Tenant is 3 days late on rent

[Nathan Simons]

Just bought our property last month and there was an existing tenant. In the current lease that he signed before we purchased the property he has to pay rent in full on the 1st. There was no late fees in the lease. Now it is March 4th and he still hasn’t given us rent. When I tried to get it from him he said he won’t have it until Friday March 8th.

What steps can I take to make this process easy for both of us. My property is in Wisconsin.

Any advice will be great!

Thank you!

[Marcia Maynard]

Allow time for your tenants to become familiar with your management style and for you to get to know your tenants. Meet with them and share your values and expectations with one another.

Be FRIENDLY (professional & polite), FIRM (establish a clear rental agreement and enforce the terms), FAIR (abide by the law and consider what is reasonable),  FAST (attend to matters in a timely manner) and FLEXIBLE (if the situation warrants it.)

Make the effort to establish and maintain a good landlord-tenant relationships.  Landlords need good tenants and tenants need good landlords.

When a tenant is late with rent, we call or text them to let them know we haven't received their rent and check in with them to find out what's going on. If they don't have the rent that day, we give them our Rent Past Due Letter, which reinforces the terms of the rental agreement, our expectations, and the consequences of not being timely with rent. If they don't respond to that favorably, then we serve the legal notice to pay rent or quit. You must be prepared to follow-through after serving a legal notice and realize this is the first step toward eviction. Some tenants won't really respond until they get the legal notice. If it gets to that point more than once, then the tenancy usually can't be saved.

Here's our Rent Past Due letter. Feel free to modify it according to the laws of your jurisdiction and the lease agreement currently in place.

[Your Company Letterhead with name, address, phone info]

[Date]

Dear _____________________________,

Your rent is now past due.  Please pay your rent promptly so you may continue to live in the unit that you now occupy.

As per your rental agreement:

Rent is due on the first (1st) day of the month.

Rent is late on the second (2nd) day of the month.

We allow a grace period through the fifth (5th) day of the month to pay your rent without incurring a late fee.

On the sixth (6th) day of the month we charge a late fee of fifty dollars ($50.00).

If we do not receive your rent in full in a timely manner, we will serve you with a 3-day legal notice, “Notice to Pay Rent or Quit”.  Each time we serve a legal notice, we charge an additional twenty dollars ($20.00) posting fee.

If you do not follow the terms of the “Notice to Pay Rent or Quit” we may then begin eviction proceedings against you and you will be charged with the crime of “Unlawful Detainer” if a judge upholds our claim.

The amount of rent now due, as of today’s date _________________, is as follows:

Current Month Late Fee_______________

Current Month Rent_______________

TOTAL DUE_______________

Time is of the essence.  If you have not already posted your rent via the mail, please call us immediately to make arrangements for us to collect the rent in person.

Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter!

Sincerely,

[Your signature and title]