Rent never paid consistently by PM

[FrankGrimes]

Hi all

I have a problem with both my PM's with BOTH of my properties. They never ever seem to pay me on the same time of each month, It honestly just comes in dribs and drabs at no particular time. So sometimes I'll get a paid for 1.5 months, then 0.5 of a months rent.

Does this happen to anyone else? I find it really frustrating not knowing when the money is coming through (I always thought it would be paid more like a salary on a set day) and it makes it really hard to budget/manage expenses.

Thoughts?

 

[agent007]

Have you spoken to them about it?. What seems to be the problem?. If the PMs are the problem then, change them...

Cheers,

James.

 

[Shirley]

Hi Frank - we made arrangements to receive our rental payments on a fortnightly basis - better than leaving the cash in the rental manager's account. See if you can arrange it too.

We do find the transfer is often not the same amount as tenants tend to pay in advance at times or maybe a day or two later than when the fortnightly transfer happens.

Cheers
Shirley

 

[duncan_m]

Originally posted by FrankGrimes
Does this happen to anyone else? I find it really frustrating not knowing when the money is coming through (I always thought it would be paid more like a salary on a set day) and it makes it really hard to budget/manage expenses.

It used to happen to me..

No day to day visibility of cashflow was one of the reasons I now self-manage. I hated getting a cheque at the end of the month and find that a Tenant was in arrears, a large water bill had been paid etc. etc.

I have loan payments that come out at different days of the month, given the peaks and troughs of cashflow sometimes I need to tip money in to pay loans, at other times I take out rent to use for my personal expenses.. Managing the floating account balance that my Loan Payments comes from would be a nightmare if I didnt know at least every week what my position was..

Are you IP's Local? I find managing my properties very easy and it takes me little effort.. Paid property mangement is such a scam at times.

 

[FrankGrimes]

Originally posted by agent007
Have you spoken to them about it?. What seems to be the problem?. If the PMs are the problem then, change them...

Cheers,

James.

Yes, but both seem pretty carefree about it. "Yes, we are just a bit behind this month, you'll get the money in a couple of days" and so on.

I was originally get paid fornightly but changed them both to monthly. Expecting it to come in on similar dates each month. Wrong.

Duncan, it's not practical, one place is in Brisbane and the other is in Wollongong. I couldn't afford to buy where I live unfortunately. Otherwise i'd definitely give it a shot.

And I'd rather not change PM's at the moment, because I can't really afford the break costs. I just wanted to see whether anyone else had similar problems with their PM's.

 

[manny]

Hi Frank,

that's quite normal for us too, although we do get paid monthly, unfortunately if the tenant drops off cash OR pays by cheque OR pays late does vary the date we receive our payment (as the cheque would need to be cleared b4 funds hit our account)... just a matter of balancing loan repayments & keep the relevant accounts topped up...

Cheers,

MannyB.

 

[liverpoolharryk]

If you as landlord are getting paid on a monthly basis you should recieve your rent the exact same time each month. I know in qld it is sound industry advise to recieve rental monies from the agent no later then 5 business days after the end of month. I direct debit mine on the 30th.

eg

tenant pays $100 pw.

If their rent is due on thursday Jan 1 and pays 2 weeks takes to Jan 15 then pay 2 more weeks takes to Jan 29 and pays 2 more weeks takes to Feb 12. you should recieve $600 less fees on Jan 31. If rent is kept up to date in Feb you should recieve $400 on the 29 Feb less fees. It as simple as that. So some months you may get more rent but still should get some rent on the 30th of each month. I the tenant falls behind and then catches up some months you may only get 2/3 weeks the next you should get 5/6 weeks less fees.

Hope this helps, if your not happy ask your PM why it's not paid on the 30th and if you like you could contact the office of fair trading or REINSW and find out if there are any requirements the agents must adhere to, in regards to trust money payments to landlords.

Jarrod
Jarrod Lane Real Estate

 

[Aceyducey]

I'd like to see a contract where the PM guarantees payment on rent on a given day each month & has the onus to get the money from the tenant or pay it out of their own pocket.

You'd see a huge improvement in PM performance on this count

Cheers,

Aceyducey

 

[JoannaK]

I used to give all my landlords a "management pack" in which it stated in detail exactly what I would do for them. This included end of month reporting on the last working day of the month, no if's, but's or maybe's.....so, every landlord knew exactly when they were going to get paid. I also had all my tenants pay on a calendar month basis, rather than a weekly or fortnightly basis, so they made one payment per month and that was it.

I also had a money back guarantee on my service.

 

[Aceyducey]

Originally posted by JoannaK
I used to give all my landlords a "management pack" in which it stated in detail exactly what I would do for them. This included end of month reporting on the last working day of the month, no if's, but's or maybe's.....so, every landlord knew exactly when they were going to get paid. I also had all my tenants pay on a calendar month basis, rather than a weekly or fortnightly basis, so they made one payment per month and that was it.

I also had a money back guarantee on my service.

