Tenant always late, what to do?

[Bob Romano]

My tenant has been in since Nov 2018. Out of the 4 months, he has been 15 days late for 3 months. My lease states rent is due on the 1st. It is late as of the 5th and there is a $50 late fee as of the 5th. He consistently emails me on the 10th saying he knows he's late and he will pay the rent ( including  late fee) in a few days. So im getting paid on the 18-20th each month now. How do I stop him from keeping paying me this late? This will be the 2nd 5 day demand of payment notice he has received in the last 4 months. He always pays me like 2 days before my lawyer goes to the courthouse to file for non payment of rent. I getting sick of it now. My lawyer says " your main goal is to make sure he pays, so if he is paying late and is paying the late fee each time, just take it and accept it . I don't like this idea . What would you guys do?

[Michael Noto]

@Bob Romano Keep on serving the notices to quit because the one time he can’t pull a rabbit out of a hat you will want to make sure you are all set to move forward with the eviction. From what I can see, according to the law you are doing what you can do in this situation. 

If this is that big of an issue for you, just don’t renew his lease. 

[Theresa Harris]

Once they get behind it is hard for them to catch up.  You could do an escalating late fee-$50 and then another $X for every additional day.  You should serve him notice on the 2nd, no second reminder.  check your local laws or ask your lawyer how it works for repeat offences.

[Bob Romano]

I did just check RI Landlord & Tenant handbook.   It states that if 2 - 5 day demand for payment notices are issued within 6 months to the same tenant ,( he had 2 in 3 months!)  this is grounds to evict, even if tenant pays the rent .So I instructed my attorney that even if he pays me late this month, I want him out.

[Joe Villeneuve]

Originally posted by @Bob Romano:

I did just check RI Landlord & Tenant handbook.   It states that if 2 - 5 day demand for payment notices are issued within 6 months to the same tenant ,( he had 2 in 3 months!)  this is grounds to evict, even if tenant pays the rent .So I instructed my attorney that even if he pays me late this month, I want him out.

 MAke sure your lawyer sends him a letter reminding him of that law, and that you intend to execute it if he is late again this month, before you just do it.

[Irving Keighley]

Bob if you ask ur tenant why he is late it could be he gets paid every two weeks.

I have found this in the past and re wrote the lease to read rent is due on the 10th 

U have to pro rate for the 10 days 

Reach out to them and see if this is the case

[Jason Boulay]

Originally posted by @Bob Romano:

I did just check RI Landlord & Tenant handbook.   It states that if 2 - 5 day demand for payment notices are issued within 6 months to the same tenant ,( he had 2 in 3 months!)  this is grounds to evict, even if tenant pays the rent .So I instructed my attorney that even if he pays me late this month, I want him out.

I would recommend getting a more aggressive attorney or have another attorney who may be more experienced with evictions to handle your evictions.  This should have been information your attorney should have told you rather than you researching on your own.

My recommendation would be to have a frank conversation with your tenant.  Tell them you have been understanding of their financial situation in the past, but it hasn't seemed to correct itself.  Your looking for a tenant in the apartment that is willing and able to pay the rent on time.  You understand that life happens and from time to time rent may occasionally be late.  If rent is going to consistently going to be late, then things may not be a good fit and talking about a day to vacate would be best.  This would save you costs on filing for an eviction as well as the cost for your attorney.  Have the tenant sign something in writing of the date of move out.

If they say they can pay on time you may want to give them April to figure things out and May absolutely has to be on time.  Whatever you agree to, you have to be firm and not renegotiate it in the future.  It may not be a bad idea to put something in writing that April rent will be paid on or before April 20, 2019 (or whatever he says he can pay by), May's rent will be paid on or before May 1, 2019, time of the essence.  Failure to pay either of these payments on time, tenant agrees that lease will terminate and will vacate on X date.  I think having something in writing shows how serious you are, even if it may not be legally enforceable.  It certainly eliminates any confusion as to what expectations are of a verbal conversation.

[Thomas S.]

Tell your lawyer it is time to evict.  Next time he does not pay on the 1st issue the notice on the 2nd. Give him a call at that time and tell him you intend to go through with the eviction this time but if he pays rent immediately and is out by the end of that month you will withdraw the eviction to protect his record.

There is no point in wasting any time talking with this tenant or attempting to turn him around. Get rid of bad tenants of this nature and start over. They have zero respect for landlords and will never change.

You should not need a lawyer to do this job. Do it yourself unless your state codes require you to use one.

[Scott P.]

I'm sorry to hear this.

If you're lawyer isn't costing anything, or is being paid by the late fee, I'd probably agree with him that as long as you're getting rent it's not so bad.  

I'd talk w/tenant and try to understand the situation.  Maybe some good idea would come to my mind.  

This tenant is already in and there's a cost to preparing for the next one.  So I'd see if I could make it work for this one as long as possible - but I understand he's wearing on your patience.

With that said, I would assume that this tenant will eventually fail. In my area he'd end up getting a month or 2 of free rent if I had to evict and he stopped paying. So, I'd stay on good terms with him to avoid other costs/damages.  I'd accept the fact that I'll probably be cleaning and painting again soon...

[Jill F.]

What kind of neighborhood is the rental in? 

