Topic: Anybody have any suggestions on how to collect late fees from residents?

Anybody have any suggestions on how to collect late fees from residents who keep carrying them over monthly and won't pay them? I was told to 3 day them however what happens when the 3 day expires and we're told don't evict them for $100!!!!! So what's the point of the 3 day???? They still don't pay it and when the next month rolls around they just pay the regular rent and not the balance in full!!!!!

Don’t accept next months rent if the balance isn’t included.

When I did that my manager said why are you not accepting their rent???? She said it's better to get something then nothing cuz then I'm giving them the opportunity to take their money somewhere else and skip!!! But she won't let me waive them either.

Estrella Santi I would then speak to your manager and ask her how you should tackle this issue. Let her know that all you’re wanting to do is collect on small balances because it’s affecting your delinquency. This has ALWAYS worked for me. We also do lock outs but not all management companies allow this.

We have always said no partial payments AND the payment amount goes to the oldest open charge so if you do take the rent amount the following month, the late fee from the previous month would be paid and that would make the amount due as rent for the current month so you would not be serving the 3 day on the late fee but rather unpaid rent. Depends on what your lease says though

Makes sense however my manager doesn't want me to evict for say $100 or $200. So then the resident just ignores the 3 day and the balance keeps carrying over.

Could you compound late fees? Any balance month over month (over $100) accrues a late fee next month. It can work as a deterrent

You do not have to accept partial payments....you simply state that you can only accept the full balance due on the account....that way if they do not pay you can file eviction if needed and the balance would be a full months rent plus whatever they owed in late fees.

Have your staff check the rental amount when it is given to them if it's not correct tell them and don't accept if they drop it in the Dropbox go through it email them or call them and tell them you can't post it until they drop off another payment with the late fee it'll be difficult in the beginning but once is done and they're trained correctly you won't have that problem I've done that many times

Don’t take a partial payment for the next month. Make them pay in full.

Let them know that you will not be renewing their lease and that they’ll be asked to leave when it expires.

Give them 60 day when their lease is ending and send them to collections

Manager renewed lease recently even though they continue to carry a balance.

well that wasn’t very smart. Never renew someone who has a balance. I would almost send them an eviction warning letter anyway and see if it scares them to pay

Don’t accept the payment unless it’s paid in full.

Sounds like your manager is part of your problem. She needs to back you up!

Don’t accept partial payments.

Allocate money to late fee and file eviction for rent. If they want to stay then they will pay court cost and fee's and probably wont be late again or at least start paying the late fee

I don’t accept partial payments on small balances if it carries over one month. Then you can send them to court for their full rent if they wanna play that game!

Lock them out of the online payment they will have to either call or come into the office to pay the rent at that point ask for full payment due.

If your managers not going to back you up you're kind of stuck....

Why are you not posting all payments to the oldest balance. That would leave them owing current rent and you can just file eviction on them. I would send them a notice tomorrow letting them know all future payments will be applied to the oldest balance adding additional fees including legal fees if not paid in full.

Send them a letter that you will not take September’s rent if not paid in full and if they only pay without the balance return their money and give them a 3 days and file eviction..

Send the next payment back or do not accept it.

Don't accept rent until the entire balance is paid in full. Tell them they are in default of their lease because they haven't paid $100 in rent... (Monies paid go to fees first then rent)...

You don’t accept the next months rent until all previous monies due and owing are paid current.

I won't accept late rent unless it has the late fee. I would consider that partial payment of rent. Stand firm on this. It worked for me!

Ideally you don’t want to have to file eviction over a small balance. Residents will typically mold to the level of importance that you put on collecting the balance, so if you have a few that have been out there for a while just continue to contact them until it is collected and you definitely can refuse to accept the current rent payment if they do not have the full amount (including past due fees). You won’t evict over a small balance but if their rent isn’t paid (because they didn’t have the rent+past due fees) then they would In fact be facing eviction (and more fees) and at that point most residents do not want things to be at that level and will go ahead and settle it. Your online payment portal should have a setting that will allow you to not accept partial payment, and if you do normally allow partial payments then you can change the setting just until the past due balance is taken care of and you can then change it back to allow partial payments (if that makes sense?). Late fees are extra income so never hate on people paying late, just be firm on collecting before you reach that point in the month where it 1. Starts to make the books look bad and 2. Starts to approach eviction time, which costs the property money.

