Each month, I have 2 tenants that I have to consistently post a 7-day P/Q notice on their door which motivates them to pay the rent with late fees. If I did not post the P/Q notice, there is no guarantee I would get paid at all nor could I even file eviction papers. (A posted 7-day P/Q notice is required here prior to filing any eviction papers).

One of the problem tenants got posted yesterday. She will probably pay June rent with $50.00 late fee at the end of 7-day notice which is next Saturday. This 'routine' goes on every month.

Would you tolerate this?

Roy, a couple of things: I know you have been doing this a long time, but have you actually checked the wording of the law? And not just the statutes.

In NC we are supposed to request rent and then give 10 days to pay before filing eviction. The county clerk, who is NOT supposed to give legal advice, insisted that first you must wait five days grace period, then 10 days notice period, then file, etc. It was years before I learned you can put a waiver of notice IN THE LEASE. I still can't file for eviction until day ten, but I don't have to give any additional formal notice before doing so.

Second, you can change things: Post a formal notice that you will no longer accept late rent, and the next time it is late you will file for eviction for *breach of lease* (NOT failure to pay rent - because she could stop that by paying late as she always has.) If you file for breach of lease, at least here, you can even accept the rent and proceed with the eviction, although some magistrate would argue about that.

T (IN)

Two months ago, I tried to punish this tenant with a $50.00/month rent increase which I thought would motivate her to move out. She is now paying the rent increase with late fee but again I have to post the 7-day notice to get it. There is the possibility that someone else (sugar-daddy) is paying her bills too.

This is something I now address up front while SHOWING the place. I tell people "Rent is due on or BEFORE the first, not after. Borrow from your own mother if you are short - not me. We don't loan money and we do not "work" with people on the rent."

I suspect your late fees are too low. Make them hurt, so you’re the first one of their bills that gets paid. I charge 10%, which is my state’s maximum allowed.

I have a similiar tenant. In NC the rent is late after day 5, so the 5% late fee was not active until the 6th. Rent was $1200 and she would sometimes squeak it in at the end of day 5 or sometimes pay the 6th or 7th and pay $1260. I'd text her on the 2nd, about the rent. She is dependable in the sense that she does pay the rent but I don't understand the mentality of paying an extra $60 when you could have paid it 24 hours before.

I find it annoying that she doesn't pay on the 1st like everyone else and she doesn't seem to be willing to use ClearNow like 85% of my other tenants.

WMH is right she has you trained and mine has me trained.

So I figured if she is always going to be late I might as well get the late fee 100% of the time, and this year I upped her rent to $1260. did she take the hint? No. so far this year I have gotten 3 $1260 and 3 $1323 (rent with 5% late fee). At least I am getting more money.

WMH,

4 months ago, I had a phone conversation with her and told her I was tired of her paying rent late every month. She apologized and the following 2 months, she started paying on the due date. Now, it is back to her old habits and nothing has really changed.

I think a lot depends upon your tenant pool. Can you get a better tenant in there if you kick her out?

Late rent gives me stress and I prefer that my tenants pay on time. If they don't, usually one pay or quit straightens them out.

Thinking back over past tenants, I can remember one who was forgetful and often paid a few days late. But he had good income and good credit and I never worried about getting the rent. He'd pay as soon as I reminded him that it was the first again.

Other tenants, when the rent wasn't there, I worried that maybe this is the month when they don't pay and I'd have to evict. The ones that worry me are soon looking for other lodging.

One of the mysteries of tenant-think. I can't understand paying an extra $50 or more in order to pay a couple of days late.

Roy, what's your time worth?

$10/day with a max of $50 is too low. Change that to 10% of rent due on the 1st day late and $15 each additional day. Make it HURT. Yes, also add a Posting Fee to your lease, or what we call our "Administrative Action" fee. That is a catch-all, general purpose fee that is due any time we have to take any action to enforce the terms of the lease.

1) Send them a "cut the grass" notice? Charge the Admin Fee.

2) Post P or Q? Charge the Admin Fee.

