Home : Blogs : Eddie Blanco : Eddie's Blog

3-Day Notice

So, it's the 6th of the month. As a landlord, you included a grace period, which allows the resident to pay rent without paying a late fee until the 5th. STILL NO RENT. So what do you do? How do you handle it?

Well first let me say that I am not giving legal advice, nor am I suggesting that you should follow my practices. I am just sharing inside information on how I go about handling late rent payments.

We are very clear with all our residents that they have until the 5th(grace period) to pay their rent, without penalty. We also make it very clear to them that on or around the 6th, they will receive a call from us. Regardless of the list of excuses given by the resident and the outcome of the conversation, we will post a 3-day "pay or quit" notice on or the 10th of the month. We explain, "it is not personal, it's business".

The 3-day notice is magical. It makes MOST excuses go away and we USUALLY get paid (and they are on time the next month). If we don't receive the payment, then we can proceed to file with the county for eviction. The court will usually set a court date within 10 days. The resident gets the "official" notice which is a summons to court. That gets most resident's attention and creates another round of magic and produces another opportunity to get paid. If that does not work, we know that we are probably going to have an eviction.

EVEN if a resident says "I will pay you on the 11th" we say, "great, but I am still going to have to post the 3-day notice on the 10th, but as long as you pay within the 3 days you are OKAY". They usually don't have a problem with it.

Posting lets them know that we are serious and about our business. If one month they pay on the 11th and nothing happens, then they may pay on the 15th the next month. Before you know it, they are running a month behind and we (and our owner) are short money.

The BOTTOM LINE for me is: Your rent is due! We (and our owners) are not in the business of lending you money that is owed to us. Borrow the money from someone else, if you need to, but pay your rent.

Posted by Eddie Blanco on 03/13/2008 11:30 PM

Comments (6)

rent not paid, late rent, posting 3day notice, pay of quit, harrison county, eviction

6 Comments on 3-Day Notice

MAR

2008

I think the key is the phone call letting them know the process. When people know what is happening they are usually more cooperative. The notice is must because it is a business and you have to protect it.

MAR

2008

Good idea to post the 3-day notice regardless. Do the tenants respond well to the 'it's not personal, it's business' ? If so, I may have to use that. Great post.

MAR

2008

Some do, some don't. Thanks

MAY

2008

Great post. I agree. I print the 3 day notice on bright pink paper to so it is sticks out on their front door and it looks more intimidating.

Here are some other things I've learned:

It is important for Landlords to follow and enforce every part of the lease. Landlords must not give one time waving of a late fee or payment plans for late rent. If someone is late you can not agree to getting paid later without compromising the lease agreement. I learned this the hard way. For example: If someone says, "I can get you rent until the end of the week" you don't say "okay". You need to say, "I understand your difficulties, but it is in your best interest to get caught up as fast as possible." Otherwise, you have agreed to new terms that are outside of the lease agreement and you've put the whole agreement in jeopardy. Plus, this way they feel the pressure to get caught up.

Weirdly, tenants have to be trained to follow the rules or they will walk all over you. Anyone that can't respect the rules is not someone that you want to keep as a tenant anyway.

It all sounds harsh but it keeps life much easier and I have plenty of tenants that like working with my company and stay for a long time. They understand right from the beginning what is expected of them and what they can expect from me. In saying all of this I'm not all mean. I do my part to, I take care of the property, I'm quick to resolve a problem and maintenance and I'm fair when it comes time to return a security deposit. The tenant is still the customer and needs to be treated like you appreciate their business but at the same time real estate is too expensive to put up with any games.

Jeff Stinson

Property Manager

www.stonebridgerealestate.net

SEP

2008

Help! I had a 3 yr. lease in a business building that expired. Because of the economy I refused the sign a new lease, expressing that I would be happy to rent month to month until after the new year. My business is an antique store in which I have rented space to a number of dealers. The landlord came to me and handed over a 3day notice to quit. She told me I was to leave and pay off the dealers what they were owed through the 15th of the month. She told me to leave my merchandise in the store until enough had sold to pay off what was owed to her (less then $5,000). She thinks she is entitled to take over my business. Is the 3 day notice applying to me personally or my business. I have approx. $30,000 in assets and merchandise. Shouldn't she buy me out paying me for my assets less what is owed to her? I really don't want to have to close the store down due to the economy, but I will if forced. This will affect many people though. What rights do I have? Can she just take control of my business?

Leave a response…

Name:

Email:
(optional)

Comment:

What does the graphic say?