Property Management and Tenant Late Fees

[Karen S.]

I have a tenant that has been paying rent late for the last 6 months.  Rent comes in anywhere between the 15th until almost the end of the month. Is it typical for property managers to keep the late charge collected?  I looked at our contract and it didn't state anything about late charges but it's very inconvenient for me to get the rent late every month.  

[Robert Gilstrap]

@Karen S.if you have to move money each month just to make your mortgage payment the problem isn't with your tenant or PM it's that you aren't situated financially to be a landlord.  What if they didn't pay at all? Since the source of your frustration is having to move $$ each month why not just move a month or two mortgage payment into the account to cover it? Now no more frustration.

You can obviously evict the tenant but be prepared for that major turnover expense as well; paint, carpet, cleaning, landscaping, utilities, repairs, etc.

As far as PM's doing extra work chasing non-payers; 100% they do extra work. The whole business of PM is built around systems that run efficiently and smoothly. When someone doesn't pay it takes the PM off down a dirt path that now must be kept up with daily on somebodys desk. Nonpayers have to be tracked daily until filing for eviction, then that must be tracked daily so indeed there is lots of extra work.