Whether it’s only one payment or more, if your tenants didn’t pay the rent, acting quickly is the key. No landlord wants their tenant to be in arrears. With the extra work you need to do in chasing up the missing payments, through to the possibility of losing out financially, it isn’t something you can ignore.
As a landlord, you do have rights in regard to receiving and recovering missed or late rent payments. Today we’ll explain what they are and how you can lower the risk of it happening again.
What You Do If Your Tenants Didn’t Pay the Rent
The tenancy agreement between you and your tenant will state the amount of rent, how it will be paid and when it is due. If your tenant fails to pay rent, this is in breach of the tenancy agreement. There are many reasons why a tenant may be in rent arrears, including they forgot to pay, didn’t have the cash or something out of their control such as an internet banking error.
Whatever the reason though, acting quickly and strongly is likely to lead to the best result for you. Here is a suggested timeline of steps you can take:
- Contact the tenant via phone and ask why the payment was missed. Find out when the late payment will be received and if necessary, arrange a payment plan. Tell the tenant that you still expect the next rent payment will be on time and in full.
- You can apply for FastTrack Resolution, which is a service provided by Tenancy Services. It is used to help the landlord and tenant agree on a solution instead of needing to do mediation through the Tenancy Tribunal.
- If the agreed late payment was missed, it’s time to send them the 14-day notice to remedy. This is a formal request sent by either email or letter. This notice tells them that they have 14 days to pay the overdue rent.
- Apply to the Tenancy Tribunal under Section 56 of the Residential Tenancy Act if the tenant is 21 or more days in arrears. Mediation will generally be offered, and here an agreement may be reached with your tenant as to a payment plan etc. If no agreement can be reached, then the Tenancy Tribunal issues a court order where other penalties or orders may be set, including the eviction of your tenant.
- After 21 days of non-payment, as a landlord, you can also apply to re-possess your rental under Section 55 of the Residential Tenancy Act.
Best Protection Against Rent Arrears
Like most things, prevention is the best protection you have against non-rent paying tenants. As Auckland’s residential property management team, we thoroughly investigate each application we receive from prospective tenants. This means we check their references and carry out a credit check. If we don’t believe they will be an excellent tenant, we won’t rent to them: it’s as simple as that.
If your tenants didn’t pay the rent, see us now! We would be happy to provide you with a free rental appraisal for your property and make a time to discuss our range of property management optionswith you. Book your free rental appraisal now and we’ll be in touch ASAP.
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