How do I ...
Get My Tenant to Pay Rent Early?
Getting the rent paid before it’s due date on a regular basis can be a tremendous help to the landlord in a number of ways. I enjoy a certain peace of mind knowing that my monthly expenses are covered when I receive the rent early. It also helps to be on schedule with the many financial obligations we have each month.
If you use your imagination, you can come up with plenty of ways to encourage earlier rent payments. I have been successful using the "Early Rent Discount" clause in The LPA Lease.
Since many people do not have their current tenants on The LPA Lease, the need arose to create an "Early Payment Discount Voucher" for those who would like to give the incentive to pay early to their tenants.
It can be used on a temporary basis for a span of 1 to 12 months or whatever you feel works for you and your property. It was originally suggested as a Holiday reward for good tenants. It can be for any reason you wish. Getting the rent paid early isn’t a bad reason either.
The discount should be big enough so the tenant will not want to miss out on it, but not so large that it dents your income on the property. I usually discount the rent in the lease by $10.00 if the rent is 5 days early. I make more of a discount on properties I have set the rent appropriately for.
Many landlords are against giving the tenant an early payment incentive because the rent should be paid on time anyway. I can tell you from experience, the discount doesn’t work all the time for every tenant. Some people will never pay early. It does work for most of my tenants who enjoy great credit ratings and also enjoy saving a few bucks each month. Over the year those discounts add up for the tenant! And that’s what I tell them. Why not give them a good reason to pay you early?
Check out The LPA's new Essential Landlord Form, the Early Payment Discount Voucher.
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