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How To Collect On Late Paying Tenants


As a landlord you have countless responsibilities. It’s top priority to comply with state regulations and to provide tenants with habitual housing, but receiving payments in full should be next on the list. Late rent payments are extremely common and often put the landlord and tenant into very unfortunate situations. There’s a number of things you can do before you start searching for a debt collector. Read below how to take action on late paying tenants.

Solving Communication Issues

The same way most problems start, there’s most likely a communication flaw coming from either end. In most cases the lack of correspondence comes from the tenant, as the landlord has likely reached out multiple times to request rent payments. Here’s a list of things you can do to better communicate with late paying tenants.

  • Send firm and respectful reminders to late paying tenants. You don’t want them take advantage of you with repetitive late payments, but you also don’t want them to feel spiteful towards you.

  • Contact tenants via phone within the first full day of a late payment. Some late payments may be due to bank issues or absent minded mistakes.

  • Consider their payment history and respond appropriately.

  • If the tenant can no longer afford rent payments you can consider letting them move out in one week without financial penalty

  • If the tenant is unable to pay rent, there’s a great chance that you won’t get your payments even after they the tenant has been evicted.

What To Do Next?

Collecting rent payments by yourself can lead to a dead road. If you sincerely want the payments you deserve, you need to call the professionals. Hiring a debt collector or a landlord collection agency will get you payments quicker than expected.

Tenants that aren’t able to pay will oftentimes have other debt that they’ve accrued. It’s our job here at Lyons Law Firm to generate a realistic payment plans that are agreeable to both parties. Call us at (603) 759-3917 with any questions you might have about collecting late rent payments on tenants in New Hampshire and Massachusetts.


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