I like to be an easygoing landlord, so in my lease, I pretty much let tenants pay me however they like—online rent collection, direct deposit, money order, cash, or personal check.
My thinking is that—bottom line—I want the rent money.
Therefore, I want to make the process of paying rent as easy on my tenants as possible.
That thinking has its drawbacks, though, and receiving rent checks through the mail—one of the more popular ways of paying rent—definitely has its consequences. Here are five reasons why:
1. Rent checks can come in late
Most landlords require rent to be paid by the first of the month. Some landlords give a grace period. Whether you give a grace period or whether you don’t, rent is due on the date you specify.
But when it comes to mailing checks, some people think they just need to get the check in the mail on the due date. In their mind, they paid the rent on time by doing that. But from your perspective, if you don’t receive the check for several days or a week after the due date, you consider it late.
This causes confusion and bad feelings on both sides. If you will accept checks mailed to you, make sure your tenants know that you need to receive the check by the first of the month (or whenever rent is due). That means your tenants need to mail the check a few days earlier than the date rent is due, and some people just never get the hang of doing that, especially if they pay their other bills electronically.
2. Mail can be lost or delayed
Anyone who has ever dealt with the U.S. Postal Service knows that mail can sometimes come late—or even worse—get lost. A grace period allows for delayed mail to be delivered to you without you needing to charge the tenant a late fee until, say, the fifth of the month. It wouldn’t be right for tenants to pay for a mistake made by the post office.
But what if the check really did get lost in the mail? You might have to wait weeks to get paid, and who pays for that? Probably you, in the sense that you aren’t getting your rent on time, meaning you might be late with your own bills. This is a huge reason not to accept rent checks through the mail.
Sometimes tenants might just claim the rent check must have gotten lost in the mail when in reality, they really didn’t mail it on time. Note: You can see when the check was mailed since all mail the post office delivers is postmarked (stamped with the date it was mailed).
3. Checks can bounce
People sometimes forget to subtract money from their bank account when they write a check. When that happens, they might think that they have more money in the account than they actually do, meaning they might spend that money. And then when you try to cash the check, it bounces.
Or sometimes people write a check without having the funds in the account to back it up with the hope of depositing enough in the account by the time you try to cash the check—only sometimes they never get around to making that deposit. Now you need to let your tenant know that the check bounced and ask that they pay you immediately. Again, this causes bad feelings on both sides. Sometimes mishaps are inevitable, but it can help to screen your tenant online before they sign the lease. With Apartments.com's online platform, you can view a renter's credit to make sure they have a history of submitting payments on time. You can also ask your tenant for proof of income to verify that they make at least three times the set rent.
4. You need to give out your home address (or get a PO Box)
You might not have a problem giving out your home address to your tenants, but not everyone wants to do this. If you allow tenants to write checks and mail them to you, you either need to give out your home address or get a PO Box.
And keeping a PO Box just for rent checks can be a hassle. One, you have to pay for it. Two, you have to go to the PO Box to get your check. Then, you could go to it, only to find that there is no check. This is not the greatest way to collect money.
5. Younger renters don’t have checkbooks
Or envelopes. Or stamps. Times have changed. They probably have no idea what a check is, what it’s for, why they’d need one, or how to use it. So, if you want to rent to anyone younger than 30, you’d be wise to start collecting rent a more modern way, such as through electronic payment.
Bottom line
If you insist on receiving the rent by check, that’s your prerogative. But you might want to at least consider a different way.
