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In an ideal world, tenants would pay rent on time each month and experience no hiccups when submitting their payments. However, there is always a chance that they may forget to pay rent by the set due date or experience financial hardships while renting.
If you’re struggling with tenants who aren’t paying their rent on time, there are some things you can do to help remedy the situation and encourage on-time payments. Here are six tips to ensure rent payments are paid by the set due date.
1. Communicate With Your Tenants About Late Payments
If your tenants are consistently paying rent late, it’s important to talk with your tenants to ask the following questions:
- Why is the payment late?
- When will they be able to pay?
- Are they going to pay in full?
- How are they going to pay (check, cash, online, etc.)?
Straightforward communication about rent, due dates, late fees, and possible consequences for late rent will help prevent any confusion during the lease term. Establishing a paper trail of communication can also be helpful during the eviction process, as it proves you did make an effort to notify the tenant of the expectations regarding rent.
2. Have Consequences for Late Rent Payments
Charging a late fee ensures that tenants are financially motivated to pay on time. The exact rules about how much you can charge vary by state, so check local landlord-tenant laws before charging them.
Some landlords choose a late fee that’s enough to motivate tenants to avoid paying late, but not too high that it would impose a financial burden on tenants. However, some states limit how much you can charge in late fees and require landlords to allow a grace period for tenants to submit the payment. This grace period and late fee should be stated in the lease agreement for both to be enforceable.
3. Make Use of Online Rent Payments
Paper checks, cash, and money orders are outdated methods of collecting rent that pose their own problems (lost mail, lack of receipt, etc.). Since many tenants already pay the majority of their bills and other expenses online, consider letting them pay their rent online, too.
Collecting rent with platforms like Avail makes it easy to streamline the rent collection process for more than one rental property. You can set up late fees to automatically generate once a payment is considered late, schedule upcoming payments, and track your rental income with the rental property accounting tool.
Tenants are also able to leverage Autopay to automatically withdraw the funds from their account, or manually submit payments with their preferred payment method in minutes. The easier it is for tenants to pay rent, the less likely you’ll experience late rent payments.
4. Send Your Tenants Rent Reminders
Thanks to advancements in technology, it’s easy to get in touch with your tenants in minutes. To ensure tenants collect rent on time each month, you can send rent reminders a few days before the due date.
You can manually send reminders yourself or leverage a property management software platform to automatically send reminders each month. Our system sends automatic rent reminders to tenants each month, and will also automatically generate a late fee if one is set up and outlined in your lease.
5. Choose Your Tenants Carefully
Being proactive about how you select your tenants is another aspect of getting paid on time. Having a consistent screening process that you use every single time you’re assessing a prospective tenant is essential to determine if a tenant will likely pay rent on time.
You can assess a tenant’s income to make sure it’s appropriate for your rent rate by requesting a credit check (if allowed in your state), verifying their employment, requiring a credit reference, or reaching out to their previous landlord.
6. Offer Rent Concessions For On-time Rent Payments
As important as negative reinforcement for late rent is, so is positive reinforcement for timely payments. Offering rent concessions to tenants can be one way to encourage on-time rent payments during the lease and reduce hiccups.
Tenants can also boost their credit score with on-time rent payments. However, tenants aren’t able to report on-time rent payments to the credit bureaus on their own. As a landlord, you can set up a system to report your tenants’ on-time payments to the major credit bureaus to encourage them to pay on time.
If you don’t want to go through the process of setting up rent reporting yourself, Avail can report tenants’ on-time payments to TransUnion for you. Tenants can sign up for CreditBoost* to report their on-time rent payments to help them improve their credit.
Collect Rent Online With Confidence
Following these six tips will help you streamline the rent payment process while encouraging on-time payments from your tenants.
Create an account with Avail to set up automated reminders and fees, streamline rent collection, and track your rental income in one place.
*CreditBoost terms and conditions may apply.
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Global economic markets on the brink of collapse. Millions, even billions, of dollars in jeopardy. A lack of clarity, absence of understanding, and unpredictability all shrouded in darkness.
This might sound like an interesting movie about the stock market and the risks traders take on Wall Street, but it is what many people faced in 2008 with the Great Recession. With an economic collapse in 2008, many lenders’ confidence took a toll. Banks started to play it safe and stopped taking so many risks with their money.
