Typically one of the greatest priorities a landlord or property manager has is making sure that tenants pay their rent on time. However, there are only certain types of payments that should be accepted, and these payment types should be clearly outlined in all lease agreements.
In most cases, rent should be paid by check, money order, cashiers check, or with a card or other electronic payment through an online tenant portal. There should be provisions in the lease that detail to the tenants exactly what payment methods are acceptable. It is highly unadvisable to accept cash payments for a number of reasons:
Cash is hard to account for. A deceitful property manager might claim that a tenant was $100 short on the rent when they were not. A tenant could claim they dropped an envelope with cash in the rent dropbox, but there may not be any evidence. Checks and money orders can be reissued and tracked, so can online payments.
A property manager should keep as little cash in the office as possible. Rent is expensive, and if your tenants are dropping off large sums of cash to the property management office, this turns your business into a target for burglary and robbery. This is the last thing a property manager wants because it will make tenants feel unsafe, even if they live far away from the rental office.
You must treat all tenants equally and cannot make exceptions for tenants. If the lease says no cash payments, and a tenant brings the rent into the office in cash, you should ask them to go get a money order. Do not make an exception, even if it’s the day rent is due and five minutes before the office closes.
The best property management companies in Charleston are flexible and have great payment options for their tenants, so that paying the rent is easy. If you want to know what kind of payment system Scott Properties uses to help our tenants pay on time, every time, give us a call at 843-790-0148.