Rent Collection – Part III

Tenant Rental Deposits

While, some landlords may baulk at the idea, it has proved successful and saves the effort of chasing tenants to collect monthly rental cheques. Simply, give your tenants a bank account number into which monthly payments can be deposited, directly.

Moreover, you can provide them with pre-printed deposit slips to ensure the account name and account number are not inaccurate. This way, you will also reduce monthly telephone calls from tenants asking for such and such information. If, you are concerned about an attempt to withdraw from your account, a reasonable possibility, decrease the risk with a separate bank account for rental deposits, from which funds can be swept into another account at regular intervals.

This method of rent collection also has to factor in that potentially one could run into a failed eviction for accepting partial payments. Whether or not, a judge considers a tenant making a small rental deposit in a last ditch effort to avoid getting evicted as ‘constructive receipt’, is solely dependent on the judge’s discretion. What also needs to be considered is that tenants with an unethical streak may make partial payments, leaving you trying to determine who paid what.

However, this method has advantages, such as a trip to the bank being eliminated, and online banking that allows you to find out within a day or so, how much rent has come in. Though this method is not recommended for each and every tenant, it can be considered for one who is honest and can be trusted.