Top Tips to Ensure Your Rent is Paid On Time
Find out how to ensure your rent is paid on time as well as advice on what to do if a tenant doesn’t pay.
See Our Top 5 Tips to Ensure Your Rent is Paid On Time, Every Time.
The ability to collect rent on time is one of the most important aspects of running a successful rental property venture.
It's important to have a solid plan in place from the beginning so here are our top tips to ensure your rent is paid on time as well as advice on what to do if a tenant doesn’t pay.
1. Have a solid agreement in place
First things first and the number one rule in renting out your property - make sure you have a written Lease Agreement with your tenant. The agreement should include all relevant details, such as rent amount and payment due date, as well as other terms and conditions for the tenancy.
Having a written agreement in place protects you should anything goes wrong. The tenant should understand that there is a clear policy in place and if payments are made late or not made as per the agreement, there will be consequences for example, issuing of a breach notice.
2. Thoroughly vet your tenants
Be sure to screen your potential tenants before renting to them. This will help you determine their creditworthiness and their ability to pay for your rental property.
While nothing is ever a foolproof solution, using a platform like the National Tenancy Database (NTD) to screen your applicants is a wise move.
The NTD is the market-leading solution by Equifax, which checks the background of your prospective tenant. This is the most extensive database of tenant information in Australia.
- Past Tenant History - Review the rental history of your prospective tenant, with information about previous agency screenings. This check also determines if they’ve been listed on the tenant blacklist.
- Identify Information - Verify your prospective or current tenant’s identity. This will be checked against a number of national databases and directories to give you peace of mind.
- Bankruptcy Information & Court Records - Has your tenant had past financial troubles or legal issues? Double check their previous bankruptcy information and court records.
- Directorship Information - Your check will include a search of ASIC company data for any directorship and proprietorship info, including whether your tenant has been disqualified from managing a company.
Need to run a Tenant Check? You can do it right here. If you’d like more information about Tenant Checks, just click here.
3. Set up automatic payments
We live in a world where we have access to great technology. Gone are the days of cash and cheques, make those payment automatic baby!
When payments are are automatic, things run on a set schedule. This means not having to worry about it and there is less room for human error.
On RentBetter, tenants can pay rent using a credit card or their bank account and our system will ensure payments run on schedule as per your lease agreement.
One of the other great benefits is that the payments are all tracked, the ledger is automatically updated, and receipts are sent to you and your tenant. Everything is documented so you don’t miss a beat.
If a payment is missed, we’ll send notifications to both you and your tenant. It’s peace of mind to know that you don’t need to be checking your bank account or chase your tenant - things just run, and if they don’t, you’ll know about it.
Want to know out more about how Rental Payments work? Find out here.
4. Ask questions
Sometimes tenants slip up. We’re all human and there may be all sorts of reasons behind why someone is late to pay the rent or have missed a payment.
Before you jump to conclusions and issue a breach notice, it’s important to connect with your tenant to try and find out the reason behind things. Things aren’t always sinister, perhaps they’ve changed credit cards or bank accounts and simply forgot to update things.
One of the best parts about self-managing your property is that you’re able to have a closer relationship with your tenant and can talk to them directly. You should aim to find out:
- Why they’ve missed the payment
- When they expect to make the payment / How they plan to catch up the payment
- If it’s an ongoing situation so you can plan accordingly
5. Take action to enforce the policy
If a tenant misses one or two payments, it's best not to react too quickly or harshly. They may be having a rough financial period, but it’s always possible they might be trying to take advantage of your kindness.
Give your tenant time when possible so that they can come up with the money owed but enforce your policy. Communicate, come up with a payment plan, and ensure you document everything.
Depending on the situation, for example if its a regular late or missed payment, you should let the tenants know that you are following the Residential Tenancies Act for your state which may mean taking steps to end the tenancy if not rectified or the situation continues.
If you have set up your Rental Payments through RentBetter, our system will try up to a total of 4 times before informing the tenant they may be in breach of their lease, as well as informing you.
