How to Tell a Tenant That if They Late Again

Updated March 2021

What do y'all practise when your tenant is behind on rent, and you're left wondering how exactly to handle a late rent find? It can experience very awkward to ship out a late rent notice to tenants you similar. Nothing strains a human relationship quite like someone owing you money.

It's important to remember y'all are a landlord in this situation and your business relies on you lot to deed quickly and efficiently. Assuasive tenants to consistently pay hire belatedly may seem like the prissy matter to practise, merely it could also be causing you unnecessary losses.

In this guide, we'll discuss everything you need to know well-nigh late paying tenants and how to properly serve them a late rent discover.

A Table Of Contents For Belatedly Hire Notice

Learning when and how to use late rent notices doesn't need to be a difficult task. Break down this procedure into manageable pieces every bit you sympathize the means of handling late rent payments:

• What Is A Late Rent Notice?
• Tardily Fee AND Pay Or Quit Detect Templates
• Late Rent Find Template
• 3-Twenty-four hour period Pay or Quit Notice Template
• Which Notice Should I Use And How Practise I Deliver Information technology?
  • Why Some Landlords Cull The 3-24-hour interval Detect
• Standard Tardily Fee For Rent
• How Many Months Tardily On Rent Before Eviction Happens?
• FAQs On Late Hire
  • How Do You Write A Belatedly Notice For Rent?
  • How Many Days Late Tin Rent Be?
  • What Happens When A Tenant Is Belatedly On Your Rent?
  • How To Serve Tenants Who Pay Late
  • Tin A Landlord Evict A Tenant For Tardily Payments?
  • Tin can You lot Evict A Tenant For Being Ii Weeks Late On Hire?
  • How To Handle Belatedly Rent Around The Holidays
  • Tin Landlords Charge a Flat Fee for Late Rent?
  • Should Landlords Let A Tenant To Dissever Rent Payments?
  • Will Late Rent Show Upwardly On A Credit Report?
• Belatedly Rent Notices Keep Business Moving

Yous can click whatsoever of the links to a higher place to jump to that topic on this post.

Below nosotros've likewise included downloadable notices yous can use. We'll explicate how to use these in the video you'll see further down this post.

What Is A Late Rent Discover?

A tardily hire notice is an official document that notifies the tenant they are late with their payment of hire. The late rent notice conspicuously communicates that the tenant is late on rent (according to the rules laid out in your lease) and formally informs the tenants of next steps.

Your late rent find should detail how much is due, whatsoever fees that will be incurred, and when rent is due.

A late rent notice is also chosen a "Pay or Quit" notice or a "Pay Rent or Quit Notice." These should always be served before an eviction find.

Belatedly Fee AND Pay Or Quit Find Templates

Do y'all have a full general idea on how to handle tardily rent but demand a tardily payment notice template to help you finalize the process? These free templates past RentPrep tin exist used by landlords looking to serve notice to late-paying tenants.

• Belatedly rent detect
• 3-Mean solar day Observe to Quit – All States Except CA
• iii-Day Notice to Quit CA merely
• 5-Twenty-four hours Notice to Quit – All States Except CA
• five-Day Notice to Quit CA Only

Late Rent Notice Template

Your late rent notice should include all of the following:

• Date
• Rental address
• Tenant proper name(s)
• Linguistic communication explaining that rent is tardily and how much is due
• When fees will be incurred past
• Acceptable forms of payment
• Landlord'southward signature

Yous can download our late hire observe PDF hither.

For your easy reference, here is what that tardily hire notice template PDF looks like.

Notice of Past Due Rent

Engagement: ____ /____/____

Rental Address: ____________________________________________

Tenant Name: __________________________________
__________________________________
__________________________________
__________________________________

This detect is to inform yous that your payment for te calendar month ________ in the amount of $_____________ has not yet been received and is now considered past due.

If the rent is non received by __________, a late fee of $___________ will exist applied.

Rent to exist paid by cash, bank check, or cashier's check and made payable to _____________.

Cheers,

____________________________
Landlord

three-Solar day And 5-Day Pay Or Quit Notices

A "iii-day notice to pay or quit" is essentially a more official late hire observe. The certificate indicates that the tenant has 3 days to pay or they must quit (exist removed from) the rental property.

Some states require you to provide the tenant with a warning in the grade of a late hire find before issuing the 3-twenty-four hour period pay or quit find.

