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Some states say you can not demand any form of payment and a tenant can pay cash each month and you must provide a written receipt. Read your state laws.
Which is why I tried moving my questions to the Phx area where 7 out of 8 of my rentals are.
Sounds as though you are not in the same town as your rental? When we had our rental in another town, we had the renters deposit their rent into a bank account we had set up just for the rent. I also provided deposit slips. Sometimes, when I happened to be in town when the rent was due, the renters offered it to me at the house. In that case, I gave them a receipt. This rental was in Texas.
That same bank account is now used for the buyer of the rental property to deposit his mortgage payment each month as we sold the property last year.
Sounds as though you are not in the same town as your rental? When we had our rental in another town, we had the renters deposit their rent into a bank account we had set up just for the rent. I also provided deposit slips. Sometimes, when I happened to be in town when the rent was due, the renters offered it to me at the house. In that case, I gave them a receipt. This rental was in Texas.
That same bank account is now used for the buyer of the rental property to deposit his mortgage payment each month as we sold the property last year.
I am not currently in the same town but will be at some point.
Screening tenants properly should avoid problems but I want to make sure everything is clearly spelled out in the lease.
I like the idea of setting up a rent account, giving the renters deposit slips and having them pay rent that way.
My lease states that the rent is due on the 1st, late on the 5th regardless of the mail, holidays, or weekends. That seems to solve the issue. There are also penalties involved with NSF should that happen.
I pay all the bills through Bill Pay in my bank account. I would hate to have to get a money order or certified check each month. At the time that we rented this house we had to take it because we have a large dog and were having a great deal of difficulty finding a place to rent. If the landlord had required a money order, I would have agreed as I was getting desperate. Do you really want people who you have over a barrel?
I would not give any tenant your checking account information.
Why? There is absolutely nothing that can be done with it. Its a routing number and a account number. If you write a check to someone the numbers are printed on the bottom of the check. I take my rent however my tenants pay it. I take cash check or they can online bank it. In fact three of my tenants pay exactly in each of those ways.
I wouldn't get too high and mighty on how you accept the rent. As long as it's paid on time.
I want to avoid a situation where tenants say they mailed the check but I didn't receive it.
Having the rent deposited directly into my checking account is fine.
However, the rent is paid I would like the tenants to provide proof of payment.
Any other ideas?
Thanks
They don't have to provide "proof of payment"! That's called a receipt, and it's issued by the landlord. They are responsible however, to pay the rent on time and if it does not reach you by reasonable means then they could be assessed late fees (which, I hope, are clearly written in your leases).
You cannot put your responsibilities as landlord on to tenants.
Here is an option that is similar to Paypal only you use your email, which can be a limitation but I don't know anyone who doesn't have an email address or access to a cellphone/computer. You can use this app on your desktop or any mobile device as well. We use it all the time to send and receive cash directly from our checking or savings account and there is no fee to use it but again the limitation would be if your tenant doesn't have a bank account.
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