IS this rent Late or On Time?

Question

This is a real situation I'm facing right now, and one I'm sure many of you have navigated excellently.  What would you say and do here?

Patricia Steiner · Answer

Who cares when the tenant SENT the rent!  It's the old "the check is in the mail" excuse.  The rent is DUE on the day defined in the lease.  DUE means in receipt of the landlord.  The acceptable payment method is also contained in the lease.  (Wired the rent?  That won't work unless they have your routing and account number - you didn't do that, right?  And, wires come with an outgoing fee paid by the sender and an incoming fee imposed by the receiver's financial institution; now your tenant is putting you in a fee payment situation?).

So... please don't thank your tenant for their rent payment.  Let the tenant know that you received it on x day which will result in a late fee.  Remind the tenant that rent is due to you on or before (date) and that the only acceptable payment method is defined in the lease.

Manage to the lease.  Don't step in the tenant's crazy...take back your control.

L. Pritchard · Answer

Rent is received when it is received, not when it is promised or "sent". However, you may have some sort of stipulation regarding mailing/post mark dates though.

For example. In Arizona that would be 5 days after postmark. If a tenant sent their rent and it is postmarked on the 1st but the landlord receives it on the 8th, it actually would be considered received on the 6th.

Colleen F. · Answer

I specifically don't allow wiring but require receipt of electronic payment and that is how the lease is worded.  Wiring cost you there is a charge to the receiver of a wire.

Adam Martin · Answer

If they sent it before the due date but you received after you may be able to consider it late depending on how your lease is worded and you may be able to collect a late fee.  Just because you can though doesn’t mean you should. I would thank them for their payment and if it is a big deal to you let them know in the future they need to plan for a lag time that will still get rent on time.  If you really don’t want the money wired to you tell them but remember it is free to you and not reversible so a pretty secure form of payment to you I would be glad to accept.

Will Fraser · Answer

Well @Mike McCarthy the tenant "sent" the rent on time, but it was "received" late.  So, one layer of the issue is what constitutes constructive receipt of funds?

Then the 2nd layer of the issue is this:  Wire transfer is not an approved method of rent payment as per the lease.  So, an excuse surrounding wire transfer inefficiency to dodge the late fee would be irrelevant, right?

Mike McCarthy · Answer

@Will Fraser what is the issue? What does the lease say?

IS this rent Late or On Time?

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