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PAYING RENT
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When Rent Is Due
vs Being Late
Tenants, somehow get confused between when rent is due and when
rent is late. The time frame in which late fees can be applied,
has absolutely nothing to do with when rent is due, or when
the eviction process can be started. They are entirely two different
and distinctly separate timelines.
Rent is due on the 1st of each month... period!
That means that an eviction process can be started on the 2nd
of the month, regardless of when a payment may be considered
"late" for charging late fees or any other penalty.
So as an example, if a lease happened to stipulate that late
fees wouldn't be charged, or rent was to be considered late
until after the 15th of the month, there is the distinct possibility
that a landlord could start the eviction process on the 2nd
of the month and have a lock-out completed before the payment
would be "late"... again, late in that fees could
be charged.
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Are Late Fees,
Rent?
Most Rental Agreements stipulate that any outstanding charges,
including late fees, become rent after
they have gone unpaid for 30 days. So, yes, not paying your
late fees or other charges means that you can be evicted for
that as well since those amounts become rent. In our office,
and with our agreements, we go a step further and stipulate
that ALL outstanding charges, whether for late fees, utilities,
or whatever, will be paid FIRST, before any funds are applied
to rent owed.
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Money Orders vs
Personal Checks
Many tenants do not realize that personal checks (actually ANY
type of check, including bank checks) are not legal tender and
do not have to be accepted for payment. However, as a practical
business matter, we do accept checks for the convenience of
our tenants. We do not accept personal checks at the time of
move-in, nor do we continue to accept checks with established
tenants once a tenant has bounced one. A tenants account will
be marked not to accept personal checks and should one be mailed
in, it will be returned, unused. Also, if your payment is late,
we will not accept a personal check.
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Bad Luck and Excuses
After 30 years we've heard everything. Frankly, we don't care
what your problem is, everyone has problems, all the time.
Your non-payment is causing us a problem. By the way, it
is
NOT the Post Offices, or the mailman's job to get
your rent to us in a specific amount of time. If you are going
to rely on the post man then you need to be ready to accept
the fact that sometimes your payment is not going to get here
on time and you are going to incur late fees... We would
suggest that you mail your rent at least two (2) weeks in advance
in order to minimize any chance of slow mail. |
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