, I'd print off this post and save it in a binder somewhere in checklist format so LL knows all of the actions to take next time a tenant is late with rent. Basically, the original post IS the land lord's rent collection policy, by default. After a few months, perhaps a meeting to "update" the policy to the land lord's new standards would be reasonable. I'm constantly reviewing and occasionally updating my policy.

A policy isn't fly paper. You're not stuck in it forever. Just can't be changing stuff on a whim.

Ally no I don't want cash and not wishing for it. YOU CAN'T MAKE MONEY ON CASH!!!!!

No return check fees--- late days usually waived there's just no money in cash.

I converted my cash into Postal money orders. You can only do 2900.00 without people looking you over. Certified or other type money orders expire and I don't want cash sitting around. (Hidden) even when depositing the PO money orders you can't cash them you have to deposit them and that's a paper trail.

So we deposit everything.

AllyM,

I appreciate you posting this story. It is a real life picture and sooo sooo common in the world of private LLs. I hear stories like this every day from other LLs who call needing advice.

We ALL did this stuff before learning we did not have to.

ZT is simple. Either they paid or did nto pay. No stories, no brow beating, no excuses.

I don't know how else to say it: it's the LANDLORDS who have trouble with holding folks accountable for the rent. It's the LANDLORDS who have trained residents it's OK to call (or not) and be late.

I cannot think of ANY other business or bill that accepts excuses for non-payment. Residents are all adults and KNOW the rent is late, and many know simple tactics to put off the LL.

bet - I had typed a long answer which included autodraft but shortened my answer! You are correct - autodraft would have eliminated this entire situation! Our residents LOVE it and it has made our life much simpler.

Occasionally dropping some paperwork on the door does get tenant’s attention. I am in the enviable position of having well-rehabbed properties (as Ally does,) BUT the other available properties in my area are often very poorly maintained. (Not sure what is in Ally’s area. ) So, I drop off the paperwork when warranted, and allow them to make their decisions.

I require a text if rent will be late, asking for permission for the new day. $25 late fee. If it changes again, a $10 late fee. As long as I have the texts ahead of time, I will usually accept their request for new payment date, though I won’t accept after the 15th.

Yes, I am completely amateurish. I do this for the LOVE of it! (So sorry for those who don’t love their jobs. I love this one. ) Late fees pad the income nicely, though mine are a tad low; the fees will go up next year wil my annual rent increases.

"So sorry for those who don’t love their jobs. I love this one. "