The State of California as well offers a 5-mean solar day pay or quit discover option. But in whatever state you are located, y'all can choose to serve it.

What is important is to make sure y'all follow your local laws when deciding which course to employ.

Which Notice Should I Use And How Do I Deliver Information technology?

When presented with dissimilar options to let a tenant know that rent is late, landlords may not be sure which course they should use. These are the simple steps to make up one's mind which form might be right for your situation.

1. Consider Applicable Laws
   Your local landlord-tenant laws may outline the type of detect to serve in a specific situation and how it should be delivered. Check these laws first, and become familiar with them.
2. Check Your Lease Agreement
   Does your lease agreement inform tenants what will happen if their hire payment is late? If you mention a specific process, make certain to follow it.
3. Offset Time? Consider A Late Rent Notice
   If #1 and #2 above are not applicable, you will likely want to send a late hire observe for first-time offenders. This notice is not bound to eviction or any other progression of the situation, merely information technology does act every bit a reminder for tenants.
4. Echo? Use The Pay Or Quit Model
   If the tenant is very tardily on rent or a repeat offender, it's all-time to use the pay or quit find. This notice lays the grounds for sending an eviction detect, if and when necessary, and can have direct legal consequences, and then it can exist used to upgrade the handling of the situation.

When delivering any type of past due hire discover, be sure you are able to go on a record of how and when it was delivered. The best method is to mail service the notice with signature confirmation and then you have documentation of the find being received.

Why Some Landlords Cull The 3-Day Notice

On our Facebook Page, we accept a video series called "Ask A Property Managing director." In the serial, Andrew Schultz, who manages over 120 doors in the Buffalo, NY surface area, answers questions from members of our private Facebook group of over 11,000 landlords and belongings managers.

In episode #35, he walks us through why he stopped using a belatedly hire notice and started going straight to the 3-twenty-four hour period find to pay or quit form. (Kindly note the conversation picks upwardly at around the 0:50 mark.)

Notes from the video:

Landlord Goes Direct To The 3-Day Notice To Pay Or Quit Course

In his experience, Andrew found that a late rent notice was redundant considering the 3-day notice to pay or quit already covers a tenant'southward late payment. However, he stresses that he is able to skip the get-go step as the State of New York allows information technology.

Some landlords go the road of …

1. Tardily rent discover
2. three-twenty-four hours notice to pay or quit
3. Eviction find

Andrew believes y'all're adding an extra step with the belatedly rent notice, unless your state specifically requires it.

He individually mails a iii-day detect to pay or quit to anybody who is on the charter via certified mail and first class in improver to posting the observe on the door. This method is sometimes referred to equally "nail and post."

If the tenant is at the point where they are tardily on paying rent, the "three-24-hour interval notice to pay or quit" volition become you moving faster towards collecting hire or proceeding with an eviction.

Wait a total four days before post-obit upwards with an eviction find, so you're non caught upward in any technicalities on if information technology was actually a full three days.

Standard Late Fee For Hire

Some states such as Texas and New York Land crave you lot to charge a "reasonable" amount for belatedly rent fees while other states are more specific.

The state of Florida says, "A facility or unit of measurement owner may accuse a tenant a reasonable late fee for each menses that he or she does not pay rent due under the rental agreement… For purposes of this subsection, a late fee of $20, or 20 percentage of the monthly rent, whichever is greater, is reasonable." (For more data, run across 83.808.)

This is why it'southward important to research your country's tardily fee policy.

These are the items you should consider when charging a late fee in your state:

• When tin can I legally begin charging the fee?
• Is my late fee policy enforceable if it's not mentioned in the lease?
• How much can I legally charge for late rent?
• Does my tardily fee policy play prissy with hire control laws?
• Does my country take whatever sort of grace menses for belatedly rent?
• Is the tenant withholding rent due to unfinished repairs?

These questions are mostly answered by looking at your lease and reading upwards on your land laws.

If your lease does not accost a belatedly fee policy, you cannot charge a late fee. In this instance, you'd want to insert an addendum to your lease on your policy and have your tenant(s) sign it. Back to the question at hand …

Here'due south a screenshot of landlords debating how much to charge for late hire in our private Facebook Group.

How Many Months Tin can A Tenant Be Belatedly On Rent Before You Can Evict Them?

If your tenant is more than a month behind on rent, you demand to begin the eviction process.