What was the result? A decrease in homeownership.
What decreased homeownership means
It’s definitely not this simple, but the truth is that since 2008, there has been a significant increase in the level of renters. Renting has taken a much greater role than it has in the past.
Now, statistics and surveys all indicate that homeownership is actually on the decline as more people are beginning to adjust and accustom themselves to the prospect of living in rental properties for extended periods of time.
In fact, vacancy rates for rental housing have decreased significantly throughout the years and are expected to continue to decline.
The recession negated the conventional trend of increased home ownership. Indeed, the renter share for all U.S. households escalated to 35% in 2012, equating to almost 43 million households by the year of 2013. This new trend in which people are staying as renters for longer than in the past has been consistent across all different age groups as well as ethnicities.
If you check out the U.S. Census Bureau, you can get detailed information and statistics on current homeownership and rental rates. There is a noticeable change in the vacancy rates for rental homes.
For instance, the vacancy rate for rental housing in New York stood at 6.8% in the last quarter of 2010. In 2014, it stood at 4.1% —indicating almost a 3% decrease. In Chicago, the vacancy rate for rental housing was 9.5% in the last quarter of 2010 which decreased to 8.8% in the last quarter of 2014.
These rates might not seem significant, but it’s quite simple to put into perspective just how substantial these changes are. Consider the fact that the population of NYC alone is almost 8.5 million. Of that population, 3% means that nearly 255,000 decided they either could not or would not become homeowners whereas under other circumstances they might have.
A study done by the NYU Furman Center and Capital One indicates that between 2006 and 2013, the renter populations of the nation’s 11 largest cities have expanded by more than 20%. According to the 2014 census, the U.S. population is 318.9 million. This means that more than 63,800,000 people became renters in the span of 7 years!
The simple fact is that fewer people are opting for homeownership. But you might be asking yourself, what does it matter to me?
Why does a decrease in homeownership matter?
These statistics are of great significance if you are either a landlord or a tenant. Both the number of renters and landlords are growing on a daily basis.
According to the rental clock, within a single day over 2,000 new renters enter the rental market. In addition to these 2,000 renters, an additional 500 become landlords.
This expansion means that the rental market is in a constant state of growth, at least for now. For landlords, this means there will most definitely be a steady supply of tenants to choose from. That’s good, right? Yes and no. Yes, because you’ll obviously have a greater supply of tenants wanting to settle in your rental property. No, because that means the rental market is more unpredictable. You may have to go through hundreds of applicants to find the responsible tenant with a good credit score.
If you are a landlord, it means that you might face a lot more irresponsible tenants and professionals trying to scam you. Since the number of landlords is also in a state of increase, these professionals don’t need to worry much about finding another place to live—they can just scam another landlord.
This is all the more reason why as a landlord, you need to be well versed in the tenant screening process. You need to be ready by understanding the components you need to take into account when considering a potential tenant.
Currently, there are 109,779,438 renters in the U.S. Who knows just how many of these are responsible tenants and how many are professionals just looking for a free room?
For tenants, the expansion of the rental market is also both a good and bad thing. More landlords mean more availability of spaces to live in. But just as landlords need to look out for professionals, so do tenants. A growth in the number of landlords does not necessitate that these landlords are the best you will ever meet or that they are actual landlords.
Unfortunately, there are no statistics tracking how many rental scams occur in a single day. Since the losses involved in such fraud are small, people end up not reporting these scams. But just because there are no official statistics or reports does not mean scams do not occur! As a tenant, you will undeniably want to look out for rental scams and know how to avoid them.
The upside of an expansion of the rental market means more liberty and choice to move wherever tenants want to. Within the last decade, the shift in renter population has changed significantly across different metros. Even now the rental share in most major cities is increasing, meaning there are either more renters than homeowners or a significant growth in the number of renters in these areas.
New York, for instance, now has a total rental share of 51%. Washington DC has a rental share of 42%, Los Angeles a share of 41%, Boston with 35%, Chicago with 30%, and so on. Considering the population size of these cities, those percentages equate to a substantial number of people.
As demand for rental space surges, construction for rental housing is skyrocketing.
While rental shares are undoubtedly increasing, it doesn’t mean that construction to expand rental housing is following suit.
