Tenant rent payment request

[Dave Garlick]

I just purchased my first two properties last month, two duplexes next to each other in a B- neighborhood. Lower income but family oriented area. Two of the units are empty which I am rehabbing and getting ready to rent out. One of my existing inherited tenants apparently lost her job for awhile and just got a new one and has asked if I can accept half the rent every two weeks until she gets caught up. She had a very good track record with the previous owner for the last couple of years and her mother was the renter previously for years. She's currently on month to month. I'm looking for ideas where both of us can benefit from this situation.

I know there are many people here on BP that have been burned by tenants and will say to give her and her 4 kids the boot at Christmas and since this is my first rental property, I'm sure I will be burned at some point as well. However, for this situation I have a couple of ideas and was wondering if they are viable or if they are problematic.

1. Redo another lease saying she must pay half the rent every two weeks for the next year. This would pay me a premium but I would have to finish out the year before I really realized the gain.

2. Let her know we can do half a payment every two weeks for a predetermined amount of time (4 months?) but charge a $25 premium on each payment. - This would allow me to realize some gain immediately with each payment.

I'm looking for any other creative ideas that others have done successfully.

Dave Garlick