How to Face the Situation when Tenants have no Money because of Holidays overspending?

 How to Face the Situation when Tenants have no Money because of Holidays overspending?

Holiday season has already begun with Thanksgiving Day. Like everyone else, your tenants in your Palm Coast rental property are also happy and excited and enjoying the festive spirit. They are busy buying gifts for dear ones and spending money on the celebrations. The reality of their financial conditions dawns upon you when you find that most of them are left with no money to pay their rents. A vast majority of tenants are heavily dependent upon their paychecks. When they overspend on food and clothing, they often have no money to pay the rent. What do you do in such a situation as a landlord? Here are some ways to tackle tenants with unpaid rent who are strapped for cash after the holidays.

 Give a grace period longer than normal

Show big heart as a landlord when approaching tenants for rent after the holidays. Realizing that it is actually hard for them to pay rent on time, give them an extended grace period for the months of December and January. But make it clear that this grace period is applicable only on holiday season and not the rest of the year.

 Be accommodating like a big brother

You have to put your inside the shoes of a tenant to realize their situation. You know how hard it can be to stretch their salary to meet the expenses during the holidays and also pay the rent on time. You can make it easier for them by allowing them to pay the monthly rent in two parts or by giving some other flexible payment option. This is something you can afford if you are not using the rent to pay your own monthly obligations towards a bank.

 Give then notice in writing

Often it becomes difficult to talk and convey the importance of paying the rent on time. If this is the case with you, what you can do is to covey your concerns in the form of a letter or notice that is personally delivered to the tenant. This notice tells the tenant that you are unhappy with late payment of rent and that you will not accept late payment again. You can clearly mention the grace period and the option of payment of rent in parts. Make it sound like it is a holiday gift from you and you will not tolerate late payment from February on-wards.

Tenants who pay no heed to your warnings

There are some tenants who have a habit of not paying the rent on time and who also do not accept alternative payment arrangements suggested by you. For such tenants, you can send a notice containing an extended grace period. Clearly mention in this notice that if they fail to pay the rent within this grace period, you reserve the right to terminate their rent agreement. In other words, you tell such tenants clearly that they are leaving you with no other option but to get the premises vacated forcefully.

In the end, it is clear that there are only two ways of dealing with tenants who are cash strapped and unable to pay the rent on time. You can either be accommodating and allow them the luxury of late payment because of overspending during holidays or let them know that you mean business. After all, you are the landlord and the choice is entirely yours. The ways of dealing with such tenants described above are merely suggestions. You are the best judge of the situation and it is in your hands to adopt a flexible approach or behave in a strict manner.

If you’d like to talk more about the value of inspections, or you need help with Everest Property Management, please contact us at Everest Realty. 

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