Landlords tin sometimes feel apprehensive about serving a "Pay or Quit Notice," merely it'southward a necessary footstep to begin the formal procedure. An eviction can have months, and then you don't want to filibuster serving a notice.

The "Pay or Quit Notice" lets your tenant know you lot're serious well-nigh collecting rent. The find gives them a specified period of time (3 days in many cases) to pay both the rent and tardily fees to avoid an eviction.

If rent is due on the first of the month, then it is belatedly on the 2d.

Typically, you lot'll want to serve the "Pay or Quit Notice" on the second and your country volition make up one's mind the number of days the tenant has to pay or quit. If your tenant does not pay by the specified date, they'll be removed from the property once y'all go through a formal eviction procedure.

We recommend RocketLawyer'south Pay or Quit notices every bit they are specific to each state's laws. The firm's attorneys provide online legal advice on eviction of tenants co-ordinate to the laws of your state.

FAQs On Late Hire

How Do Yous Write A Belatedly Discover For Hire?

To write a tardily notice for hire, make sure to include the following information:

• Engagement
• Rental accost
• Tenant proper noun(s)
• Why the letter is being sent
• How much rent is due
• When fees volition be incurred by
• Adequate forms of payment
• What will happen if hire is not paid
• Landlord's signature

Call back, this is not a formal observe that tin lead to eviction. It is a late rent payment letter.

While it is an official document, you volition still need to transport a tardily rent formal notice to pay or quit if the tenant does not pay so you can kick start whatsoever legal activeness that is needed.

How Many Days Late Can Rent Be?

A grace menses is a period of time after hire is officially due during which a tenant tin can still pay rent without serious penalties.

Many states mandate an official rent grace period during which tenants are allowed to pay late without information technology being considered equally eviction-worthy. Whether or non tardily fees can be practical when rent is paid during the grace period is dependent on the state.

Texas requires a two-twenty-four hours grace period on hire; other states practise not offer this provision.

The all-time fashion to make it articulate for both you and your tenant is to enquiry whether or non a grace menstruation is applicable in your region and put it in the charter terms. Some landlords even choose to add a one- or two-day grace catamenia to their charter, even when it is non required, as a means of making things a picayune scrap easier for their tenants.

What Happens When A Tenant Is Late On Rent?

When a tenant is late on rent, every landlord has their ain method of handling the situation. Generally, the procedure looks something like this:

1. The landlord reminds the tenant that their payment is tardily, either verbally or through a formal written observe.
2. If the tenant doesn't pay the hire within the rent grace period, the landlord would send either a three- or 5-day notice to pay or quit.
3. If the tenant does pay hire, but they incurred a late fee in the concurrently, the landlord sends a tardily fee for hire notice to alarm them to this fee immediately.
4. If the tenant doesn't pay the late fee by the due date, the landlord can and so file for an eviction case with the local court and begin the eviction process.

Exercise you know what you will practise if a tenant doesn't pay rent? Now is a great time to go your plan fix.

How Can You Serve The Pay Or Quit Observe To Tenants Who Pay Late?

Here'due south an example timeline to follow when serving your tenants. This example is for states with 3-day notices and rent due on the outset of the month.

Again, be sure to check with your local laws earlier beginning this process. Some of the details may vary depending on them, and information technology is important that you lot conform your program accordingly.

1. When Rent Is Due

Rent is due on the first, late on the second, and the tenant should be served with a pay or quit notice on the fourth.

2. Serving Notice

All residents with whatsoever amount of rent due are served a three-day notice to pay rent or quit (NPRQ) form.

These forms must have the complete, legal name of each and every "ADULT" resident on it and be accurately filled out. If the forms are not filled out properly, the court volition have to kickoff the process once more and this could amount to losing three months of rent.

These forms must be personally handed to an developed and must never exist handed to a person who is 17 years or younger. They can be handed to anyone in the apartment equally long every bit they are 18 years of age or older.

Alternatively, y'all can deliver the observe via certified post so you have proof that the tenant received a re-create of the find. You should keep the original copy in case you need to file information technology with courtroom documents later on.

3. Do Not Have Payment

Only accept payments in total once the 3-twenty-four hours pay or quit notice is served. If partial payments are accepted, and then the whole procedure will take to be started again.

4. Start The Eviction Procedure

On the sixth mean solar day of the month, you should gather the post-obit documentation and prepare to file for eviction with the local court system.

