Chronic Late Rent with Property Manager in Place

[David D'Ambrosio]

I have a dilemma I would like to pose to the crowd.  I have a sf rental in Florida with professional management in place that charges 8% per month.  I have four homes with them.  Three have been steady without any real problems.  The fourth pays the rent late every single month.  At least three weeks.  They have never gone into the next month, but have never paid on time.  the late fees are 100 per month, which they have also paid and I split 50:50 with the PM.  The lease is up in March.  It cash flows about $400 per month.  My dilemma is that if I don't allow them to stay when their lease is up, I not only stand to lose for vacancy but the PM also charges a one month lease up fee.  The rent is $900 per month, the mortgage and insurance is $400 per month.  Should I get rid of these tenants and lose months worth of income or let it go since they have never gotten to the eviction point?

[Carlos Rovira]

It seems like you have two separate issues.

#1 - the property manager is not doing a good enough job of collecting. They probably shouldn't be getting 50% of the late fee. It incentivizes them to not ensure the tenants pay on time since they generate more revenue from late tenants.

#2 - the tenant who pays late: If the tenant always pays even though it's late, I'd just bite your lip until the lease is up and then not renew. It will be cheaper than trying to evict.