Just non-renew them. Give them 3 months prior to the end of them lease to get caught up and if they don’t pay it just serve them a notice. I don’t know what state you are in but here we don’t need to chase residents for money. There are too many people that will take their place and pay on time.

Take it out of their security deposit. Or if they renew loop it into the new rent amount.

Don't accept next month's rent unless you have it all.

We don’t accept partial payment...if it’s even $30 off we won’t accept. The habitual late payers catch on and always pay in full. They even email or call us to confirm the amount before they bring the payment in because they know we will turn them away if it’s not in full. Good luck!

No partial payment, suspend there online pay options and send a letter saying must pay balance in full

We don’t accept rent unless all fees are included. Then 5 day them since they did not pay rent and all fees owed

Rule #1 - You can’t allow the inmates to run the asylum!
Rule #2 - Re-educate and retrain the residents that policies will begin to be enforced within a reasonable timeframe since you’ve made allowances on these policies until now. If partial payment and legit fees being waived is the norm for these residents then be FAIR BUT FIRM on what will no longer be tolerated.
Rule #3 - There’s no shame in asking for clarification on the goals of the property and how you can meet them. For example, a lease up/new construction property can have a completely different approach to delinquency than a stable site that’s not struggling to gain occupancy. HEADS ON BEDS or PAY TO STAY? That’s the question!

Sounds like you need to ask that question before you take directives from someone that doesn’t follow the BEST PRACTICES OF PROPERTY MANAGEMENT, partial payments being one of the industry 101’s.

Good help is hard to find and don’t take direction from anyone that seems to be setting you up for failure. Ask clarifying questions 1st though!!

You file in court, when they are hit with court cost and judgment, they pay and usually straighten up the payments going forward.

Pro-rate the penalties into a rent increase at renewal. Doesn’t reconcile well, but gets the income.

Don't take the next months rent unless it's the full balance they owe.

Don't accept partial payments! If you have a drop box, check their balances before you post it and call them and tell them you can't accept it and they can either bring the balance or come pick up their checks/money orders. If they don't pick them up, send them back certified mail. That way you have proof that you sent them back. If you accept online payments, be sure your system is set up for residents to pay the full amount only. If the rent is late, I wouldn't let them pay online at all. Certified funds for late payments and no partial payments, period. You have to be consistent and black and white across the board to get a delinquency problem under control.

Return the payment with a copy of their ledger

In Texas we have a form to apply payments towards non rent items first. I would give it to them before rent is due and let them know that the late fees will be paid first, then the rest goes towards the rent. All must be paid by the due date or their rent will be past due causing more late fees and other remedies for unpaid rent.

You will never get them to pay if you continue to do what you are doing. Everybody needs to be onboard-full payments only, including all fees. No exceptions. It sounds scary, but it will work. You won’t have to evict as many as you think. Simply return the payment. I promise, your residents will find the $100 late fee somewhere.

Don't accept rent at all without it. Doesn't the 3-day say partial payments won't be accepted?

Don’t accept partial payments. Since you’ve been doing it as a practice, send them a letter that states effective immediately no partial payments will be accepted and if they are submitted will be returned. Put the rent back inside their door if they do it anyway. I agree it’s so annoying! Gotta train em lol

Refuse the payment and file eviction on them. I would never accept payment that is not in full.

Do not accept payments that are not for the correct amount .. let everyone know in writing that will be future policy .. we never struggle w small balance as we send back until paid in full

Reapply their payment to the late fee. Then they owe rent

I was told the money being paid goes to late charges first and the balance is rent due. I would send them a letter and explain if it is not in by a certain date you will have no choice but to start eviction proceedings.

