Tenant pays by check, rent 9 days late and says he "won't be responsible for late fees" since post office is to blame. How shall I respond?

It's 4th of July week.

Tenant has decided to party with your rent instead of paying.

Tenant using b.s. excuse.

Are you in charge or is the tenant?

Immediately file pay or quit and follow through with eviction.

Time to change how you collect the rent. Use autocrat. Take the rent. Do not allow tenant to pay when they please, if at all.

if and when the rent arrives, the envelope will show the date post mark.

perhaps he needs to use a mailed proof receipt

If your state says in LL/tenant statute, rent payment is effective on recepit on receipt and your rental agreement

you are find a and charge the late fee....

“MAIL” MEANS ANY LETTER, CARD, PARCEL OR ANY OTHER MATERIAL THAT:

(A) IS SENT OR DELIVERED BY MEANS OF THE POSTAL SERVICE;

(B) HAS POSTAGE AFFIXED BY THE POSTAL CUSTOMER OR POSTAL SERVICE OR HAS BEEN ACCEPTED FOR DELIVERY BY THE POSTAL SERVICE; AND

(C) IS PLACED IN ANY AUTHORIZED DEPOSITORY OR MAIL RECEPTACLE OR GIVEN TO ANY POSTAL SERVICE EMPLOYEE FOR DELIVERY.

You have to laugh don't you? I have the same thing with one tenant..... she gets social security/disability and tells me that her check goes in on the 3rd and since we deal with Senior/Disability units....if they sign up for the ACH, then rent is due on the date that their check goes in. 1st, 3rd or 5th. We only do it for this one complex... and it works.

Well Miss Princess... keeps telling me that her check didn't go in on the 3rd due to the holiday and I know for a fact that checks were deposited as I questioned the bank. So over the weekend she messages me "telling me when she will be paying rent" and I came back and said... Rent is due on the 1st (she hasn't signed up for the ACH yet) and since it was the 6th and I was out of town... Monday morning I was posting her door with a 3 day with the rent, late fees and door posting fees.

So yesterday I go to the apartment. I can hear her and her mom in there and I knock.... no answer... so I post the door. Verify it with a pic from my phone showing the time and her apartment number. She tried calling my bluff and I told her when the 3 days was up and that I would be going forward.

Got the song and dance about her and her mom being disabled and that I was treating them unfairly... and that I know nothing about what it is like to be disabled....which she is right... "I" do not know how it feels... but my 16 year old that broke his neck and is paralyzed from the belly button down... well he knows.... and I am learning.... BUT we still have bills that have to be paid - no matter what our situation is.

Goodness.... the nerve of some people.

I save the tenants envelope with the "Post Mark" and have the Untied Postal Service that gives me online access to incoming mail. With those two forms of proof, I can determine when the "rent" check was mailed.

Often if there is a holiday or severe weather conditions that will delay mail, I can forgive a couple of days, BUT NOT 9 DAYS!

I would demand the late fee paid within the next months rental payment. If not, then you can raise your tenants rent to account for late payments in the future.

Point them to your lease where it says: "Rent is DUE and must be RECEIVED by Land lord at 123 Anywhere Ave on or before the 1st of each month. Delays due to holidays, weather, weekends, or delivery service will not extend the due date or cause late fees to be waived."

Then they pay up or get evicted.

I used to accept every story in the book for why the rent was late, so guess what I got? A lot of late rents with no late fees.

So I stopped accepting any excuses for why the rent was late. Now I get almost all rents in on time, and the few that are late pay the late fee.

$25 first day it's late + $5 per day after that. No exceptions or excuses. If they don't want to be late, they can sign up for auto-draft and never miss a due date again, provided they have money. Not having money is the #1 excuse they will never admit to you.

Times have changed.

Had a problem a year ago.

If I call my post office. They will say they try to post mark the same day received. But it can take 3 or 4 days.

So cant trust the post mark anymore.

