Frozen bank account and only half the rent for now?

[Wen Guo]

Hi dear BP members, I would need your help and would love to hear your opinions on this!

I have just purchased a rental, the tenant came with it. He seems to be nice, works in hospital as technician, he does has house foreclosure history though. For this very first month, he told me he had half in cash and half in a check for me to deposit later - the bank just suspended his account due to an unauthorized transaction the night before.

What should I do at this situation? Should I charge extra late fee? Should I just wait? I am a first time landlord and any suggestion would be really appreciated! Thanks in advance.

[Chinmay J.]

Originally posted by @Wen Guo:

Hi dear BP members, I would need your help and would love to hear your opinions on this!

I have just purchased a rental, the tenant came with it. He seems to be nice, works in hospital as technician, he does has house foreclosure history though. For this very first month, he told me he had half in cash and half in a check for me to deposit later - the bank just suspended his account due to an unauthorized transaction the night before.

What should I do at this situation? Should I charge extra late fee? Should I just wait? I am a first time landlord and any suggestion would be really appreciated! Thanks in advance.

What does the contract say about late rent payments? When you bought the house and inherited the tenant, did you review his contract with the original landlord? If he hasn't paid in full before the expiration of the grace period, you can certainly charge late fee as long as the contract and state laws allow it.  Tenants will come up with all kinds of excuses to pay late.

Another thing I will suggest is you have to be a little bit mean in this business. Don't have to be downright obnoxious or rude, but you need to stick to the agreed rules, and have them in writing. Make sure the tenants abide by the contract, and you also do so as a landlord.