Always provide prompt, efficient service to your Tenants. This establishes a solid management-tenant relationship that will encourage lease renewals and maintain a low turnover rate. HOWEVER, the Tenant should never be accommodated @ the expense of the Owner. The Manager must serve the interests of the Owner by setting up a viable system for collecting rent and dealing with uncooperative Tenants.

There are several approaches the Manager/Owner may take to elicit prompt payments from Tenants; the most basic is a clear-cut understanding between the Manager/Owner and the Tenant. The requirements for prompt payment of rent and the provisions for default should be reviewed when the Tenant signs the Lease. The Manager/Owner should explain in a firm but friendly manner that after the specified time, the Tenant will be treated as delinquent and that appropriate legal action will be taken if necessary. The Manager/Owner must not bluff and should follow an established procedure that is rigidly adhered to without exception.

Although Tenants have already been told that immediate action will be taken in the case of delinquency, it is good public relations for the Manager/Owner to allow a reasonable period of time between the due date and the announcement of legal action for delinquency. This should be a fixed, predetermined period that in most cases should not exceed ­5- days

Tenants will lose respect for a Manager/Owner who is apathetic about rent collection. (All rental policies should be spelled out in plain language in your written rental/lease terms)