What Is A Late Rent Notice?

16% of renters whose annual earning is 30,000 U.S. dollars or below specified that they were not able to pay their monthly rent in full during the period where Statista made a survey about the particular matter.  If you forgot to pay your rent on time or if you intentionally made the decision to pay it at a later time, it is most likely that you will be receiving a late rent notice from any representatives of the property where you are renting a space. A late rent notice is a document that is used by business owners, managers of properties for rent, and/or landlords. This document is necessary to be given to tenants who were not able to pay their rent during the scheduled payment date.

Purpose of Using a Detailed Late Rent Notice

Last 2017, 77.3 of renters in the United States who responded to the survey of Statista indicated that the most common reason for getting an eviction notice was due to non-payment. As a tenant who do not want to get evicted to your rented space or facility, you have to make sure that you will take late rent notices seriously. On the side of landlords and property owners, it is also of utmost importance for you to be aware of the reasons why you need to provide a late rent notice so that you can optimize the usage of the specific document. Here are some of the purposes of using a detailed late rent notice:

1. To Make Sure That the Tenant Is Reminded of His or Her Obligations

A late rent notice is made to provide a tenant of all the important information about rental payments, late charges, and the property’s rental policy related to payment concerns. If you can develop a late rent notice accordingly, you can make sure that there is a formality with how these items will be relayed to the tenant in question.

2. To Formally Ask For the Tenant’s Payment for Rent

Whenever a tenant is already late when it comes to paying his or her rent, it is imperative for landlords to take necessary actions.  Sending a late rent notice is made not only to remind the tenant about payment-related rules and regulations. This document is developed to make the tenant who is being asked to pay the late payment for the rent become more aware that his or her landlord is waiting for him or her to fulfill particular rental payment responsibilities.

3. To Ensure That a Potential Eviction Is Well-Supported By Relevant Documents and Records

If all else fails and the tenant was not able to pay the rent, an eviction will soon take place. With the help of late rent notice, your business can assure all stakeholders that the eviction is done legally and that you followed a process before you evicted the tenant. The late rent notice that you have given to the tenant can act as evidence that you reminded him or her about the issue of late payment.

4. To Have a Message of Reinforcement About the Importance of Timely Rental Payment

Your late rent notice can strengthen your reinforcement of paying rent on time. If tenants will receive a late rent notice every time that they are not able to pay as scheduled, you can make it clearer for them that you are taking late payment concerns seriously. With this, your tenants can become more particular with delivering their payment responsibilities or obligations on time.

Factors to Consider When Crafting a Formal Late Rent Notice

In 2016, an estimate of nine hundred thousand evictions were made within the United States (source: statista). These evictions can be lessened if renters will become more serious in terms of looking into their rental payment responsibilities. If you are a landlord and you are already considering to evict a tenant who already has a record of not paying in time, it will be best if you will first send him or her a formal late rent notice. Once you decide to craft the specific document, here are some of the most important factors that you have to consider:

The accurate identification of the amount that the tenant should pay: The total amount that the tenant should pay must be specifically written in the late rent notice. If there are any additional charges for late payment, ensure that you will clearly discuss this in the late rent notice to promote transparency in relation to why you are requesting for a particular amount for rental payment.The specification of the rental duration covered by the rent amount which is still not paid: You have to record the transaction of requesting for late rent payment accordingly. Ensure that the notice will contain the information about the particular month where the tenant was not able to pay. It will depend on your lease agreement on whether the duration of the unpaid rent is already enough to evict the tenant from the property.The clear discussion of what the late rent notice is all about: Define the purpose of the late rent notice. Your tenant has to be aware that the notice does not only serve as a reminder of your policies and lease agreement specifications. You have to make sure that there is a direct statement about your request for the tenant to pay his or her rent alongside late rental fees, if there are any.The clarification of the actions that the landlord will execute if the late payment for rent will still not be given by the tenant within a given time period: It is important for your late rent notice to contain the details about the actions that you will take if the tenant still decides to ignore the notice and not pay the rent. Doing this can allow you to have a proof that you already informed the tenant of what he or she will be bound to if no cooperation will be observed from his or her side.The proper formulation of your late rent notice’s content: Know the appropriate language and tone that you will use to develop the content of your late rent notice. It is also essential for you to select a template or a document layout that can enable you to organize the flow of your discussion. Taking these items into consideration can help you to create a late rent notice that is appropriate to be used for business processes.

9 Steps for Developing a Transparent Late Rent Notice

A late rent notice can help establish the necessary communication line between a tenant and a landlord whenever late payment for rental is already a concern. If you are planning to create a late rent notice, it is imperative for you to ensure that the document is informative, complete, and presentable. Following a standard process for the late rent notice’s creation can help you a lot with this matter. Below are the steps that you can follow if you want to develop a transparent and excellent late rent notice.

Step 1: Download a Pre-Formatted Late Rent Notice Template

Are you still unfamiliar with the proper development of a late rent notice? Using a template can be beneficial if you want to learn the basics of late rent notice creation. Look for the best pre-formatted template which you can rely on whenever you decide to start developing your late rent notice’s content presentation and document layout formatting.

Step 2: Use an Identifiable Title for the Document

Use a title which can be as simple as ‘Late Rent Notice’. The idea behind this is for the tenants to easily be aware of what the document is for. Aside from this, using an identifiable title can also help landlords to set the document apart from the other types of notices used by the business.

Step 3: Write the Date When the Late Rent Notice Has Been Made and Delivered

To properly record the transaction, you have to put the complete date when you made and delivered the late rent notice. This can enable you to measure the length of time that it took before the tenant responds to the notice.

