Q: I've always told my tenants that their rent check must be postmarked by the first of the month (rent is due the first). I've just hired a property manager, who says I should instead require receipt of the rent on the first. What do you think?
A: I'm with your property manager. "Due on the first of the month" means in your hand, or in your bank account if there's an electronic transfer of funds. If tenants are mailing a check, it's up to them to mail it in time to be received by the first.
Here's the practical problem with your approach: Not only will you receive the rent a number of days after it's due, but you also will have given your tenants an unintended grace period when it comes to failure to pay the rent.
Suppose, for example, that a tenant insists that she mailed the check on the first, and that date happens to have fallen on the Saturday of Labor Day weekend. Because Monday is a federal holiday, the earliest the check will arrive is the following Tuesday, a full three days after the first. In fact, if she missed the last pick-up on Saturday, it will not have been processed until Tuesday. And you can't expect to get it until Wednesday or even Thursday. So you wait until Thursday or even Friday, and don't give her a three-day notice to pay or quit until Friday or Saturday. She's managed to not pay rent for an entire week, and has another three days to come up with the rent — 10 days after it was due.
But suppose she moves out instead? You have to take those 10 days' worth of rent from her security deposit. That leaves the balance to cover damage beyond ordinary wear and tear. If the cost to repair damage exceeds the balance of the deposit, you'll have to sue for the remainder or swallow the loss.
Had you insisted on actually receiving rent on the first, you could have served your notice on the second, and the tenant would have had to pay by the end of the day on the fourth. If she moved out instead, you'd take only four days' worth of rent from the deposit, leaving more to cover damage.
Of course, the delay caused by your approach will delay any eviction proceedings too, which you'll need to begin if the tenant neither pays nor moves out. It's far better to file an eviction lawsuit early on, when the unpaid rent is lower, because that rent will also come out of the security deposit, leaving less to cover damage.
I hope all of this convinces you to write your future leases to require that you receive the rent by the first of the month.
Q: My tenant, who lives alone in her half of our duplex, has left for a monthlong vacation, which I knew about. I did not know that she was planning on having someone come to the property twice a day to feed and look after her cats. This person is quite annoying — she parks in our driveway, plays loud music while she's there, invites others to come over and stays several hours each day. Is there anything I can do about it?
A: At this point, the horse is out of the barn, rather, the cat is out of the house. Your best bet is to meet the sitter when she arrives and speak to her about her activities. Point out to her that, as your tenant's guest, she is legally bound to the same standards as her traveling friend — no parking in the driveway, no loud music. You can also try to insist that she not invite others to the house, for reasons explained just below.
In the future, when a tenant announces a long absence and the plan for a regular house sitter or pet sitter, consider it to be a request that the tenant sublet the rental for the length of the vacation. A subtenant is someone who steps into the shoes of the main tenant for a period of time, bound to the same terms and conditions of the tenant's lease. Crucially, a subtenant requires the consent of the landlord. This will give you an opportunity to insist on meeting the proposed subtenant and going over the rules, including parking and noise.
As for inviting more friends, you can also attempt to stop this. Although it would be unreasonable to say "No visitors" to someone who is planning on living there, it's not unreasonable to say so for someone who is stopping by to check on the cats. Making this rule after the fact, however, is going to be difficult, because you may hear a protest along the lines of, "If I'm stepping into the shoes of the tenant, and she can have visitors, why can't I?" You have a rejoinder if these meetups are themselves creating a disturbance.