• The original three-day detect to pay rent or quit
• The original Proclamation of Service (NPRQ and Proof of Service must take identical names and dates)
• Re-create of the application (completed at the time of movement in)
• A signed re-create of the lease/rent agreement
• Indicate any hire increases, like if the rent is at present higher than the rent stated in the charter/hire agreement. This can be done by including a copy of the Rent Heighten & Change of Terms
• Point whatsoever change of terms in the rental agreement (or include a copy of changes)

5. Continue To Refuse Partial Payment

At this time, do non accept whatever partial payments; take only payments in total! If a partial payment is accepted, the whole process must be started over. This tin can lead to big losses and major slowdowns in your business concern.

Tin A Landlord Evict A Tenant For Belatedly Payments?

Yes, it is possible to evict a tenant for tardily payments.

Nigh states allow landlords to serve a notice to pay or quit the belongings. This means tenants who are late on rent payments must pay up or leave the holding before the deadline. If they fail to pay their rent, you tin move forrard with eviction proceedings.

Can You lot Evict A Tenant For Being Two Weeks Late On Rent?

Whether or not you can adios a tenant for being two weeks late on rent will depend on the country you work in. Most states, still, might let evictions for late rent payments of more than just a few days' grace period. A notice of 3 to 5 days is required earlier eviction proceedings can begin.

To be sure nigh your circumstances, check local landlord-tenant laws and discover out the required flow for eviction afterward late rent payments.

How Should You Handle Late Rent Around The Holidays?

It can be a tough situation when a tenant asks most paying rent late around the holidays due to increased bills.

Unfortunately, this can lead to a situation of "give an inch, they'll take a mile."

If you bend your rules with your tenant on special occasions, you're opening yourself up to other hereafter requests. The easiest thing to practise with this sort of situation is to remind your tenant of your belatedly fee policy, and stick to information technology.

Yous should be consistent with the way you lot screen your tenants and likewise the way you enforce your policies. If you deviate, y'all could be defendant of discrimination in that you may accept bent the rules for 1 tenant and not another.

Stick to your policy. If you care for a non-paying tenant as a non-priority even for ane month, that's what it will get … a not-priority.

Can Landlords Charge A Flat Fee For Late Rent?

Many landlords charge a flat fee for belatedly rent, and information technology is oft paired with the daily late rent fee. For example, a landlord might have a $fifty flat fee if the rent is not paid by the showtime of every calendar month and then charge $5 fee per day until it's paid.

States that enforce maximum late fees that landlords tin can collect often construction it then the flat fee and the late days combine until they meet the limit. For example, a landlord might charge $45 after the fifth of the calendar month, plus $5 per solar day until 10% of the rent adds up because their state constabulary allows just upwards to 10% of the full hire to be collected every bit a tardily fee.

Should Landlords Let A Tenant To Split Rent Payments?

Landlords everywhere struggle with collecting rent money from their tenants. They accept also heard just almost every excuse for why the payment is late. Sometimes, tenants offer to make split payments for rent, only is this good for landlords?

Before landlords accept split rent payments, there are several things they demand to consider. This video helps explain some of the reasons:

The lesser line is that when tenants requite excuses for paying the hire late, it should be a alarm sign to landlords that they may exist looking at months and months of belatedly rent. For most savvy landlords, they don't permit a tenant to split rent payments.

Will Tardily Rent Show Up On A Credit Report?

If you lot are processing rent payments through a rent portal that reports hire to the credit agency, late rent payments could prove up on a credit report. The exact way it would show up is dependent on the specific credit study used.

FICO scores do non include any rental history, even if information technology is on file, while Vanguard scores practise.

Late Rent Notices Keep Concern Moving

As awkward or frustrating as information technology can experience at times to send out late rent notices, there is no incertitude that using these notices is going to exist necessary from fourth dimension to fourth dimension. Landlords who never ask for the rent they are owed may never get paid, and that would be bad for concern.

To keep your business going, be organized when budgeted late rent payments:

• Make sure the terms of hire payments are articulate in your charter.
• Requite tenants a head'south up when they are late.
• Send out clear and advisable by due notices according to the exact situation.
• File for eviction if the tenant does not comply.
• Act speedily.

It's never fun to chase down a tenant simply to get the rent paid, but it is an unfortunate part of the rental business at times. To avoid facing this situation over again in the time to come, brand certain to run a background check on your prospective renters in an effort to get the best tenants.

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Source: https://rentprep.com/collecting-rent/late-rent-notice/

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