When You Need to Pay Your Rent Late
August 17th, 2009 by Thursday BramWhile paying rent on time is important, sometime it’s just impossible to avoid making a late payment. Landlords don’t like receiving late payments, of course, but if you’re willing to talk to your landlord, you can often resolve the issue. As long as you’re generally a good tenant — and you’ve been on time with your rent until now — many landlords will be willing to discuss options and even waive late fees.
Barb McMahon rents apartments. Recently, one of her tenants realized that she wasn’t going to be able to pay her rent on time: “A few months ago, one of our tenants had some expensive car repairs and couldn’t pay her full rent. She came to us in advance, explained the situation, gave us a check for half the rent and another for the rest to be paid two weeks later, with an extra $50 added on for our inconvenience. We made her alter the check to take out the fifty bucks.” Because the tenant told Barb about the situation in advance, Barb was not only willing to accept the late payment as well waive any additional fee for a late payment or inconvenience. The fact that her tenant already had a plan in mind, as well as a date when Barb could expect the rest of the payment made a potential problem into an easy fix. 
Tenants living in larger complexes may have a harder time with late payments: because Barb owns and manages her properties directly, she can handle each situation based on the specifics. With larger complexes, management companies often have guidelines that they have to follow, no matter the circumstances. However, many of those companies
have already laid out guidelines for situations in which tenants find themselves needing to make a payment after its due date. If you simply make the late payment, there are probably several fees that will be added, and you might have some other problems down the road. If, however, you can approach your apartment manager in advance, he may have the option of allowing you to make the late payment without problems.
Don’t be afraid to approach your landlord about a late payment. While it’s not the best situation, most landlords are far more understanding about late payments if they know that you’re doing what you can to pay your rent.
Tags: Paying Rent
