New Landlord - Tenant Refusing Payment Method

[Olivia Blake]

I’m a first-time landlord (just signed my first fully-occupied LTR in Jan 2025) and have already run into my first potential tenant issue. I have two long-term tenants in the duplex—one for 5 years and the other for 7. I met both of them and provided a letter with my contact info, my property manager’s contact for repairs, and instructions to sign up for Avail to pay rent (the previous landlord used Zelle).

One tenant was cooperative and signed up right away, but the other sent me this text:

I understand you're the new owner and want to use Avail for rent payments. However, it seems that when I accept the invitation, I’ll be authorizing you to review my credit history amongst other things, and I’m not sure I want that yet, as we’re still unsure about renewing the lease. We need to know if repairs will be made and what the rent will be for next year? In the meantime, I will send rent via Zelle.

How should I respond? I want to avoid mistakes as a new landlord so hoping to learn from all of you! This is a good tenant of 5+ years, and I don’t want to cause unnecessary friction (I’m just trying to set up automatic systems for myself). However, I did take issue with the tone of the message, especially the part where they told me how they’d be paying rent.

For context, there are no outstanding maintenance or repair issues, so I’m unsure what the tenant is referring to.

[Paul De Luca]

@Olivia Blake

Ask the tenant what repairs they are referring to, and depending on what they are, make the repairs as needed. Is it true Avail would be providing you access to their credit history? 

It also sounds like they are unsure about renewing the lease so I would ask them when they will make a decision on if they want to renew the lease or not. When does their lease expire? I think you should also confirm to them what lease renewal terms you are offering them so they can make an informed decision.

If you make the repairs, you'll create some goodwill with the tenant and they will be more likely to renew. Stick to the facts and ask clarifying questions to understand their concerns to resolve this.