Part of owning rental property, unfortunately, means dealing with late payments when it comes time for rent collection. Although it’s a drag, if you learn how to deal with delinquent tenants, it can make the process of either being repaid or getting them out a lot quicker. After all, tenancy is an investment and if your tenant doesn’t pay rent, you can risk losing your property.
Based on our experience here at Action Properties, Roseville Property Management Company, once a tenant has missed their rent payment, it’s critical you begin the steps of eviction to show tenants you mean business. Even though evictions are no fun, you’re the one whose cash flow will get hurt if you don’t take action right away.
When these situations do come up, we follow certain guidelines to ensure the process is done correctly. Our policy with rent payments is the rent is due on the 1st, considered delinquent on the 2nd and by the 3rd a late fee is assessed. By the 4th or 5th of the month, our office prepares and gets ready to post 3-day notices on the properties.
Proper ways, according to the California Department of Consumer Affairs, a landlord can serve a tenant a three-day notice to pay or quit:
- Personal Service – The landlord serving the tenant must hand the notice directly to the tenant, however, they can refuse. The three-day period can only begin after the tenant receives the notice.
- Substituted Service or another person – If the landlord can’t find the rental property, the landlord should try and serve the tenant personally at work. If the landlord can’t find the tenant’s home or work, the landlord can use “substituted service” instead of serving the tenant personally. Person serving must be 18-years-old or older.
- Posting and mailing – If the landlord can’t serve the notice on the tenant personally or by substituted service, the notice can be served by taping or tacking a copy to the rental unit in a conspicuous place (such as the front door of the rental unit) and by mailing another copy to the tenant at the rental unit’s address.
One big mistake people tend to make is having rent due on the 1st, but delinquent on the 5th. By the time they post the notices, they’re not getting out till the 6th or 7th. Thus, once the 3-day notice expires, it’s already the 15th day of the month. The longer the non-paying renter is living in your unit, the longer it’s going to take you to get a new tenant and start collecting rent.
After the 3-day notice has expired and the tenant has yet to pay, then you would seek an attorney for an unlawful detainer action. Even if they’ve made an arrangement to pay, you want to make sure you already have that notice served and it’s expired, or expiring. Don’t wait for the promise date because if you wait to serve the notice on the 15th, you’ve already wasted valuable time on starting the eviction process.
In these situations when it comes time to evict someone, hire a professional. Find an eviction attorney who knows the laws inside and out to help with these matters for you. It’s important you do things right the first time because if one thing is messed up, the judge will throw it out and the whole process will start over. This will not only take up your time, but cost you more money as well. Having an eviction attorney on your side will get you on the road to renting your property out to a good, reliable tenant.
Contact Terri with Action Properties, Roseville Property Management with any questions.
