How many chances do you give a tenant who pays late?

[Adam Dow]

Hi guys, 

I have these tenants who moved in this past June. They seemed like great people and have done a great job with the maintenance of the unit. They painted one room and even planted a flow bed in the front. These were ideal tenants until last month when they could only pay half of September's rent on the first. They said their money got stolen and couldn't pay until two weeks later. So I agreed and was empathetic. Two weeks went by and no rent. They then said it would be paid the following week. That day came and went and nothing received. Finally a few days later I got a payment from them but it was $15 short. I had to ask them for the remaining $15 and when it was all said and done, it took almost the entire month of Sept to collect all the rent. 

Oct 1, yesterday, at 9 am I get an email saying "Hey Adam, rent will be paid Friday. Won't happen again, payday is Friday." As you can see, they didn't even ask permission to pay rent late and didn't even give me any notice rent would be late. In my opinion, emailing me the day of rent due date is unacceptable. Vacancy rates in my area are at 0% (waiting lists everywhere to get in) so I could evict them and not have an issue finding new tenants. So my question is, at what point would you evict these tenants?

Thanks, 

Adam 

[Nathan Mills]

I own and manage a portfolio of about 200 tenants. We run into this at least once a year. The second time they are late I call them and meet with them. I talk to them face to face to get a good assessment of the situation. I explain to them that they can not under any circumstances be late again or I will have to evict them. If they seem to be a bit unsure about their ability to pay rent then I tell them they need to find a new place to live immediately. I have never had to formally evict anyone. I know this method isn't for everyone but I try to be a human as much as a business man.