3) They miss a scheduled appointment and I have to reschedule? Charge the Admin Fee.

4) Parking on the law? Charge the Admin Fee.

My Admin Fee is $50 per occurrence and may also include a missed service call charge if my contractor bills me for wasting his time due to tenant irresponsibility. People who aren't trained to be responsible must be trained by you. Wallet Training 101 is the only solution I've found that works. Pleading for them to do the right thing is an exercise in futility.

Get the drift? Any time they do anything (ANYTHING!) that forces you to take action, you get paid. Or at least you get a fee on the books to add at collection time.

I do the $10/day up to 10% of the rent. It is aggravating that some tenants don't pay on time, but if you think she will pay and she keeps the place clean - she doesn't bother you to much Maybe it's worth the trouble BUT if she is a real PITA maybe time for the 30 day notice.

Based on the difficulty of my finding a qualified tenant for my last vacancy, this is why I have tolerated this tenant and not booted her already. Every eviction I have done was always for Non-Payment of Rent, but here I can't use that reason since she does pay. It is just irritating.

I've got a guy right now, I've posted about him recently: he was a good tenant, Walmart trucker, had back surgery, lost his job for "accidently" mixing up his wife's pills with his and is now selling cars and driving for UBER.

His lease is up the end of June and I have already notified him we are going month to month (this was before he didn't pay June's rent on time, I was just getting ready for things to go bad.) Yep, they have.

He paid $600 on Sunday and $100 today and I'm expecting he will pay more tonight or by Friday pay day. But life's too short for this stress. Not when there are good people literally homeless out there due to lack of decent rental housing around here.

Sisco,

Most of my departing tenants leave without proper notice, without the house in rent ready condition, and leave owing some money beyond their deposit. This is just business as usual for me.

I agree with Jason and Sid on the late fee. I charge the max allowed.

Roy, I have found that tenants will train me or I will train them, the later is the one I like best.

She knows the drill, she pays late, Roy post a pay or vacate and she pays Roy's late rent with late fee and stays.

Until you choose to evict she will continue as a late paying tenant, until she doesn't pay for the month and then you file for eviction.

Otherwise same ole same ole.

I have one tenant that pays late, I never post and he pays about 5 to 10 days late. This is my fault for allowing him to not make me a priority. Tenant since 2011.

No, I do not tolerate this behavior with any new tenants.

Then I guess it comes down to is the level of stress she's causing you--which has resulted in you taking time to post on a nationwide land lording database and read / reply to responses--added to the hassle of printing a notice, driving it over, pasting it on the door, and then driving back, worth $50?

My maintenance man who isn't as skilled as you would charge me a $60 service call for that, and I'd have to print this notice. Just by way of comparison.

I have one resident that will pay late, and pay the late fee month after month - and changing the date will not change the pattern. Not a bad person, just a person who doesn't see the value of saving money by not paying fees.

I like that type of resident.

A note on late fees around here: it depends largely on the local judge on how much is too much. I am with at $10/ day and a cap of $50. I have not charged an admin fee yet, but that might be a good idea. One of the judges will award only up to $50 in late fees - so I am near the top of that spot with him. There is another though is alright with higher fees. So it really depends on you, the judge and most importantly - the resident.

I learned early on in the Real Estate Game, things aren't always just black or white, there are some gray area's, especially when it comes to paying rent!

I had purchased a many foreclosed apartment buildings with half the tenants electing not to pay rent. Why should they, they didn't have to and were dealing with a crazy landlord or the bank holding the mortgage.

So I had nice conversations with these problem tenants, and the ones paying rent. I wanted to know what they expected from me and I told them what I needed from the.

They wanted their units repaired and in good order and I wanted the rent money. So we brokered a deal. They would pay this months rent in good faith and I would begin to fix up their rental, under a plan.

This way half of the tenants that weren't paying rent got trained to start to pay and alert me of any issues.

So it went from 50% not paying to only 20%.

Just demand that she use ClearNow, and let her know that using that service will save her $600 per year, or raise the rate for late payment and use that savings amount. Then inform her that you'll throw her out if she is late again.