[Caleb Heimsoth]

@Bob Romano. File for eviction that’s about all you can do

[Elizabeth Nurnberger]

It's funny what works and doesn't work for people.  We had a tenant who was consistently late (B+ property, great income, etc).  I asked her what I could do to help get the payment on time and she said a 5-day email reminder prior to the 1st would help.  So, I set up the invoice to email 5 days earlier and voila, she has paid on time the past 3 months?!  I also offered to look into ACH automatic transfer, paying 2x a month, etc.  I'm not sure why she didn't set this up on her own, but it was funny how a simple solution seems to be working . . . Not sure this ads much for your situation, but thought I would share just in case.    Also, I definitely agree with the great prior advice, especially the sticking to the terms of your lease & following through. 

[Todd Blyton]

Communication is good and can avoid a lot of problems.  I agree with many of the things others have said above.  Talk to your tenant and get to understand there situation (this empowers you to be the problem solver rather then the AH Landlord).  You then have information to provide you with options.  Some of which have been talked about above, but addressing the issue and putting the tenant on notice to conform to the agreement is paramount. @Jason Boulay had a good recommendation a side aggrement with the tenant to come current with payments or agree to vacate.  This may avoid the costs of an eviction or other litigation and attorneys fees.  Some points to keep in mind, are IF the tenant cannot follow through with the lease its best if they move on, however tenant turn over can be expensive, and what loses may you incur during the eviction proses.

[Kiera Underwood]

I'd build in more fees. The bottom line is to make money. $50 a week might push him to pay on time or get out. When is his lease up? 

[Bob Romano]

@Kiera Underwood his lease is up Nov 2019. It will be a long wait to change the lease on him now.

[Bob Romano]

@Jill F. The SFH is in a class B neighborhood.

[Allyssa McCleery]

I agree that this is not an issue you should be dealing with in a class B neighborhood. It sounds like you are done with this tenant and would prefer to get rid of them but as someone else suggested you can set up an agreement with the tenant to vacate by a certain date rather than go through the eviction process. This will benefit him because he will not have issues renting another unit with an eviction on his record and it will benefit you to give you the opportunity to find a more responsible tenant. Another route would be to set up bi-weekly payments until the end of his lease. You could pose it as a way to help them avoid late fees as well. 

[Eric Carr]

Man, I hear your frustration and I don't blame you at all. Keep charging the late fee, keep service pay or quit notices. You need to follow all of these procedures to protect yourself. He might get sick of it and pay on time or leave. If he's just struggling in general, it's only a matter of time before he can't pay and because you've followed your process each time, you will have a better chance of evicting him

[Dennis M.]

Well another way to look at it is Your effectively getting 600$ a year extra on the tenant so keep getting those late  fees .what an idiot this guy is 

[Matt M.]

@Bob Romano

As usual, I agree with @Dennis M. I gladly take the late fees as they come. As long as they pay, and pay the late fee, I could care less. My tenant essentially paid my homeowners/landlord insurance policy last year by being late. Works for me!

[Don Gouge]

Look at it another way. Currently this is benefiting you with the late fees. Suppose you get fed up and decide to evict him. That is the end of the money stream from him. How long will it take to get him out if the sheriff has to throw him out? How much property damage can he cause out of spite? How much will it COST YOU to rid yourself of this paying tenant?

[Jason Yarusi]

@Bob Romano honestly we have tenants that always pay late with late fee every month and that is a great addition to our bottom line across 150+ units. If we have to file they get one chance to make good and pay for filing fees. Second filing they are out. If you are very concerned about the timing then maybe find out if there’s a reason. Does he get paid monthly ever second week of the month?

[Jeff Brown]

@Bob Romano - I have a tenant who is always late. I collect the late fees and laugh all the way to the bank.

It’s not worth going the eviction route. You’ll have legal fees, turn over costs, carrying costs, and the next tenant could be worse. In my experience it costs $6k to turn a property.

If your tenant treats the property well, eventually pays, and you have good numbers you have no problems.

[Aaron DiCaprio]

A lot of good advice from the others.  Document everything and if the late payment is really bothering you then reach out to him and ask why he cannot pay on time.  There might be a simple solution such as what @Elizabeth Nurnberger referenced.  

Getting additional income from the late fees works wonderfully so long as you can stomach being paid late. @Kiera Underwood - Good idea with building in more late fees so long as you can contractually do it.  If not, might be worth including in the next lease.

One of my concerns is if this tenant feels he can get away with paying late, what else does he/she think they can also get away with.  Might be time to evict.

At some point, you might also want to look at protecting your investment with rent default insurance.

Hang in there; I know it's frustrating.  Good luck!

[James Barnes]

My tenant is consistently late as well. They make 170k a year (Own Daycares), I cant wrap my head around it. Maybe I'm playing with fire but they always pay, it is just consistently late,  but for right now I'm OK with making an extra $60-$100 every month in cash flow. Some people will say to evict and that WILL be the case if it ever makes it past the month that its due in.

Its not ideal and not how I would like my business to run in the future but right now I look at it as extra cash flow lol.

My Rent is Due on the 1st with a grace period until the 4th. If its a day past the 4th it's an automatic $20 fee and $5 a day after that.

[Bob Romano]

Can I add the new late fee to his existing lease or do i have to wait until his one year is up?