For some cities in California, rental space is increasing. In a place like New York City where space is extremely limited, such expansion can only go so far. But even as construction for rental housing increases, it does not indicate that cities everywhere are doing so or at the same rate.
So what does this mean for you, tenant? It means that rental space will be limited in certain areas. Basic economics dictates that if there is a great demand but a supply that does not match the demand, prices increase. The same is so with rental housing. While the rental population is growing, the supply of housing is insufficient in terms of matching this growth.
Therefore finding affordable housing can be difficult, especially as you go through pages and pages of housing which provide prices which do not suit your finances or your needs. This is where utilizing online rental services come in extremely handy. Avail makes the application process simple and smooth so that you don’t have to stress out about applying to different rental properties.
Renting is on the rise
What’s the takeaway? Renting is on the rise and it probably won’t be going away so soon. Maybe you’re a tenant or maybe you’re a landlord. Either way, it doesn’t hurt to read up a little more on the rental market and the renting process—the risks, the difficulties, and the right methods. Avail aims to make every aspect of this easy for you. If you need answers, chances are Avail can help you out!
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Tenant-landlord relationships can be rocky and hard to navigate, especially when legal matters come into play. But the fact is, tenants have rights. The problem is that many tenants don’t understand what rights they have, and because they don’t know their rights, they can’t discern when a landlord is overstepping his or her legal boundaries.
If you’re a tenant in New York, this post is here to help you get informed — especially now that rent laws in New York have changed. Here are some important facts to know about the New York Landlord-Tenant law.
1. My landlord said he cut off my utilities because I complained about some needed repairs in the apartment. Can he do that?
No. It is illegal for a landlord to cut off utilities.
As part of NY state law, landlords are required to provide a safe and livable environment for their tenants. In addition to the proper security measures, the provision of utilities falls under this category of “safe” and “livable.” Unless a specific court order spells it out, know that your landlord cannot just decide to cut off your electricity, water, or heat.
Indeed, property owners in New York are absolutely required by law to provide hot water for 365 days a year at a minimum temperature of 120 degrees Fahrenheit.
Have you watched Disney’s Frozen? Do you want to build a snowman? In your home? Hopefully, your apartment doesn’t look like Elsa came for a visit, because landlords are obligated to provide heat to their tenants between October 1st and May 31st under certain specific conditions.
If your landlord cuts off your utilities or fails to provide them in the proper conditions, he is not fulfilling his duty and responsibility as a landlord.
2. My landlord keeps threatening to kick me out. Does he have legal right to do that?
No. It is illegal for a landlord to simply evict a tenant.
Are your padlocks changed? Are your clothes, books, and furniture outside in a flaming pit over which your landlord is cooking sausages? While such an occurrence would be quite the sight, your landlord can’t just kick you out and tell you that you have to leave — especially if the lease is not up. Learn why reviewing a lease before you sign is so important.
There are specific conditions under which a landlord can move a tenant out of his property: 1) If the written lease between a landlord or tenant is up, 2) If a tenant withholds rent from the landlord, or 3) If a tenant has severely violated the lease.
Even when these conditions are met, the landlord must take the tenant to court, win, and receive a court order called a “Warrant of Eviction.”
Outside of all these preconditions, a landlord’s methods to evict a tenant are illegal. A letter from either a landlord or the landlord’s lawyer is never enough to evict a tenant. If your landlord’s approach to getting you to move out is through methods previously listed such as cutting off your utilities or locking you out, understand that is illegal according to the New York Landlord Tenant Law.
Also, under new laws, landlords can no longer use the “owner-use” loophole — when landlords remove tenants in order to use a property as their personal residence, a common mechanism used to evict tenants and raise rent. Under new laws, tenants who have lived in a residence for more than 15 years will be protected from eviction, and landlords can now only claim one of their units as a primary residence under “owner-use”, with certain exceptions.
3. My landlord isn’t making repairs. Can I pay less in rent?
Possibly. A tenant may withhold rent from the landlord under certain conditions.
Again, a landlord has a duty to provide his tenants with livable, safe, and sanitary environments. Of course, the idea of “livable,” “safe,” and “sanitary” conditions are not fluid or arbitrary terms. These conditions do not change according to a tenant’s preferences; just because the bathroom floor is not donned with the Apple Store’s trademark Pietra Serena sandstone doesn’t mean you can withhold rent from the landlord.