Hopefully, you have a clause similar to this in your Rental Agreement.

"NOTE: MAILING THE RENT BY THE DUE DATE DOES NOT CONSTITUTE PAYMENT. RENTS MUST BE RECEIVED IN THE FORM AND AT THE LOCATION DESIGNATED BEFORE CLOSE OF BUSINESS ON THE DUE DATE TO BE CONSIDERED PAID ON TIME. ALL PAYMENTS RECEIVED ARE APPLIED FIRST TO OUTSTANDING BALANCES, IF ANY, AND THEN TO THE CURRENT RENT DUE. ANY PAYMENT DROPPED OFF AFTER BUSINESS HOURS ON THE DUE DATE WILL NOT BE PROCESSED THAT DAY AND WILL THEREFORE BE LATE."

We used to have absolutely terrible mail service, so when I started landlording, I refused to accept payments by mail. Too many times have I run mail addressed to a neighbor back to the neighbor to have them say, ‘oh, this came for you the other day,’ and they go grab my mail off of their counter. Not wanting to set my tenants up for failures like that, I went with deposit money at the bank, and now, one of the free money transfer services through the bank.

And, neighbors complained to post master, we have new delivery person, haven’t had a misplaced piece of mail in a couple of years. Actually, very, very good mail service now.

It's weird to say "stop messing with the mail" when you still physically go to your units to pick up the rent!?? Most people here would say that would be the FIRST thing to stop -- THEN stop "messing with the mail" -- and go to digital payments.

I don't think most here would agree that stopping mailings and picking up the rent in person is a better solution, Ally, sorry.

- John...

I would respond with a notice of late rent in whatever your state requires. If you do get it with a postmarked date that actually supports your tenants claim send a letter and apologize for confusion along with photo copy of post mark date. Odds are they are not telling you the truth. Over the years I have heard the "I mailed it on time" only to receive a money order dated a week after it was mailed. So either tenant is lieing or the post office pulled a switcharoo on their payment.

Well, in California, rent is paid the minute it goes into the mailbox. It doesn't matter when it arrives. Any lease clause to the contrary is not enforceable. YMMV in Oregon.

If they want proof they mailed it on time, there is always certified mail.

I had a Resident this month try to use the "banks closed for the 4th" as their excuse. In the same email they stated they weren't going to pay until the Monday the 8th.

My response was that "rent is due on or before the first day of each calendar month, which was Monday. So I'm not sure I understand how the banks being closed on Thursday would effect your rent payment. Banks are open today and tomorrow (Fri and Sat)." And just so she knows I don't play...I posted a 3 day PQ.

Tenants lie.

Thank you all. Received Rent today, marked July 2, so it seems it is a legitimate post office error and he did act in good faith. Since he is a long term tenant I have suggested strongly that he use ACH or certified mail.

They owe you the late fee. Rent is due in the landlord's hand and you didn't get it.

However, check the post mark. I just had a tenant mail the rent on the 28 of June and I received it on the 8th of July. Three day weekends always mess up the mail.

Rent was due the 2nd and it went into a 3 day weekend so if I hadn't received it by Monday I would have called him to tell him I hadn't received the check.

He always pays early, so I am not even going to tell him that his check wasn't here for a week and a half. He has a 5 day grace period and I got the check on day 6 with a three day weekend in between. I'm letting it slide.

I'm small potatoes, so I still use a P.O. box for rent.

Here's my clause: RENT DUE DATE: The due date for rent owing under this Agreement is the first day of every calendar month. Owners need to RECEIVE the rent on or before this date. Therefore, since Tenants’ rent is due on the first, it must be paid on or before the first of the month to be considered “on time”.

If Tenant chooses to use a payment service that generates and mails checks from a remote location, Tenant bears the responsibility of ensuring that checks are mailed so that they ARRIVE on or before the first of the month.

At the ________ Post Office, letters can be presented to the clerk for hand cancelling and placement in Owners’ post office box on the same day.