Dealing with Late Rental Payments over Christmas
Christmas is an expensive time of the year – and very few of us can escape buying presents. There is also pressure to buy extra special treats to feed your family and indulge your friends. For many families – Christmas is doubly problematic if they are casually employed as they may lose shifts and work days due to public holidays. A reduction in income together with an increase in expenses is a dangerous mix and one that can seriously impact on a Tenant’s ability to pay their rent on time.
If you do have a slow payer as a Tenant then it is worth preparing yourself for the worst and thinking about how you will cover the mortgage in the event that they let you down over the Christmas period. Putting away a few extra dollars every week for this purpose will help reduce the negative impact that this has on your own finances over Christmas. If your Budget is tight – let your Property Manager know well in advance and get them to pay particular attention to staying on top of rent arrears in the months leading up to Christmas.
If you are not already one of our Landlord clients, another option is to talk to your own Property Manager and see if you can come up with an arrangement to allow your Tenant to pre-pay extra rent for the months leading up to Christmas to help them avoid the burden on their end-of-year expenses. It may even be worthwhile to think about offering a small discount off December’s rent to encourage them if they opt to do this and pay their rent on time.
Sometimes a Tenant may not pay any rent at all unless they can pay the full amount – an “all or nothing” mindset. If they don’t pay on time – speak to your Property Manager about establishing a payment plan as soon as possible. Owing a small percentage of the rent will be easier to remedy than owing the full amount.
In all Landlord/Tenant matters – the key to preventing this type of situation is good communication. Tenants need to know how imperative it is for you to get your rent on time and you need to know if there are any issues or matters that arise that prevent them fulfilling their obligation.
Anticipating issues can help you pre-plan and prepare.
A review of your Tenant’s payment history can help highlight if there are any patterns to their slow payment and you can take remedial action of your own to prevent you from defaulting on your mortgage payments.
The good news is that MOST Tenants continue to pay their rent on time thanks to the efforts of your Property Manager in managing any rent arrears quickly and efficiently.
If we can be of assistance to you or if you have questions about how we help to manage rent payments with Tenants, please contact us. We’re here to help.
