My tenant seems to think she can pay rent on her own schedule

[lula2401]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Pennsylvania

My tenant has been screwing around with the monthly rent. I agreed to accept two payments- the first and the fifteenth of the month. Now she is intent on determining her own schedule which leaves me high and dry on my own financial obligations. Is there anything legal I can do to stop this and enforce the original lease arrangement?

 

[LdiJ]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Pennsylvania

My tenant has been screwing around with the monthly rent. I agreed to accept two payments- the first and the fifteenth of the month. Now she is intent on determining her own schedule which leaves me high and dry on my own financial obligations. Is there anything legal I can do to stop this and enforce the original lease arrangement?

Other than following the steps to proceed with an eviction for not obeying the lease, no.

 

[STEPHAN]

Last time I evicted somebody the FL judge carefully checked if I had not agreed to late payments and if it was not unreasonable to react on late payments.

While it was not so in that case, ever since we are very careful making extensions and always send a letter that it was "one time".

You might want to send a letter first, demanding payment on time from now on. I hope you did not include this payment plan in the rental contract.

 

[FarmerJ]

To (tenant name ) address, I am writing to you because your payment history has become a problem, your lease calls for your rent to be paid by _______ You will have to follow your lease terms for payment or risk that your lease will be terminated. sign it and send it via confirmed mail delivery. keep copy for your self. If the tenant wont pay the rent by the date the lease calls for then begin your states process to evict for non pay.

 

[LdiJ]

I am going to throw one more thing out there that is not relevant legally, but its food for thought.

Its probable that your tenant is paid every other week. Unfortunately, that results in paychecks being inconsistent in regards to what day of the month they are received. There are at least two paychecks a month, but every six months there are three.

Your tenant probably cannot come up with the entire rent out of one paycheck...and that is why she asked to make two payments. Most likely she will not be able to pay the rent on the first and you will end up having to evict her if you insist on that.

You can likely figure out if I am right or not by looking back at the dates she has historically paid you. If they are consistently two weeks apart, then its safe to say that you are getting paid when she gets paid and that its likely there is nothing she can do to change that...unless perhaps she is someone who is likely to get a big tax refund, and then perhaps she could get on a different track come February.

 

[STEPHAN]

LdiJ is most likely right.

However keep in mind that such a tenant will always have a problem if something unexpected happens, like a car breaks down, somebody is sick for a few days etc.

 

[FarmerJ]

You know you could talk to the tenant too and see if she will give up her written lease with you by moving to a bi weekly written rental which would be whole new terms but that kind of a deal could work for you if you had to change something like proper notice telling her to get out since most states do allow LLs with a shorter rental term that is defined in writing to also issue shorter notices for changes so week to week rental = 7 day notices ,biweekly rental =14 day notices, if this works easier and actually let this tenant pay you with a new agreement that put her payments on time then you would have bonus rent money to help you make up for what used to be just late rents.