What should I do when rent is late?

Before anything else, reread the lease. Note the due date, any grace period, and the agreed late fee. Knowing those terms keeps your response accurate and defensible.

Then send a short written reminder. State the amount due, the date it was due, and how to pay. Keep the tone factual and professional. Many late payments are simple oversights that a nudge resolves within a day.

If the reminder gets no response, follow up in writing again and ask about the delay. A tenant facing a temporary setback may agree to a short, documented payment plan. Get any arrangement in writing so both sides are clear.

When payment still does not arrive, the next step is usually a formal notice to pay or move out. The required timing, wording, and delivery method are set by law and vary by state. Check the state law guides at /laws/ and confirm the details with your own counsel before serving anything.

Record each reminder, response, and payment attempt with dates. A clean paper trail protects you if the matter ever reaches court. Save texts, emails, and receipts in one place.

• Apply the late fee exactly as the lease states, and only when it is due.
• Charge every tenant the same way to avoid fair-housing problems.
• Never accept a partial payment without noting how it applies to the balance.

Chasing rent is draining, so build a system that reduces it. Automatic reminders before the due date help forgetful tenants pay on time. Autopay removes the manual step entirely. Careful screening at the start also lowers the odds of chronic late payers.

It also helps to make paying easy. When tenants can pay online in a few taps and see their balance clearly, fewer payments slip. Set expectations early, keep your rules in the lease, and enforce them the same way each month. Consistency trains on-time behavior faster than warnings do.

Automation is the point, but a late fee rule that is automatic and illegal is worse than no automation, because it applies itself every month without anyone reviewing it. Before you switch it on, check three things against your state.

• Grace period. Several states require one before a fee can attach. Some count business days rather than calendar days.
• Cap. Many states cap the fee as a percentage of monthly rent, and a percentage cap is a ceiling rather than a target.
• What the fee applies to. A percentage fee should usually be calculated on unpaid rent, not on rent plus previously accrued fees, or it compounds.

Our late fee calculator applies the rule for your state, and the 50-state law guides give the statute behind it.

Standard ACH takes one to three business days to settle after the tenant authorizes it. That is the rail, not the platform, so no provider can make a standard transfer instant. What providers can change is when they release the funds to you, which is why you will see next-day payout marketed as a premium feature.

Two timing traps worth knowing before you promise yourself the money:

• Business days, not calendar days. Rent authorized on a Friday before a Monday holiday can land on Wednesday. If your mortgage autopays on the 3rd, set the rent due date to the 1st and not the 2nd.
• A payment can be returned after it appears. An ACH debit can bounce days after it shows as received. Do not treat a pending payment as cleared rent, and do not release keys on one. See how to handle a bounced rent payment.