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What happens when residents pay late? I'll admit, I have had to pay rent late a few times when I help my mom with her bills. (not all the time but it's happened about 3x now) I obviously pay all the late fees and let them know in advance I will be paying late. The latest I'll go is 2 days late. I am aware that this could hurt me down the road if I choose to move to another apartment but does it have any affect on the apartment complex when someone pays late? (Ex: If they are privately owned by another company).
Are you asking if it somehow dings your credit? The only way is if you get a eviction. Late payments simply look bad and make the LL not want to renew the lease
It all depends on the financial health of the property. We have had times where late payments really made things uncomfortable for us. A handful of more expensive than normal turns and a bunch of people payi g late does not make for an enjoyable time.
Are you asking what the downside is for the landlord?
If you called first and followed through and did what you said you would, the only downside may be a little extra bookkeeping. I actually like tenants who pay a little late occasionally, but always call ahead, follow through and pay the late fee without complaint. Makes us a little extra money for very little extra work.
But there could be other consequences for the landlord. For example, in my office, we manage 150ish properties currently. Rent is due on the 1st, grace period is through the 5th. On the 10th, we cut checks out to all property owners. We do this whether we have collected the rent from the tenant yet or not, if we expect to receive rent for the month (obviously not if the house is vacant). So if the rent is not paid yet by the 10th, we have to front the money. If you figure an average rent of $1000, that adds up in a hurry. The upside for us is that then we keep the late fees, rather than those going to the owner, since they got their money on schedule.
Also, if the landlord is relying on your rent income to make their mortgage payment, as many involuntary landlords do, your late payment means that they have to pay late too, and the bank charges them a late fee.
I have heard of some apartment complexes that report all late payments on the tenant's credit report, but I do not think this is common for very many of them. This is not easy for most landlords to do, it takes a special relationship with a payment processing company to accomplish. So at worst, they might tell a future landlord calling for a reference that you were occasionally late.
I have to pay for the gas and time to drive to the rental to post the pay or quit. Since I live out of town, that costs me about $30 and a couple hours of my time.
It gives me stress when I don't know whether or not I am going to get paid or if this is the month that I have to follow through with an eviction. I don't like stress, so if I have a tenant who pays late, I give them their notice to move out.
Some good advice for you, OP. Your rent should be paid first, before anything else. If you have to help your mom with her bills, you pay your rent first and then help your mom with what is left over. It is much better to take 2 more days to help your mother than it is to be 2 days late on your own rent. Because there are consequences for you, the tenant, that are caused by paying the rent late.
I just don't get it. When I was a tenant, the FIRST bill that I paid was the rent! I did this so that the landlord would want to keep me as a tenant. I really liked having a roof over my head. Now that I own my own home, the FIRST bill that I pay is the mortgage. I still really like having a roof over my head. We're now landlords. It's just incredible to me how many people seem to think that the last bill to pay is the rent. They wind up paying extra in fees (and I'm beginning to think that we should raise the fee, so that people won't view the rent as a cheap payday loan). They **** off the landlord, so that he doesn't renew their lease - then they have to move, which is expensive, and they often wind up with an eviction on their record, making it nearly impossible to get into another rental.
I just don't get it. When I was a tenant, the FIRST bill that I paid was the rent! I did this so that the landlord would want to keep me as a tenant. I really liked having a roof over my head. Now that I own my own home, the FIRST bill that I pay is the mortgage. I still really like having a roof over my head. We're now landlords. It's just incredible to me how many people seem to think that the last bill to pay is the rent. They wind up paying extra in fees (and I'm beginning to think that we should raise the fee, so that people won't view the rent as a cheap payday loan). They **** off the landlord, so that he doesn't renew their lease - then they have to move, which is expensive, and they often wind up with an eviction on their record, making it nearly impossible to get into another rental.
Yeah see you're what most people call responsible. I think a lot of problems come when LL does not screen tenants well enough and takes the first body with a pulse to get cash flow going. That's when you get the never ending I don't give a *^%# mindset from both a tenant and LL.
I screen my tenants more and more. I raised the late fee and I am having my lease revised by a lawyer. Just so you know boiler plate type lease agreements are really vague. It's worth the money to have a lease written where it's customized for your type of property
When I was managing a building with 25 units that I rented out (I lived in the 26th apt), tenants who paid late caused me more work and stress.
We, too, had a 5 day grace period, rent paid on the 6th was late. On the 5th, I would go through all the checks, and do a mass text to the tenants who hadn't paid yet that said "Rent due today, thanks." Most would pay by the next morning. This was no biggy to me. I had a lot of students and found it was easier to remind them this way, than to deal with late checks.
The ones who still didn't pay on time meant a separate deposit for me to have to do, and a discussion with the owner about who was late and what was said, if I was able to get in touch with them. I got pressure from the owner to get the money, yet, he would not let me use 3 day notices - he was petrified of going to court (mainly petrified of having to pay a lawyer lol! It was easier to pressure me to collect the money).
The owner got the extra late fee money. I didn't get anything for the extra work/stress.
So, you can imagine, that if I got a phone call for a reference for these tenants, I had no problem telling the prospective landlord that "yes, they were overall good tenants, but they are late payers. They do pay the late fee, and do pay every month, but late." Then they usually ask, would I rent to them again? I'd say, "I'd probably see if another applicant qualified first. If I had no other qualified applicants, then, yes, I probably would."
So, my message would be - if you want to deal with late rent payments, you won't have any other problems with this tenant. Not a great reference.
But, bottom line, for me as a manager with my hands tied on the 3 day notices, it was a royal pain in the butt. It made me not like you as a tenant, as my boss saw late payments as a reflection on me as a manager. Not fair, but that was my reality.
Would you landlords not renew a lease/give a poor reference on an otherwise quiet tenant that occasionally paid 2 days late? I only ask because when I hear all the horror stories landlords have to deal with, it sounds like this one would be one that isn't worth sinking much effort into.
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