As a landlord, one of the most recurrent problems when renting rooms is late payments. Tenants can devise a million excuses to justify a late payment, but the most common one will always be forgetting the payment date.
One sure way to avoid these excuses is to make a reminder of the payment date days in advance. And what better way to do that than by leaving a letter on their doorstep? Read on to find out how to write a letter requesting timely rent payments.
When should timely rent payment request letters be delivered?
When you own a home or any property you may rent, the first thing to think about is the cost of rent and the dates on which it is convenient to receive payments. In general, rents are usually paid in monthly periods.
However, some landlords may opt for longer periods, such as quarterly payments. These are less common, as a quarterly payment represents a larger sum of money that some tenants may not be able to pay.
In any case, the dates and amounts to be paid should be explicitly described in the rental agreement so that the renter can be organized to make the payments on time.
However, some people tend to be very unpunctual about the consignment of the rent money. Understandably, unusual circumstances may arise that prevent a tenant from paying their rent on time.
Delivering a late payment a couple of times should not present a problem between the landlord and the tenant as long as notice of the delay is given. But when it becomes a recurring situation, it’s time to take matters into your own hands.
The letter can be delivered to the tenant a week before the payment date or in the period allotted before the payment is considered late, informing the tenant that the payment is approaching and requesting timeliness.
The letter can be delivered to all tenants as a reminder message, or it can also be sent only to those who have submitted multiple late payments.
How to write a timely rent payment request letter?
Generally, these types of letters are short. Thanks to the lease, the tenant is already aware of the specific date for payment and how many days after that date is considered late.
Therefore, beyond being explanatory, the letter should function as a timely reminder of the rent payment.
The formats of these letters can be in semi-block style, with double-spacing after each paragraph, or in block style for more formality, left aligned and without double-spacing.
Then, at the beginning of the letter, we first place the sender’s information, in this case, the landlord. Full name, address, city, state, and zip code should be included in that order.
Then the date of issue of the letter is added. This can be right-aligned if preferred.
Consecutively, the tenant’s information is placed, such as full name, address of the room or rental property, city, state, and zip code.
Next, the formal greeting to the tenant should follow, and then the body of the letter. This is where the payment reminder and any additional information desired will be placed.
A formal farewell and the landlord’s signature should be added to culminate.
Use this example to guide you!
Remember that the body of the letter may vary depending on the recipient of the letter. If the letter is addressed to a single tenant, the consequences of continuing to pay the rent late can be added in the last paragraphs.
Similarly, if the letter will be sent to several tenants, you can add additional information, such as payment methods or bank accounts.
In both cases, it is important to emphasize the amount of the rent and, if there have been previous late payments, the dates on which the money was delivered late.
The following example may serve as a guide to drafting your letter of request for payment of rent on time. All you have to do is change the personal data, and you are ready to go.