What is a reasonable amount of time to wait for tenant contact?

[Mindy Jensen]

I read a post earlier about a landlord who had a formerly good tenant go bad. They had no contact for an extended period of time, and then when they went to the property, found it abandoned.

What do you consider to be a normal amount of time to wait for a formerly good tenant to return your call?

Say you had them for 2+ years, and all of a sudden they don't pay and you can't reach them. They could be on vacation or have a family emergency. 2+ years of ontime payments buys you a little leeway in my book. But is leeway one week? Two? 

[Lynn McGeein]

This time of year, you'd want to check asap in case they turned off the power.  2+ years buys them leeway to call you or email and say, Sorry, family emergency, the rent won't get to you until the 10th, and you might waive the late payment because they've been such good tenants.  It does not buy them leeway to not pay and not communicate.