Receiving rent is fundamental to maintaining your rental income and keeping your investment successful. Follow these tips to help prevent problems with receiving rent from your rental properties.
At The Beginning Of The Tenancy
Before signing the tenancy agreement, ensure you inform your tenants of your expectations, and they have a clear understanding of the agreement being entered.
- Explain to tenants how rent in advance works
- Encourage tenants to pay rent automatically
- Outline expectations about how rent issues will be dealt with
- Highlight the importance of keeping in touch
- Keep current rental records in a spreadsheet (don’t try to put together a rent record at the end of the tenancy)
- Keep rent records and related financial information (for example, payment of damages) separate from other records.
During The Tenancy
If rent arrears occur, early intervention is necessary. We conduct checks on rents received each weekday morning at 8:00am to help ensure a constant flow of rents. To achieve efficient rent management ensure you do the following:
- Check accounts regularly to make sure rent has been received
- Keep a file for all rent records, receipts and letters about rent
- Keep up-to-date with the latest market rents
- Act professionally if the tenant has breached the tenancy agreement, and avoid harassing them.
What If Your Tenant Stops Paying Rent?
Contact the tenants as soon as you notice rent is overdue. Most tenants will want to organise a way to pay back the rent owed. Remember the tenant may have been unaware of the arrear, or recently had some personal changes and are already working hard to get that rent paid to you.
For advice on how to respond to rent arrears read our article What To Do When Your Tenants Stop Paying Rent.
Before The Tenancy Ends
Give the tenant advanced notice on the following:
- Let the tenant know in writing how much rent they owe up to the end date of the tenancy
- Discuss any final payment arrangements, to make sure all the rent they owe is paid before they leave
- Let the tenant know when rent is up to date so they can get a bond refund
Bottom Line
Proactively preventing problems with rent requires you to be actively involved in the rent process, keeping constant track of all rents received, and be prepared to act immediately if rent arrears occur. If you’re interested in learning about our team’s process for preventing rent arrears, and our other management processes, feel free to email Paula or contact her on 027 559 7888.