Step 4: Create a Late Rent Notice Header

Use a header to make the notice look more professional. In this part of the late rent notice; write the name of the landlord, the name and address of the property, and the contact information of the business that the tenant can reach once he or she receives the document.

Step 5: Specify the Details of the Tenant in an Inside Address

After your header, you can already make an inside address. Doing this can help you make sure that you are sending the notice to the right tenant. Place the name and the room number of the tenant in this area. Make sure that the name of the tenant is spelled correctly and that the room number is accurately specified.

Step 6: Write an Introduction That Is Direct to the Point

To begin the main body of the late rent notice, provide the reason why the notice is written which is actually because of the tenant’s inability to pay rent on time. After this, specify the required amount of rent that needs to be paid depending on the time duration scoped by the unpaid rent.

Step 7: Use Another Paragraph to Have a More Specific Discussion About the Matter of Concern

Since you already have a clear introduction, the next thing that you should do is to further discuss certain information about the issue. Include the specification of the part of the lease agreement where payment obligations has been written. After this, present the full rent amount and the additional charges for late payment of rent which constitute to the total amount that the tenant must pay.

Step 8: Have a Conclusion Filled With Particular Reminders and Notes

To end the letter, ensure that you have provided an idea about the need for immediate payment. You also need to put a reminder of what will happen if the tenant fails to pay on your set deadline. More so, it can be beneficial if you can already discuss the eviction proceedings that the tenant need to undergo and the additional charges that he or she must pay if the decision to evict the tenant due to his or her inability to pay rent is finalized. Lastly, make sure to remind the tenant to inform the landlord if he or she received the late rent notice already.

Step 9: Write the Name and Affix the Signature of the Landlord at the Bottom Part of the Document

Your late rent notice must include the name of the landlord or any other representative of the company who made the late rent notice. Put a dated signature on top of the business representative’s name. After all of these, review the late rent notice so you can refine the document before you send it to the concerned tenant.

Advantages of Creating an Effective Late Rent Notice

Using a late rent notice can be beneficial to both the tenant who has not paid his or her rent yet and the landlord who already needs to receive the payment for late rental. You have to always be reminded of how a late rent notice can be advantageous on certain instances and circumstances so that you will become more particular with how you will develop and use it when needed. Here are some of the advantages of creating an effective late rent notice:

A late rent notice can establish and promote professionalism within the entirety of the transaction: It is essential for you to develop a late rent notice as this document can make the reminder for late payment more formal and professional. It is important for your business to still keep your cool as any document coming from your end can reflect your brand and the image that you are portraying to your target audience.A late rent notice can make it easier for the landlord to ensure that the tenants are aware of the particular rental concern: Before you send eviction notice forms (for lease violation) to renters who were not able to pay their rent for a particular rental period, it will be best if you will first provide them with a late rent notice. Doing this can help them be reminded of their obligations. Once you have already discussed the matter and there are still no actions made by your renters, then you can already provide the eviction notice form due to the non-compliance of involved tenants or lessees to the settlement that you have agreed upon.A late rent notice can provide all the details about the late payment: Using an informative late rent notice can be advantageous on the end of the business should disputes arise. Since you have already presented necessary information with regards the tenant’s incapacity to pay the rent on time, you can use the specific document to support your claims during court cases and other legal transactions seeking for conflict resolutions.

Dos and Don’ts for Making a Comprehensive Late Rent Notice

Resorting to the usage of a late rent notice can help your business become more particular with the plans of action that you will execute based on the behavior of your tenants related to paying their rent. If you are planning to make a late rent notice right now, you have to take a number of tips into consideration so you can be well-guided when immersing yourself in the development of the specific document. A few of the guidelines that you can follow if you want to make a comprehensive late rent notice are as follows:

Do’s

1. Do Ensure That Late Rent Notice Provision and Other Related Activities Are Well-Documented

When developing your late rent notice, it is important for you to assure the management that all the details about the document’s actual usage are properly recorded. You also have to consider the effectiveness of other documents that will be used alongside the late rent notice. As an example; once the payment for the late rental has been made, with the help of the late rent notice, make sure that your rent receipts will include a note about the late payment of rent. If there are late rent fees or charges that are necessary to be paid by your tenants, you can separate the receipt for this payment from the monthly rent receipt that only presents the actual monthly rental fee of the renters.

2. Do Make Your Late Rent Notice as Comprehensive and as Clear as Possible

You need to ensure that your tenants can relate to what you are saying. Your late rent notice should be filled with all the information that can remind the tenant of what the business is requiring from him or her. Do not use any information that are misleading or are not directly related to the subject matter as this can only make the document seem to be confusing.

Don’ts

1. Don’t Use Any Profanity When Developing the Content of the Late Rent Notice

Never cuss or curse when writing your late rent notice. You have to remain professional when writing the notice especially if you want to maintain a healthy relationship with your tenants. Set any negative emotions aside as these can only disable you to retain your composure when crafting the details of the late rent notice.

2. Don’t Come Up With a Lengthy and Irrelevant Late Rent Notice 

Only include details that are relevant to the purpose of the late rent notice’s usage. Try to make the notice as brief as possible so you can ensure the clarity and usability of your statements. Don’t think that a lengthy late rent notice is already equivalent to an effective one. What you need to focus on is the quality of the items that you will put together which can result to a highly-usable document.

3. Don’t Put Your Business in Bad Light

Be accurate with your discussion. Any misleading, wrong, and abusive information which can be found in the late rent notice can be used against you. You have to make sure that the late rent notice will not impact your business negatively. Hence, it is recommended for you to polish the document to make sure that it will work for the benefit of all parties involved.

Browse through the selection of late rent notice templates and samples available above. Choose the specific reference which you think is the most suitable for your formatting needs. Download any of our document development guides now so you can already try to create your business’ late rent notice.