If you’re a landlord with tenants in Odgen, it’s essential for you to collect rent each month. Rent is your only source of income from your rental property investment. Without that timely rent, you’re losing money daily!
We’ve all heard about bad tenants who don’t pay their rent on time. Landlords have to chase them down every month for the money. Sometimes it even results in a time-consuming and expensive eviction process.
Luckily, you can do things to get your tenants in Odgen to pay their rent on time. By the end of this article, you’ll have the best strategies to help prevent late rental payments from your tenants.
Keep Communication Open with Your Tenants
Strong and clear communication is essential when renting your property to tenants in Odgen. You set up a standard method of communication where your tenants can easily reach you.
While you don’t have to answer 24/7, it’s important that you are accessible most of the time. Don’t leave your tenants waiting hours or even days for a response. Be prompt with your communication.
When you have open communication with your tenants, you are more likely to build a good relationship with them. Through this relationship, your tenants humanize you and don’t see you as just someone who wants their money each month.
Make Collecting Rent Easy
Make it easy for your tenants in Odgen to pay their rent each month. The more complex and difficult it is, the less likely they are to pay it on time.
While collecting rent may require more work and time on your part, it’s worth it to receive it on time. Here are some proven methods to collect rent each month.
Online Payments
Everything is digital these days. The easiest way to make a payment is online. With a few clicks of a button, you can pay your rent and bills in just seconds.
Consider accepting online payments through a tenant portal or other service. Some may require you to pay a fee per transaction, but this is a minimal sacrifice when you know you’re getting your rent on time.
Set Up a Drop Box
If you live close to your rental property, consider installing a drop box at your property. A great place is in the lobby or common area. This should be a box with a lock and slot where your tenants can put their rent each month.
At the beginning of the month, stop by the property and collect the rent. It may cost you more time to travel to and from the property, but it makes paying rent extremely convenient for your tenants.
Snail Mail
Sometimes doing things the old school way is best. While waiting for a rent check in the mail for a couple of days can be nerve-racking, it’s still a convenient way to get paid. Actually, 22.3% of tenants prefer to pay rent by check.
If you’re worried about your tenants not mailing the check on time, ask them to text you a photo of the check or envelope before they drop it in the mailbox. This way, you’re assured that it’s on the way.
App Payments
If you don’t want to set up an online portal to accept rent payments, consider using an app. Mobile apps such as PayPal, Venmo, and CashApp, are safe and secure ways to receive payments.
People are always on their phones. There’s almost no excuse as to why a rent payment is late if you accept it through one of these apps.
Property Management Company
Maybe you just don’t want to deal with collecting rent each month. This is when you hire a property management company to handle it for you. They interact with your tenants and solve any issues that may arise, including evictions.
Offer an Incentive
Use positive reinforcement, or a reward, to get your tenants in Odgen to pay their rent on time. For example, if your tenants pay before the due date, knock off $25. Or if they consistently pay rent on time for six months, give them a 10% discount on their rent for the 7th month.
There are multiple ways to go about offering an incentive. It’s a long-term method to keep receiving rent payments on time and puts you in a good light with your tenants.
Enforce a Late Fee
The opposite of positive reinforcement is negative reinforcement, or a punishment, for an action. While this usually shows immediate effects, it doesn’t last long-term.
When a rent payment is late, charge your tenants a late fee. For example, if the rent is more than five days late, charge a $50 late fee. The same can be applied to a bounced check.
However, you may also have to chase your tenant down for the late fee as well. While a late fee is a good policy to have, providing an incentive may be more effective.
Report Late Payments to the Credit Bureau
Most of us want to keep our credit scores in check. If your tenants in Odgen are consistently late with their rent payments, let them know you will report late payments to the Credit Bureau.
Before you do this, send your tenants a warning. Hopefully, the threat to their credit will be enough for them to start paying you on time.
Stay True to Your Policy
We’re all human. We all run into rough times and may need a little sympathy. However, as a landlord, you must stay true to your policies when collecting rent. Don’t let a tenant’s sob story keep you from getting your rent on time.
It’s your call to accept a late payment once or twice from a reputable tenant. But it’s important to treat your tenants the same and not be lenient for one and not the other. Stay strong and enforce your policies, especially when it comes to late fees.
Screen Your Tenants
The best way to avoid late rent payments from your tenants is to screen them before you lease your property. Run background checks and ask if they have had any previous evictions. You can also run a credit check and ask for income statements.
Another good idea is to ask for references from the potential tenant’s previous landlords. Here you can ask if they were consistent with their rent payments or not.
Screening your tenants is good practice, as you can avoid not being paid and going through the eviction process right from the beginning.
Tired of Chasing Rent Payments? Hire a Property Management Company
If you’re tired of dealing with tenants and constantly chasing them down for rent each month, you may want to hire a property management company. Keyrenter Elite specializes in managing rental properties and tenants in Odgen.
With KeyRenter Elite, you can focus on building your property portfolio instead of dealing with tenant issues. Through tenant screening, property maintenance, rent collection, and more, you know your property is in good hands.
Contact us today to see how we can help to ensure that you receive your rent payments every month.
