A Landlord’s Primer Part 3

In this third part, let us take a look at some issues landlords will face once they have a tenant.

DELAYED PAYMENTS

As we mentioned in part 1, the ideal situation is that your tenant issue you post-dated checks for the entire duration of the lease contract. However, the fact is that not all Pinoys have checking accounts but even a checking account is NO guarantee that you will be paid on time.

So, what do you do when your tenant’s payment is late?

Well, you can be a hard-ass and immediately go to the baranggay. However, you usually will not be allowed to immediately throw them out. There is a legal process to it. Best things to do are the following:

Put them on legal notice that their rent is overdue. Make sure that this notice is officially received by your tenant. If their check bounced, make sure you keep the check and inform them that there are legal repercussions for allowing a check to bounce. State that they have 15 to 30 days to make good on the overdue amount.

Depending on how good your relationship is with your tenant, you may want to consider getting legal representation should they miss the deadline you set. Remember, you CANNOT simply shut them out of the unit. You also CANNOT seize any of their stuff as “payment”. It is the courts who will decide if it gets really ugly. This process can get ugly and expensive very fast so be prepared for it.

KIDS / PETS / SMOKERS

Good lease contracts contain very clear policies regarding kids, pets and smokers. Why? Because those three factors greatly impact the live-ability of units. Kids WILL scribble on walls, floors and doors. They will also put stickers on everything. Pets and smokers will leave a smell LONG after they have left and it often takes quite a bit of effort to remove such odors. Also, keep in mind that bad smells are often not covered by the security deposit.

UNIT MAINTENANCE

Again, these policies should be clearly stated in the contract but a good landlord makes time to physically inspect the unit on a regular basis. This way, you can check if your tenant is abiding by the terms of your contract. That way you don’t get shocked when they leave and you find that they have completely rewired the electricals. This is especially key when we consider…

UNIT OCCUPANCY

It should be clearly stated how many people will live in your unit. If you thought you were renting out to a single person then he ends up having his entire clan live with him in a unit designed for at most 2 people, your units will get wrecked very fast.

That’s it for now, in our next piece, we’ll discuss some numbers and apps to help you decide just how much you should set your rental rate at.

As always, check out our previous stuff below :
A Landlord’s Primer Part 1
A Landlord’s Primer Part 2

And if you’re bored this weekend, why not join our seminar?

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