All Forum Posts by: William Shea

Hi There- I am currently house hacking a duplex. There is a small family that lives upstairs and they are mostly good tenants, but they consistently violate the lease in minor ways. The latest is that they have been bringing me rent later each month, with last month's being delivered to me on the 18th. Here in CT, the law says that rent is due on the 1st but is not considered late until after 9 days grace period. If it is late again this month, I intend to ask them to include a late fee with payment as per the lease agreement. My question is this: When should I request payment of both rent and late fee by? The laws on this, that I have found, say to provide a clear written notice of how much to pay and by when. But when is when? If I give them too much time then they will just be unable to pay on time again next month.

I should mention that they live paycheck to paycheck and don't have a bank account, and hand deliver cash for rent each month, often coming in multiple partial payments. I would have preferred to have tenants with more steady income and record of finances but they had already lived in the house for 3 years when I bought it last year and I decided to give them a chance.

Thanks in advance, any advice would be greatly appreciated