Unpaid Rent
If you are brand new to the eviction process, everything hinges on one piece of paper, the Demand for Rent!
What is The Demand for Rent
In our neck of the woods, you cannot throw a tenant to the curb or deny them access by changing the locks. The only way to remove a tenant for non-payment is the legal way…and it starts with an official notice that requires an official process.
Many investors have cash-flow problems simply because they don’t follow through on this step and I’m here to remind you that there is no better way to protect yourself against cash-flow problems than by making sure you always respond quickly when tenants are late paying rent, especially with:
- new tenants
- habitually late tenants and
- tenants who break a payment arrangement
I’ll be the first to admit, if a tenant with a great payment history calls before the rent is due and asks for an extension, I don’t jump to the Rent Demand…every great paying tenant of mine is allowed one (maybe two) arrangements per year. I simply ask when I can expect rent, with all the late fees, and I write it in my calendar. But if they don’t come through the day they promised, the very next day I’m writing my Demand Letter because they broke a payment arrangement.
How Allowing Unpaid Rent Impacts Cash Flow
Since I’ve applied the 3 Golden Rules, I don’t have these problems. Years ago though, when renting my 2nd property, I didn’t have my screening process in place and I selected some very irresponsible tenants. These tenants made great money and bought all the gadgets in the world, but they would never pay rent on time. The property still had positive cash-flow, but it could have been better, and I knew it.
Luckily, I had a good lease and I started posting Rent Demands. The process was not fun and took a lot of my time. When their lease expired, I decided not to renew. Once I selected new tenants for that property, my average cash-flow shot up to $737 per month – without the headaches.
It’s Not Too Late
Remember, no matter what stage you’re in with your tenant, there are tools you can use to keep your cash-flow goals alive. For non-paying tenants, Demand for Rent is a must! In most cases, you will get paid simply because you followed through with posting the demand.
Tip: make sure your lease allows you to bill tenants for the cost of posting notices!
This product offers you a blank copy of my Demand for Rent, followed by snapshots of how it looks when it’s all filled out. Feel free to copy and paste and use my letter to suit your own needs. It is in both Microsoft Word to allow editing and PDF format, just in case you don’t have Word.
What’s Included
You will receive:
- My (blank) Rent Demand
- My (filled-out) demand when tenants owe one month
- Plus a (filled-out) demand when tenants owe two months
- My (filled-out) demand if rent is not due on the 1st of the month
The samples include my late fees so you can see exactly how they look when completed.
I’ll also share with you the steps I take to have them legally served and all the other steps I take if they still don’t pay. If I’m swift, I can usually see a court date about 3 weeks from service of my Demand. Some months, courts are busier than others, but 3 weeks is a good average. That’s why it’s so important to respect Golden Rule #3: respond quickly to non-payment.
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