Livable, safe, and sanitary means the landlord needs to properly manage the security of the building as well as maintenance of pipelines, heating systems, and electrical wires.
While withholding rent is an actual right to exercise, it should be done only in very serious cases. If there are real repairs that need to be done within the property, the tenant needs to notify the landlord. Ask when the repairs will be done. If it’s an emergency, you need to let the landlord know it is an emergency.
In the case that the landlord is slow to respond or simply does not make the repairs, send a letter requesting the repairs. If the landlord takes no action at this point, then you might want to take your own steps to fix the issue or what you may call “Repair and Deduct.”
Repair and deduct simply means you make your own repairs with what you would normally pay for rent. So instead of paying the rent, you make your own repairs and deduct the repair amount from the usual rent. If you do decide to take this as your next step, you need to ensure that your landlord understands what you are about to do. The important thing is to give him a chance to make the repairs.
In the case that you decide to take this course of action, get some estimates before you do anything. Repairs do not mean upgrading your apartment into a nightclub or a penthouse suite!
Unless the issues within your home are severe and detrimental to your health, such as toxic sewage leaking from a pipe, try not to immediately resort to withholding rent. On a serious note, if there are electrical wires hanging out or something of the sort, you should notify your landlord immediately.
4. I asked my landlord for my security deposit and he said he spent it because he had legal right to use it to repair the building. Only thing was it was not even in my apartment. Can he do that?
Absolutely not! A security deposit is still technically a tenant’s money.
Apart from reimbursement for unpaid rent or damage to the property, the landlord does not have a right or privilege to spend the money from a tenant’s security deposit. The money you provide the landlord is still technically your money.
Under new laws, security deposits in New York will be limited to the equivalent of one month’s rent. The landlord must provide a receipt of the deposit which details the name and address of the banking institution where he placed it as well as the amount of the deposit.
A receipt ensures that you have knowledge that your money is safely stored away in a bank instead of the dusty shoebox under your landlord’s bed of which you can’t even be sure exists.
Understand that this deposit should be in a separate account. The landlord should not and cannot mix your deposit with his own personal money.
After a lease is up and upon vacating the premises, a tenant is entitled to get the security deposit back with interest. Under new legislation, the security deposit must be returned within 14 days of the end of occupancy. A landlord is obligated to return the security deposit regardless of whether or not the tenant specifically requests it.
5. I’ve been paying $1,000 a month for the past year. My landlord is suddenly asking for an extra $500 a month. Shouldn’t he have let me know he was raising the rent?
Yes — under new rent laws in New York, landlords need to give tenants 30 days notice if they plan to raise the rent by 5% or more.
With the passing of new rent legislation, tenants in rent-regulated apartments will be largely protected from substantial rent increases.
Raising a tenant’s rent based on improvements to the property will be capped at 2% per year, and raising the rent on an individual unit because of renovations will now be limited and regulated in ways it hasn’t been in New York in the past.
While landlords have been able to raise rent by as much as 20% in the past when a unit becomes vacant, or remove a unit from rent stabilization when rent crosses a certain high threshold, new legislation in New York now prevents landlords from doing that.
And, if you’ve signed a lease in a rent-stabilized apartment and your rent is less than the established legal rent, your landlord can no longer raise your rent to the full legal limit when you renew your lease.
6. This is kind of weird, but my landlord enters my apartment from time to time. He doesn’t even knock and it really irks me! But doesn’t he technically have a right to enter because it’s his property?
Actually, no. A landlord cannot enter a tenant’s property without proper notice.
If you have no problem with your landlord randomly entering your home, there’s no need to read this section. But if you take issue with the fact that someone has access to your home at any time and comes in periodically or perhaps even too often without notice, just know that your landlord cannot do that.
Considering the landlord is the property owner, you might reluctantly think in the back of your head that he “technically” has a legal right to enter your home at any second. Not at all.
As with many of the other things a landlord can do, he can only enter your property under — the key phrase — specific conditions. If there are repairs that need to be done or he needs to show the property to potential renters, he needs to give you a reasonable notice. If his entry is outlined in the lease, he still needs to provide you with a reasonable notice.
A landlord can only enter without notice in cases of emergency. Entering your apartment outside of these circumstances means your landlord is probably bored and just there to bother you.