For more information including a state by state breakdown, see our article here - My Tenant is Late to Pay Their Rent.
What should you do if your tenant doesn't pay their rent?
As we talked about above, the first step should always be to try to resolve the problem directly with the tenant, with the intention of coming to an agreement in which the overdue rent is repaid.
If rent remains unpaid following notifications and attempted resolution, you may want to consider your legal options.
Depending on your state you may issue a Notice to Evict and/or file an application to the local courts or Tribunal.
NSW Guidance:
Rent is considered to be arrears if payment is overdue by 14 days.
If the tenant does not agree to repayment or a repayment plan, the landlord can apply to the NCAT for a termination order to remove the tenant.
For more information see our guide here and consult with Fair Trading on 13 32 20 or visit the website.
QLD Guidance:
Rent is considered to be arrears if payment is overdue by 7 days.
Where there is no resolution, the landlord can issue a Notice to Remedy Breach (Form 11) on the 8th day of non-payment. This gives the tenant 7 days to pay the amount overdue.
For more information see our guide here and consult with the Residential Tenancy Authority on 1300 366 311 or visit the website.
VIC Guidance:
Rent is considered to be arrears if payment is overdue by 14 days.
Where there is no resolution, the landlord can issue the tenant with a notice to vacate giving 14 days' notice to vacate the property.
For more information see our guide here and consult with Consumer Affairs Victoria on 1300 558 181 or visit the website.
SA Guidance:
Rent is considered to be arrears if payment is overdue by 14 days.
Where there is no resolution, the landlord can issue a Notice to Tenant To Remedy Breach of Agreement, giving the tenant 7 days to repay the stated unpaid rent.
If the tenant does not remedy the breach by the set date (through repayment or an agreed-upon repayment plan) the above Notice acts to terminate the agreement.
For more information see our guide here and consult with Consumer and Business Services on 13 18 82 or visit the website.
TAS Guidance:
Rent is considered to be arrears if payment is overdue by 14 days.
The landlord can issue a Notice to Vacate (Form), providing 7 days for repayment to keep the tenancy
For more information see our guide here and consult with Consumer, Building & Occupational Services on 1300 654 499 or visit the website.
WA Guidance:
Rent is considered to be arrears if payment is overdue by 14 days.
If the landlord wants the tenancy to continue: they can issue a Breach Notice for Non-Payment of Rent (Form 21) which gives the tenant 14 days to make payment.
If rent remains unpaid, landlords can issue a Notice of Termination for Non-Payment of Rent (Form 1A) which ends the tenancy agreement and requires the tenant to vacate within 7 days
For more information see our guide here and consult with the Department of Commerce on 1300 304 054 or visit the website.
NT Guidance:
Rent is considered to be arrears if payment is overdue by 14 days.
The landlord can issue a Notice to Remedy, providing at least 8 days for the tenant to repay what is owing.
If the problem is not remedied, the landlord can apply to NTCAT for an Order of Termination of the tenancy and possession of the property.
For more information see our guide here and consult with Consumer Affairs on 1800 019 319 or visit the website.
ACT Guidance:
Rent is considered to be arrears if payment is overdue by 7 days.
Where there is no resolution, the landlord can issue a Notice to Vacate (NTV) giving 14 days to vacate the property.
For more information see our guide here and consult with the Access Canberra on 13 22 81 or visit the website.
Try to avoid Tribunals if you can!
If you ever find yourself in a rental payment dispute with a tenant, remember to be careful and considerate. The last thing you want is to end up in a tribunal.
If you follow our tips set out here and ensure you have a solid agreement in place, your rental payments are set up correctly and you have a plan should things go south, then hopefully this will make for smoother sailing throughout your tenancy.
As a self-managed landlord you want to ensure you have a good system in place to help you deal with the day to day and RentBetter can help!
If you’d like a demo on how we can help you with things like managing payments then just book a time right here.
