How To Handle Your Late Rent

By Lev Novak

Today’s the first of the month, and I just dropped off my rent check.

Don’t worry; I’m doing alright financially- even if battle rapping doesn’t pay like it should- but these sorts of things happen. Especially for your first month in a new apartment in a new city, you can lose track of things. I personally spent two days trying to find envelopes and stamps. Do you know how hard those are to find? Not that hard. But after work you really don’t want to deal with that.

So, how do you handle late rent, late bills, and all the rest?

1. Send Out Emails With Solutions

Sending out an email to your landlord that your rent is going to be late is responsible, but it isn’t as helpful as you’d hope. “My money is going to be late” is vague, even if it’s helpful information, and also, it’s bad news for everyone involved. You don’t like sending that email and they don’t like reading it.

Instead get some actual answers in that email, and don’t send it until you’ve figured it out. A much better email to send, even if it’s two days later, would say: “Hi! I’m sorry, but I’ve sent the check in the mail. If you need it before then, I can meet you in person to write out a check and have the mailed one canceled.”

Yeah, meeting them in person might be a drag, but it’s mostly a bluff. They probably will think you’re responsible enough that they won’t mind waiting for the mail, and even if they do need you to meet them, hey, it’s your fault anyway. Learn a lesson the hard way.

2. Get a Calendar

I was pretty sure that September had 31 days, so I was confident I’d get my check mailed, if nothing else, before the official deadline. Whoops.

Get a calendar and mark it down with when the rent’s due. Better yet, work backwards towards the fifteenth of the month: “Reminder! Don’t throw all your rent money at this weekend!” Something like that can help solve problems before they begin, because we all know that debts due the thirtieth feel a lot less real on the seventh.

3. Check With Your Room-Mate

Are they also late on the rent? Because if they are, well, at least you’re not alone in the irresponsible boat, but that might be worth mentioning to the landlord. If they did get their money in, well, you are alone in the irresponsible-boat, but at least your landlord is probably more confident about you by proxy.

Also, maybe your room-mate paid extra by accident (this happened to me once, so it makes sense) and you can have the landlord take your late rent (temporarily) out of that surplus.

4. Pay Early Next Time

Not “on-time” but early. On-time is good, and you should do that. But the month after you pay late, you should pay early. That serves both as an apology and a reminder to your landlord that you can be trusted on these sorts of issues. That way, when you’re late again, he’ll know it’s nothing to panic about.

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