Hi, for the past six months my Tenant never paid the rent on time. It was late by days to a week and on one occasion late by more than a month. In the lease it is written that the rent has to be paid on the first day of each month, by direct credit and without demand. There is also provision for charging interest for any late payment, which I have not done yet. It seems that I have a difficult Tenant. What should I do? Should I involve a Solicitor? Thanks in advance
Late Rent Payment
- Thread starter Nalima
- Start date
What a lame reply.
They want the bloody tenant to pay the rent on time, every time and not be difficult.
If it was me I would be writing to tenant reminding of their obligations and the consequences of not conforming. Then back that up with strong action if another breach.
Well that's the first thing a good solicitor would ask anyway.
Because it might be that they just want the tenant evicted. Which would be difference advice completely.
Yes, I want the Tenant to pay on time, without demand as per lease agreement. The Tenant took 5 months to supply me with the new " Bank Guarantee", and this only happen after I get my Solicitor sending the Tenant a letter. Am I too harsh if I threatened the Tenant with an eviction? Thanks again for any reply.
A letter reminding them of their obligations to pay rent in advance, and to let them know you will start to exercise your right to charge interest on monies in arrears, will often get them to smarten up (assuming they are paying rent late just to be difficult rather than because their business is struggling).
Not too harsh if within your rights and they are not holding up their end of the bargain.
But check your current lease against market rent and current vacancy rates before threatening this. If you lose them and have to wait 6-12 months to find a tenant paying less rent it may not be worth it!
Good luck.
I gather you are self managing?
There are strict guidelines for how to manage late payments for tenants - each state has their own. You need to look up the ones for NSW if that is where your tenant is and utilise your Landlord rights without breaching the Tenants rights.
For example, after being late xx days you can issue them with a Breach. But you must comply with the laws of your state.
Getting a solicitor involved is probably not warranted. What did you do when the Tenant was late - did you contact them, remind them etc?
You probably can't threaten them with eviction at the moment until you have previously served notices on them for breaching their lease conditions. Again you need to look up the rules for your state.
There are strict guidelines for how to manage late payments for tenants - each state has their own. You need to look up the ones for NSW if that is where your tenant is and utilise your Landlord rights without breaching the Tenants rights.
For example, after being late xx days you can issue them with a Breach. But you must comply with the laws of your state.
Getting a solicitor involved is probably not warranted. What did you do when the Tenant was late - did you contact them, remind them etc?
You probably can't threaten them with eviction at the moment until you have previously served notices on them for breaching their lease conditions. Again you need to look up the rules for your state.
It may be a bit heavy handed to get your solicitor to write to the tenant but it is often enough to put the frighteners on them and to give you a bit of direction. A prod by the solicitor can help (also check if the lease allows you charge the tenant for costs in relation to remedying the breach).
Thanks everyone for replies. I did not self managed. My Agent have contacted the Tenant every month to remind them about the late payments. I may start reminding the tenant about their obligations and that I may charging interest on past late payments as well. So far I feel that I am a soft Landlord.
Sounds about right.
Based on what you have said, I would not bother with a warning letter, I would just start charging interest on any late payments, as per the lease and check to see if you can charge interest on the late payments they have already made and if so, charge interest on those, as well.
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