Rent collection options to avoid Partial Payments?

Question

Apart from eRentPayment (tenant refuses to set it up!), are there ANY other simple ways to collect rent but block partial payments??   Do not like the drama associated with meeting in person or mailing rent to a PO box.  Any other ways to allow tenant to conveniently make a guaranteed funds money transfer for a FIXED amount that the LL sets and NO LESS, AND before a certain date and NO LATER??

John Underwood · Answer

I have them deposit directly into my bank account. I don't worry about partial payments. If they are 30 days behind and they make a partial payment I can still evict if it isn't part of current months rent. I get a large deposit so that it takes awhile before I am in the red. I keep up with payments and late fees in excel. I have formulas that easily does all the math and I track exact payments including any partials. If they question me I text them a screen shot of dates and any rent that is behind is in red.

Thomas S. · Answer

You are in a vary common situation that hobby landlords often find themselves in. You have trained your tenant to the fact that late and partial payments are OK and now you find it inconvenient and have no idea how to resolve the situation.

It is actually very simple to retrain or resolve the problem. The day after rent is due you issue the pay or quit notice. If full payment is not promptly received you proceed with the eviction. If the rent is received in full you inform your tenant that if he is late or pays partial again you will evict. If he does pays make sure you do not renew his lease, find a new tenant. Your next tenant you will immediately train to pay in full and on time every time by issuing eviction notices.

Bad tenants are created by bad landlords. You need to start being a good landlord and train your tenant to be a good tenant or get rid of them.

Problem solved, that simple. Never put up with bad tenants.

James Wise · Answer

I can understand not wanting to collect rent in person as that's horribly inefficient & actually pretty dangerous. However, there is only drama with the mail if you let drama exist.

Example: Rent is late.

• Tenant says it's in the mail. You say it's not here. It's late, end of story.
• Tenant says it got lost in the mail. You say it's not here. It's late, end of story.

So long as you set the rules & enforce them the mail is a great option. If for whatever reason that still doesn't work for you, you can always hire a Property Manager. As a management company has an office that tenants can just bring their rent in like a normal retail transaction. At Holton-Wise we only offer tenants the ability to mail it in, drop it off in our 24 hour deposit box or bring it in during our open hours of operation. We find that the majority of them prefer to bring it in & be waited on by one of our customer service associates, even if they have to wait in line.

John Underwood · Answer

@Manny K. Sounds like you need a hands on approach until the lease is up or until you build some trust.

You make them send you a certified check or you go by and pick up the money each month. Not a long term solution but might be ok for a short period of time or until they shape up or you get rid of them.

Any electronic payment will allow a partial payment.

Matthew Olszak · Answer

So here is part of our "Introduction Letter" in an area where collecting in-person is common. Its not scale-able to hundreds of units, but it works for smaller quantities:

Cassandra Parrish · Answer

I just went through this. My tenant refused to set up eRentpayement as well (and made no attempt to pay).  I simply started the eviction process on day 5 after the rent was due. I made it clear that partial payments would not be accepted.  In hindsight, I could have accepted the security deposit via eRentpayment and held on to the keys until the 1st month rent and security was received . I'd love to know how things turned out.

Jordan Sand · Answer

@Manny K. -- did you check out Hemlane or another property management system? They should allow you to set rules (Appfolio did when I tested it as well), and that's what I'm doing now on Hemlane. Or is your tenant refusing to use an online system altogether?

@John Underwood - I know that my online system has a box that says "don't accept partial payments" - meaning the tenant has to pay all or none.

Good luck, Manny!

Andy Webb · Answer

@Manny K. - we use eRentPayment as well and we write it into our lease that the tenant must use this system for payment.  The Texas Association of Realtor lease has a series of check-boxes to allow the landlord to choose allowable payment types (e.g. cash, check, electronic).  We only allow electronic, and further specify in the details section that it is to be eRentPayment.  Too late for you with this one, but you might try that next time.

Andy

Manny K. · Answer

Thanks @John Underwood  for your response.  Based on my experience with this habitual problem tenant though, it seems like they can and WILL exploit that approach soon enough.  Once we start getting behind, it seems hard to manage the risk... especially with the typical one-month deposit buffer. Ideally, I do not want to carry any baggage of partial payments or missed late fees into the next cycle.

Rent collection options to avoid Partial Payments?

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