Joanna,

Could you please start a PM school where you teach other PMs to do the job properly

Cheers,

Aceyducey

 

[Alan H]

Originally posted by JoannaK
I used to give all my landlords a "management pack" in which it stated in detail exactly what I would do for them. This included end of month reporting on the last working day of the month, no if's, but's or maybe's.....so, every landlord knew exactly when they were going to get paid. I also had all my tenants pay on a calendar month basis, rather than a weekly or fortnightly basis, so they made one payment per month and that was it.

I also had a money back guarantee on my service.

Hi Joanna.

I couldn't imagine getting some of these 'dribs and drabs' payments. My tenants pay me on a calender month basis too and if it's not there within a couple of days I'm on to them.

Calender month payments seem to be interesting though as I think the legislation says, depending on rental payment amount, you can't FORCE them to pay more than two weeks.

I queried this once with the Dept of Fair Trading and they said if you can agree on a Calender Month payment then that is the agreement but you can't make them???? What was your experience with this?

I continue with a Calender Month requirement............

 

[Macca]

My PM sends out cheques on the second working day of month, with statement of previous months activities.

I doubt that any excuse would be acceptable to me, if I was not getting at least an accurate, reliable monthly report and cheque.

Any less and I would be changing PM.

 

[JoannaK]

Joanna,
Could you please start a PM school where you teach other PMs to do the job properly

Hi Acey, I've thought about it in the past, and I definately think there is both a need and a market for something like this, but, I've too many other things to do and unfortunately only so much time. I have done some private consulting work in the past with agencies who want to change their PM departments though.

There is a woman in QLD who does it, and apparently she's very good too.

Calender month payments seem to be interesting though as I think the legislation says, depending on rental payment amount, you can't FORCE them to pay more than two weeks

Hi Alan!

You're right about this, I believe it's anything over $300 or $350 per week where you can insist on calendar monthly payments, and most of my properties were over this anyway, but even if they weren't I still told the tenant what the calendar monthly rent was, and the equivalent weekly rent, and suggested to them to pay it calendar monthly anyway. Afterall, if they agree, and sign the lease....what can anyone do?

Incidentally, I did have one tenant paying a calendar monthly rent that was lower than the equivalent of $300/week....we had to go to the tribunal for something, and the magistrate didn't even pick it up!

Also, I never signed a lease that commenced on the 29th, 30th or 31st of the month simply because it causes confusion for the tenants during a leap year and for months where their rent is due on the 31st of each month but there's only 30 days in the month, and to give the tenant a day or 2 grace to get the rent in prior to my end of month reports.

 

[GoAnna!]

We prefer our tenants to pay their rent consistant with their pay cycle and this way they never need to save up for their rent. Direct debit is also our preferred method as it does not require the resident to remember and it comes out of their income before they even see it!. We strongly believe that a good business makes payment easy!

Or tenants pay weekly, fortnightly or monthly depending upon their own situation.

Of the properties we have manged by property managers we are paid rent in one instance bi-monthly and the other weekly. We keep a float of a month's loan payments so that I don't need to concern myself about the varying payments.

I can imagine that for propertly mangers a single payment per month might be easier but I prefer the weekly payments for cashflow reasons both in terms of accessing the money but also predicting the cash flow.

 

[Kevin Hockey]

Originally posted by JoannaK
Hi Acey, I've thought about it in the past, and I definately think there is both a need and a market for something like this, but, I've too many other things to do and unfortunately only so much time. I have done some private consulting work in the past with agencies who want to change their PM departments though.

There is a woman in QLD who does it, and apparently she's very good too.

Hi Acey,

Joanna is right. Her name is Debbie Palmer from PPM Group on the Gold Coast. Website is http://www.propertybeyond2000.com/ . I met her and she is doing a great job.

Kev

 

[liverpoolharryk]

Kev

I went to one of her seminars last year, wasn't that fussed. Lot of hype but no real new info that a good property manager does not do anyway.

Jarrod
Jarrod Lane Real Estate

 

[Bluechip]

Hi Frank,

My experience is the same ...the rent is due into my bank account on the 7th of each month but is ALWAYS one week late.

Every time I query it with the PM they have a different excuse eg

the tenants paid separately - it will go in soon
our internet connection was down - it will go in soon
our accounts person is away - it will go in soon
etc etc

Cheers
Bluechip

 

[manny]

As mentioned earlier mine isn't always consistent, not trying to defend the PMs here but in my case, the reasons have been due to:

* Tenants payed separately (one holding us up &/or only 1/2 rent received now & other 1/2 a week later)
* Tenant paid by cheque, therefore had to be cleared b4 it hits my account (as it is cleared in PMs account)
* Tenant paid in cash on a Saturday, so may not be banked till the Monday, etc...
* Plain & simple tenant being late with payment, so nothing can be done other than chase the money & would hit the account once it is received

Note: for 1 IP we were always a week behind, as the tenants (2 brothers) did get paid monthly (both worked @ same place) one week after rent was due, we knew about it all & we lived with it, had no problems with it & worked fine...

MannyB.

 

[phm]

Hi there.

Our PM pays the rent (less fees) into our account in the last week of each month. We also receive our PM statement in the same week.