Apply the next rent payment toward the old balance first. That way they have a balance on rent. Still can't evict but you can send a balance letter that lets them know how the payment was applied. More than one way to skin that cat.

I think you get the idea. Great advise here. No partial payments accepted. Must pay in full. Then evict or don't renew or a flat 60 notice to terminate the lease. Check with your legal Rep. You've got this!!

How about give them a call. I’m sure you can work it out.

When the next month comes around it's no longer late fees it becomes rent because you apply the rent to all previous balances first and file eviction on the remaining balance

When I started at a property, there were many residents that continued to pay late. We made payment arrangements with them to get caught up and then let them know moving forward, they must pay on time. If you have Blue Moon, there is an Eviction Hold Off Agreement that you can use. Here is a letter I found on my computer I used along with the EHO when I set up arrangements:
TAA lease contract between

---

and

---

for address

---

dated

---

expiring

---

.
This serves as advance agreement that we will no longer accept late payments for your rent after

---

. You agree late payment arrangements for

---

have been made but any late rent thereafter will not be accepted by

---

and will be considered grounds for termination.
Per the TAA lease dated

---

in paragraph 6, resident has signed an agreement that ‘you (resident) must pay your rent on or before the 1st day of each month (due date). There is no grace period.’ The contract further states, ‘If (resident) you don’t pay all rent on or before the 3rd day of the month, you’ll pay an initial late charge of

---

, plus a daily late charge of

---

per day after that date until rent is paid in full.’ ‘If you don’t pay rent on time, you’ll be in default and subject to all remedies under state law and this Lease.’
Details of resident’s payment history:
(I listed each month and followed with their payment date for the month)
Please sign below in agreement

Don’t accept next months rent without it. Flag their account in your software and serve 3 day on 9/2- depending on what state you are in. Most leases state no partial payments.

Its all in how you post your money. Rent should always be paid last so that its what us outstandjng when they don't pay in full. You can then file for non payment. Deoending on yiur software, this should be set up to do automatically.

Tell your resident you can't except parcel payment He has to in full. Always be consistent.

For us, any balance over $100 incurs another late fee. We also won't let anyone renew with a balance owed on the account.

Sounds like you have a bully of a Manager. Her main purpose is to support you and the rest of the staff. My Lord. I would have a sit down talk with her first and allow her the opportunity to give suggestions/solutions for the betterment not only of your job but for the property as a whole. If it does not get better I would then take it above her to the Regional. You should not have to continue to work in such a toxic environment. God bless you.

I agree - don't accept partial payments. Normally, when we return that first payment back, they come right in and pay it in full with no issues. I think the residents sometimes see how long they can get away with it but when you return their money, that triggers something. It also gives grounds to evict and it sounds silly to evict on that amount but again, usually the threat of possible eviction usually gets them to understand the seriousness and they pay the full balance. I literally had a resident comment "I'm not getting evicted over a $100" and she came right in and paid it before I even filed. I'd challenge your manager to ask what's more important - to waste your admin time, money and energy to keep following up with all of these smaller amounts (which do add up to a lot of money if you have several residents like this) or clean it up in 1 swoop. I'm telling you, when you return their money and state because they didn't pay the full balance and they could now be evicted, they usually clean up the account right away. Good luck!

My question is, why are you collecting rent without the late fee to begin with? if it is a Corporate policy to accept rent without the late fee...if paying with a personal check in the memo section, if it doesn't specify "rent" for whatever period, apply to late fee's first, serve notice of the remaining rent balance.

Sounds like your problem isn't with the resident, but rather not getting the support from your manager to resolve a resident issue. Is there any way to highlight that for someone at the next level, without putting your own butt in a sling?

Maybe offer Tenants a discount on the late fee balance due. maybe 30% off if they pay the remaining balance.

I check the stop payment option on my software. When a resident comes in to pay the next month's rent we do not accept the rent unless paid in full. I am having great success with this software feature. I also send out an invoice showing the balance due on their ledger with a note attached. The note specifies that we will not accept their rent without the balance paid. I have really had great success.