7. I told my landlord that I was going to have my friend move into the apartment. After a month, he’s now telling me that I can’t have a roommate because it’s illegal and that he needs to leave immediately. Is this true?
No. A tenant can most definitely house a roommate.
In the case you do decide to have a roommate, you need to inform your landlord 30 days within your roommate moving in or upon the request of your landlord. Generally, if you’re not shooting off rockets or blasting 90s rock music at 3 a.m. with your roommate, it should be fine to have a roommate.
In fact, a tenant is permitted to move in immediate family and one additional person and dependent children into a property. Whether or not you make any of these people pay part of the rent is up to the tenant. But because there are laws to prevent overcrowding, a landlord may limit the number of people a tenant takes in. However, make sure not to get this confused with subletting.
Subletting your apartment is a different issue and will require your landlord’s permission. Otherwise, you need to be living in your apartment to share it with a roommate or family. Subletting is essentially renting out your apartment to subtenants. In most cases, your landlord cannot unreasonably deny you subletting the apartment.
You can see the legal NY code for subletting or read up even more on the roommate law in NY.
8. Am I responsible for paying broker fees for a real estate agent that my landlord hired?
Yes. While landlords were responsible for paying any broker fees for agents they hire in 2020, this has recently changed.
Tenants in New York have historically paid the broker fees for agents that landlords hire, but in a reversal of policy in 2020, landlords were responsible for paying any fees for brokers that they’ve hired to represent their interests. Now in 2021, the Department of State guidance has been termed which means landlords can again charge tenants this fee. New York City is one of the few rental markets with a broker industry, and broker fees can be as much as 15% of the annual lease.
More Resources on New York Landlord Tenant Laws
It’s important for all New York residents to be familiar with New York State landlord laws. Even all of the above information does not exhaust the endless list of issues that may arise between a tenant and landlord.
Tenants’ rights and responsibilities within the tenant-landlord relationship are complex. There are a lot of resources to look to if you’re still not sure where you stand on an issue. Below is a list of some New York state-specific resources to use as guides. Happy hunting!
Tenants’ rights FAQs:
Frequently Asked Questions about New York Tenant Rights
New York Tenant Right Information from the State Attorney General
NYC Housing Preservation and Development — Tenants’ Rights and Responsibilities
New York Roommate & Subletting Laws
Metropolitan Council on Housing
New York City Rent Guidelines Board
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“Here are all the things you asked for!” says the tenant eagerly with a courteous smile as he hands you a neatly compiled folder of papers. As you quickly flip through the folder, everything looks in order — the rental application is completely filled out, proof of residence and employment are all there. So you take a security deposit and the first month’s rent.
You’ve been busy, so it’s a month later when you notice that the checks have bounced. You inform him of what happened, he apologizes and writes you a new one. Okay. Maybe he just forgot to put money into his account that first time. Relief washes over you as you feel reassured he’s given you a check to a working account. To your dismay, you find the checks have bounced. Again.
Now he’s withholding rent from you, complaining that the property is deplorable. You file for his eviction but the process does not go as quickly as you hoped. Someone is now living in your property for free and you’re coughing up the dough to cover the rent he should be paying while you wait for his eviction to process.
This is a complete tenant screening horror story. Of course, this is not the case with most tenants. But there are still scammers waiting to take advantage of any vulnerability in a landlord’s screening process.
That’s why proper screening and rental applications are a crucial to reduce the chances of a tenant scamming a landlord like yourself. We’ve outlined things to look out for to avoid getting scammed to help you feel confident during the tenant screening process.
What Are Examples of a Tenant Scamming a Landlord?
1. The Credit Report
Tenants will usually apply to multiple rentals and in turn, come prepared with their own credit report in order to save on the fees landlords charge for a credit check. One of the mistakes a landlord can make is simply skimming through the provided report and focusing only on the credit score.
Credit scores sometimes provide validation that a tenant will be financially responsible, but it’s crucial to understand how to interpret a tenant’s credit report. A tenant’s payment history is just as central to the report as is their credit score — payment history shows their track record of paying their credit accounts, and allows you to see if the tenant has paid on time.
It’s also a good cautionary measure to do your own credit report check. Doing so will take additional effort on your end, but Avail provides its own convenient and easy-to-access credit, background, and eviction reports so you can ensure you’re properly screening a tenant. All you have to do is create a landlord account and set up your potential tenant to begin the tenant screening process with confidence.
