How To Write A Tenant Are Letter That Always Late With Rent: Fill & Download for Free

Let's get the bad news done first. You are a bad landlord.If you have tenants who habitually pay late, you should be charging them late fees. You should be documenting with the letter every time they pay their rent late. Habitual late rent is a reason to evict them in most jurisdictions.What you should have been doing is writing a strong letter the first time they were late informing them of their late fee. Every other time they paid late you should be writing a strong letter and charging them late fees. After three or four late payments in a year, you tell them that the next one is late you will be suing for eviction. If they do not change, you get a court order to get them out of your apartment to get proper attendance and will pay you on time and abide by the lease that you both signed.I don't know how many months they've been late, but at this point I'm you need to grow some balls and go through that process of tracking every time they are late.You will have two options then, you either accept the late fees, by the way that's me 5% of the rent, and consider that you're getting higher and you're OK with the inconvenience of receiving late rent. Or you'll decide you don't want to put up with their BS anymore and you want to evict them. After three or four months of confirm letters of them paying late go to the court file for eviction for habitual late payments, most judges will allow you to kick him out with 30 days notice and that.If this all seems like too much work, go into the Google and look for management companies your town and call them and have them manage your property properly.

Consider this advice to anyone in any circumstance that could limit their ability to pay the rent:THOROUGHLY explore alternatives to not paying your rent - paying your rent should be your number one priority. Whatever the expense is find another way to pay IT vs. not paying your rent. Use a credit card (better to pay off a high interest rate credit card then be homeless), hit up friends and family, apply for assistance for unavoidable expenses by finding social services safety net programs, ask your church, school or other support networks if they have programs to help.Communicate with your landlord as soon as you’ve exhausted every other possibility. The sooner the better no-one likes surprises at the last minute. Some, like property management companies, will be more limited in what they can or will consider in a circumstance like this.Propose a solution. Offer to sign a Promissory Note and Installment agreement. This will allow you and your landlord to come to an agreement wherein you pay the missed rent amount over time. Ask if there’s any other arrangement that would help them consider your request.If your landlord is a property management company, IN WRITING ask them to please contact the property owner to forward your written explanation of the situation. Write a (really good) letter explaining the circumstances, everything you've done to avoid being late on your rent (see above) and (you better hope the following is true) why you’re a great tenant and how much you want to stay. Offer a solution like a Promissory Note. How long have you been there? Have you always been on time with rent before? Etc.If you get a hard “no” then move out before you get evicted. That eviction will haunt you for a long time.If you catch a break, be thankful. Write a thank you note. Keep your end of the bargain. Be an awesome tenant.Pay it forward. Someday make an exception for someone, but don’t be disappointed if it doesn’t work out.Landlords. We’re not all a**holes, even if we do sometimes (really REALLY) regret having given someone a break.

Late payment or non-payment of rent and lack of maintenance are two completely different issues. You cannot link one to the other, at least not in my state with our state laws. That’s likely true wherever you are, as well.Most people don’t even read their entire lease, much less understand the legal issues involved and I’ve seen it, more than once, lead to evictions because tenants are sure they know they’re right and don’t understand that, legally, they’re wrong. I saw one of my favorite restaurants close after being in business over 40 years because the new owner thought she could link rent and maintenance issues.A few points about all this:Basically the rent is due on the 1st of the month. Some states will allow 5 days before it’s considered late, but it’s due. Period. Not, “It’s due as long as the landlord has kept up on maintenance.”If you are having problems with maintenance, it’s vital to document them. People hate to do this, but the bottom line is if you do not keep things like this documented, you can count on losing on any disagreement or situation that ends up in front of a judge or mediator. Keep a log of all maintenance requests, including date and time, how you contacted the landlord, who you talked to (if it was verbal), and what the response is. If you communicate in email, keep the emails. If they don’t respond, send your request by certified mail, return receipt requested, and keep a copy of the letter you sent.If you ever dealing with a judge or mediator or anyone else in an official capacity, they’ll want proof of the maintenance issues. “I asked him twelve times” is not proof. All they have to do is shrug and say, “Humph. First I’ve heard of it,” and there goes your “proof.” But if, after that, you read from a log and say, “On January 18th at 2:52, I talked to Bob. Talked to Betty at 1:15 the next day. Both promised action, but as of the 21s nothing had happened, so I sent this email and nobody responded. After 2 days I sent copy of this letter certified and here’s the return receipt,” and you present the printed email and letter copies, then you have proof and even if they don’t say, “Never heard a thing,” you still have evidence you’ve made every effort to contact the landlord and they did nothing. Suddenly you start looking better and they look bad.No matter what, always pay your rent on time. Late fees pile up in a logical way (I can explain in comments if you want, it’s not hard, but it takes a bit to explain it) and, technically, the process that leads to eviction or a lawsuit or both can start the day rent is late.Do not link rent and maintenance issues! Don’t skip rent and say, “They didn’t fix things,” even if you have proof of repeated calls to maintenance. Courts don’t see this as linked. Imagine how many people want to skip out on rent or can’t pay it on time and use poor maintenance as an excuse. Judges hear that all the time and, unless there’s proof, they’ll just ignore such an argument. Even if there is proof, it won’t matter, since the responsibilities are separate.If maintenance is not getting done, and this is critical issues, like heat or hot water (as opposed to simple things like the bedroom doorknob is loose or a window pane that’s out of reach is cracked, but still firm in the frame), and you’ve documented all maintenance requests, then you’ve got a good start. The next steps vary depending on local laws and, honestly, you need a lawyer to be sure you’re doing it right. (Yeah, I know - it costs money. Sorry, but that’s the way it works.)IF you have maintenance problems AND you’ve documented them AND nothing is happening, the next best step, in most locations, is to see a lawyer and have them write the landlord. Usually when a landlord gets a letter from a lawyer, they behave. If not, the next step, again, in many locations, is to go to court with your evidence and get a court order to pay rent into escrow. Note that this is not “don’t pay rent.” First you have a court order. That means a judge has seen your evidence and agrees that you have grounds to take action. You are still paying rent but the landlord doesn’t get it until he meets specific conditions. Also, if he tries to charge you late fees or sue you for back rent or evict you, you now have the law on your side. If he tries to take legal action, all you have to do is present the information about the court order and escrow account to the judge handling the case and the landlord will probably get a lecture.Most tenants don’t know much (or any) of this. The restaurant I mentioned closed down because the owner withheld rent and was taken to court. The result was the landlord seized the property and all the fixtures attached. (I think that included all the contents, too, but I don’t remember if he was able to do that.) I’ve seen many people get evicted because they think, “Oh, they aren’t fixing my dishwasher. I just won’t pay rent.”In your case, it sounds like you probably have not documented maintenance requests. If that’s the case, your best bet is to go in and work something out and pay what you can ASAP. At the same time, discuss the maintenance issues and, when you leave, take notes in your new apartment log. Then document, from then on, your attempts to get things fixed and take the steps I’ve mentioned. You’re much more likely to see results once they start getting certified letters. I’ve rarely seen cases where that didn’t help and, if it didn’t, generally a letter from the lawyer gets things done. I’ve never seen a case where a tenant had to get a court order to pay rent into escrow, but I know it happens.