Rent due on the 15th?

[Heather Miner]

I have two tenants who receive their paychecks/disability funds after the 5th of the month, so I extended their grace period by a few days. This results in extra effort each month because of multiple late fee structures. In addition, we keep our main business checking account balance low for our peace of mind/our approach to finances (we have plenty of reserve funds in other accounts). Thoughts on switching to all rent due on the 15th?

Pros:

- one late fee structure across all tenants

- most/all rent is collected before mortgage/monthly bills are deducted

Cons: 

- weird/non-standard - potentially confusing?

Previous thread on this topic: https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/52/topics/918...

[Mitch Messer]

Hi @Heather Miner. I'm fine with having rent due on some date other than the 1st. We've been collecting ours on the 25th for nearly 20 years with no problems. Tenants adjust just fine.

That said, I would only offer this to the tenants in exchange for them switching to an ACH-based rent payment system (if they aren't already). This makes your life way easier. No more checks, plus you can pre-schedule the payments for whenever you want, and some systems even pre-calculate late fees, etc.

I did review the previous thread you provided and I disagree with the general consensus that the 1st is somehow inherently better. It's entirely arbitrary, but in your case there's a good reason why your tenants might struggle making rent on the 1st, since it's before they get paid. It's just a reality: 78% Of Workers Live Paycheck To Paycheck and you're not going to change that with any lease document.

So, I'd move forward with an alternate date, but if they do generally get paid on the 5th I'd want my rent no later than the 10th. You want to be first in line to get paid, not competing for 10th place with groceries and beer as the month wears on!