In order to succeed in real estate, particularly as a property manager, you’ll need tenants and a strategy for making sure they pay their rent on time.
Here are some tips on how you can make your tenants pay rent regularly and timely.
- Have a written tenancy agreement – the first step is to have a written tenancy agreement with the tenant where the rent should be specifically stated and early payment encouraged. It should also indicate the consequences for late payment.
- Send a written reminder - another thing to do to ensure regular and early payment of rent is to send your tenants a reminder before it becomes due. You can do that orally but the most effective way is by letter. Ensure you state the due date and emphasize the repercussions for late payment.
- Offer incentives for early payment – to ensure regular and early payment of rent you need to consider offering incentive to your tenants. Give incentives that will motivate them. A little reduction in the rent can do the magic.
- Consider sanction for late payment – similar to the above is punishment for late payment. To encourage early payment of rent you need to have well written sanction for late payment. Incorporate it into the tenancy agreement and also include it the the reminder. A little payment of penalty will suffice.
- Serve notice to quit timely – property management is a serious business therefore it has to be handled meticulously. Failure to serve quit notice timely may make the notice defective, so ensure you serve your tenant notice immediately he defaults on payment.
- Make payment of rent easy – you need to consider making payment of rent easy for your tenants to guarantee regular and early payment. To achieve that, you have to create different means of payment and communicate same with your tenants.
- Have prospective tenants on standby - another way to ensure regular and early payment of rent is to have prospective tenants on standby. When your tenants see that someone is willing and ready to occupy the property they will be motivated to pay timely. Even if they decide to leave you can quickly replace them without loosing your rental income.
- Engage the service of professionals – you may need to employ the service of professional property managers like SME Property and Business Limited to handle your property business.
Summary
It is not enough to get tenants you must move further to ensure they pay rent regularly and timely. Always remember to do the following:
- Have a written tenancy agreement
- Send a written reminder
- Offer insensitive for early payment
- Consider sanction for late payment
- Serve notice to quit timely
- Make payment of rent easy
- Have prospective tenants on standby
- Engage the service of professionals.
