(http://www.tenantmanagement.com.au/podcast/03-what-to-do-when-your-tenant-has-not-paid-rent/) - In this episode you will learn from Tenant Management, how to handle properly and professionally, your tenants that were not able to pay their rent on time.

1. Tenant Management
What To Do When Your Tenant Has Not Paid
Handling tenant rental
Hello, my name is Michael Gilbert and I'm here in behalf of
tenantmanagement.com.au. Today, I'm going to give you a
guide on how to handle rent arrears. What I mean by rental,
is when your tenant has not paid their rent, or they're behind
in rent. So I'm going to give you a daily plan of the actions
and the tips you need to know when chasing your tenants for
rent.

2. Tenant Management
What To Do When Your Tenant Has Not Paid Rent
Give your tenant a phone call
Day 1: You should give them a phone call - a concerned
phone call. You might say, "Hey, Mr. and Mrs. Tenant, I
haven't received your rent... I didn't receive your rent
yesterday. Just wanted to make sure everything was ok." And
listen to them and try and find out the reason why they
haven't paid their rent. I will give you some tips on (how to
approach your tenant) when you're in person talking to them
or when you're on the phone. You should always stay calm
and collected, you should be straight to the point, you should
not let your tenants off the hook, you should sympathize with
their situation but stand your ground. If you do let your
tenants off the hook on one occasion, most likely, they'll
expect to be let off the hook (on all occasions).

3. Tenant Management
What To Do When Your Tenant Has Not Paid Rent
Focus on getting a full paid rent
You should always document your phone calls and when
you've been around them, when you spoke to them, and
what was discussed and what was agreed (upon), and you
should focus on getting a result. Focus on getting the full rent
amount paid. If all else fails down track, then you can
consider.. you should consider getting some more increments
of money.

4. Tenant Management
What To Do When Your Tenant Has Not Paid Rent
Sending serious warning letter
Day 2: You should send them a warning letter.
Day 3: Just a nice follow-up phone call, a ring to the house
and just find out what's going on.
Day 5: You should send them... this is where it starts getting
serious by day 5. You should start... you should send them a
serious letter, and when you send them a letter you should
also consider putting this on email as well so you've got it in
two forms - via post and also via (electronic) letter.

5. Tenant Management
What To Do When Your Tenant Has Not Paid Rent
Organize a payment plan
On the seventh day that they're behind in rent, you should
try and organize a payment plan. So sit down with them and
work out day by day, day by day what they're going to pay
on a daily basis or on a weekly basis. Try and get that rent
paid. So you need to try and help them get their rent paid.
Day 10: This is when it starts getting extremely serious. You
send them a serious warning letter and a final notice of what
can actually happen if they do not pay their rent and they're
over fourteen days behind their rent.

6. Tenant Management
What To Do When Your Tenant Has Not Paid Rent
Focus on getting results
Day 12: You should give them a phone call, go ring to their
house and explain to them in person or over the phone
about the steps you will be taking. They will give you all
sorts of reasons why they haven't paid their rent. You need
to stick to your ground and once again focus on getting the
result and not let them off the hook. You can always fall
back on a third party - it could be insurance. So you could
say, "look Mr. or Mrs. Tenant, if I let you off the hook and
you don't pay your rent and I'm going to take these steps
then I might forfeit my insurance claim so it's going to fall
back on the owners." So you need to make sure that you
don't let them off the hook and you follow through with
what you say, that's very important. Keep it consistent.

7. Tenant Management
What To Do When Your Tenant Has Not Paid Rent
Send a 14-day termination notice
Day 15: On the fourteenth day behind their rent, (if) they
(still) haven't paid, (and) they haven't contacted you, on the
15th day, send them a 14-day termination notice. This could
be different from state to state on the actual amount of
days, so you should look up and find out exactly what day it
is. I'm experienced in New South Wales and also in Victoria
and I know in most states this is the situation.

8. Tenant Management
What To Do When Your Tenant Has Not Paid Rent
Apply for a tribunal
So on Day 18 (that) they're behind their rent, you (already)
sent them a termination notice, and now you should apply
for a tribunal to get access to the property and get all the
rent paid up. But you should speak to your local tribunal
member with regards to how you make the application, what
exactly do you make the application for.

9. Tenant Management
What To Do When Your Tenant Has Not Paid Rent
Sending termination notice
Just one note we will make: There are some states that you
actually need to send out an approved form, and this is
leading up to the 14-days-behind-their-rent, so this could be
on the 5th day. You do need to send an approved form and
(should have) completed that and sent to the actual tenant.
Otherwise, if you don't send this form, you may not be able
to legally send them a termination notice.