2. Proof of Residence and Proof of Employment
Among the other documents in the folder were the tenant’s electric bill and pay stubs. That’s good, right? Sure, it’s a good start, but is it necessarily reliable? As with the credit report, the answer is no.
It might seem cynical to so quickly doubt the information that the tenant has provided you. But as a DIY landlord, it’s advised to source your own proof that the information a tenant provided is accurate. Once they’ve provided proof of residence and current employment, you can reach out to the point of contact they provided to ask questions on their history there.
3. Moving for a Job
Electronic or impersonal exchanges regarding your property are perhaps one of the trickier aspects of being a landlord. You might receive an email or a phone call about the property you listed, where the tenant will explain his employer is moving him to the area of your property. He may send you an “employer’s check” which is much larger than the amount you require, and ask that you return him the difference.
In this situation, there is and was no “employer’s check.” It was a fraudulent check, and by the time he cashes the check you sent him back, he will be long gone and you’ll have lost thousands of dollars. First, any overage on the amount you request should be avoided to ensure you receive the requested amount each month.
Second, any exchange or transaction that takes place solely over the phone or online is asking for trouble. An offer from a tenant who has not even seen your property is suspicious, and even if a tenant is moving from out of town, you need to meet them face-to-face. Moving from out of town should not exempt the tenant from a proper screening process.
4. First Couple Months’ Rent in Advance
After an initial exchange, you finally meet with a tenant you have been talking to. Perhaps he is very content with the property that you’ve shown him and wants to move in immediately. He offers you the first couple months’ rent in advance to really convince you that he’s committed to moving into your place. Sounds amazing, doesn’t it? After all, you’ll get a hefty sum of money up front.
In this case, an alarm should be going off in the back of your head. Consider looking at the proof of employment that your tenant provided. Are there any inconsistencies? If the amount he’s willing to pay exceeds the amount that he makes in a month, there’s obviously something wrong.
Even if the tenant’s income and the offer make sense, it’s still worth considering why the tenant is so eager to convince you to let him move in so soon.
Of course, not all such cases signify that your tenant is trying to scam you. But again, take the time to enforce a legitimate process. A landlord needs to take the time to consider the applicant, research the documents provided, and perform a background check.
5. The Tenant-Landlord
Your new tenant finally settled into your property, and you’re happy things worked out well for you both. But then the check for this month’s rent doesn’t come in. Why is rent late? You give it a day more, then you finally talk to your tenant.
When you knock at the door, someone else answers it. You assume it is your tenant’s friend and you ask for your tenant. “Who?” the stranger asks with a blank expression. You explain that you are the owner of this property, but the recipient of your explanation is completely dumbfounded. She says that she has another landlord to whom she pays rent.
So what exactly happened here? The tenant you happily moved into your property was actually a professional who scammed you. After he moved in, he posed as the landlord of your property, advertised it, and moved another group of tenants in and took the first six months’ rent in advance, all in cash. He not only took off with the tenants’ money but what could be considered your money as well.
Can the police find him? Maybe. But chances are, he gave you a false name and identity and since he took cash from the tenants living in your property now, the money can’t be traced back to him.
In 2014 alone, 17.6 million U.S. residents were victims of identity theft. Who’s to say the tenant you met with is not using someone else’s identity? This is why it’s always important to take two forms of ID. One of these should always be a photo ID — the photo is absolutely necessary because it serves to match the tenant with the person he or she says they are.
Ensuring the identity of your tenant is not only important in terms of protecting your property, but also to prevent them from further committing fraud in the case they are indeed using a stolen identity.
Properly Screen Your Tenants With Avail
Creating and sticking to a rigorous tenant screening process is key to avoid being scammed. While a rental application, proof of employment, and proof of residence are all important, one final and crucial component is identification.
The fundamental component to tenant screening is to take time reviewing and processing any applicants for a rental property. While the majority of tenants are not out to scam you, and it may take additional time, energy, and effort to properly go through the entire screening process, it will be worth it in the end.
Learn more about the tenant screening process with our comprehensive Guide to Tenant Screening, and take advantage of our easy-to-use tools like online rental applications and credit, criminal background and eviction reports to make the screening process easier.
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