If you are a landlord, how do your tenants pay you?

[poppy]

We are new to this. Renting our house for the first time.

Checks seem obvious but... who even has checks anymore? Seems antiquated to write a check and mail it.

Paypal? 

Something else?

[fdrinca]

We paid our rent via online checking. 

[quark]

You can use Cozy.co if you are comfortable giving them your bank account information. It's free for both parties as long as it's a bank to bank transaction (not credit card).

[Scarlett]

We are new to this. Renting our house for the first time.

Checks seem obvious but... who even has checks anymore? Seems antiquated to write a check and mail it.

Paypal?

Something else?

I still have checks for a few things. A box lasts for years.

I noticed my xh though.....when he had to pay for Ds's car he had the bank write a check out to the dealer. . He says he so rarely uses a check he doesn't bother buying any.

[EmseB]

We are tenants but really, really prefer if our landlords will allow us to pay by setting up an online funds transfer. Happens automatically, straight from our account to theirs, we don't have to wait for our ll to cash a check and the ll gets his money on time without me having to remember or worry about when it's mailed, etc.

 

We can do this online or call the bank to set it up.

Edited October 11, 2016 by JodiSue

[reign]

We take cash or check. First couple who rented usually paid cash and would drop it off. Current renter mails in a check.

[Zinnia]

We have our bank write a check through online bill pay.

[Ravin]

We have to deposit a check or money order to our landlord's account at Chase bank.

[Liz CA]

Online Bill Pay or Check. I suppose you have to run the check to the bank unless you have the instant deposit feature but even then they eventually want to see the actual check. If you mailbox is safe and you live in the same town, they could run a check by your place unless it inconveniences them too much.

[Epicurean]

Renter here. Our landlord uses erentpayment.com and I really like it. User friendly, you can set up automatic payments, it automatically stops payments at the end of your lease, etc.

[vonfirmath]

We are new to this. Renting our house for the first time.

Checks seem obvious but... who even has checks anymore? Seems antiquated to write a check and mail it.

Paypal? 

Something else?

 

For both of our last two rentals, we wrote a check and delivered it to our landlord.

 

We still write a check for our mortgage. We might go through a checkbook VERY slowly. But we still find we need it for certain things -- lunch money at school, kids activity needs, and rent/mortgage.

[poppy]

Online Bill Pay or Check. I suppose you have to run the check to the bank unless you have the instant deposit feature but even then they eventually want to see the actual check. If you mailbox is safe and you live in the same town, they could run a check by your place unless it inconveniences them too much.

 

We have a bank where you take a photo of the check to deposit it-- front and back and that's it! Done!! It's just delightful.

 

Depositing for us is easy , trying to make it super easy for tenants.

[Ailaena]

I paid cash for a few years, but have been paying by check in the mail for more than 15 years. I have only had one instance of the mail not getting there, and that was because the landlord was moving, but had not actually moved in when I sent the check, so the post office sent it back to us. But we usually send it a week before the 1st just to give it time.

 

Our current landlord is traveling Europe, so we are doing a bank transfer. It's kind of a pain because our rent is more than the daily maximum amount so we have to send it over two days. We could deposit a check into her account if we wanted, though.

 

My daughter uses erentpayments and that seems super-easy for everybody, but there is a small fee to the landlords.

[mom2samlibby]

My renter pays in checks.  She wrote us the full year when she rented.  We cashed each one on the 1st of the month that it was due.  It was convenient for both of us to do it that way.  

[poppy]

These are great thanks we will check them out! Glad to hear from both tenants and owners.

 

 

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[StephanieZ]

My main 2 tenants pay by cozy.com  It's pretty easy to set up, and you and your tenants don't pay fees. They seem to make their $$ in the holding time of about 3-5 days for each payment, so far as I can guess. And maybe the ancillary services they offer (credit checks, etc). Once you have it set up (pretty easy), it is painless. Money gets direct deposited to my checking. I get notifications via email. I wanted a way to take online payment without fees to me or the tenants, and this has worked out great for that thus far. 

 

My other tenant (another property) pays by check each month, but that is a special case, because they rent a home that is on our commercial property, and one works for me, so we see them on a near daily basis. They hand deliver the check each month like clockwork. 

 

If I were setting it up "new" (as I did last year), I'd just encourage the tenant to pay online in some reliable way, ideally one that (like cozy) can be set up as an automated payment, which both my main tenants have done. Great to avoid missed or late payments. I officially will accept check/whatever as well, but it's much more convenient to take an online payment. IMHO.

 

 

 

 

[Carol in Cal.]

Our renters have always sent us checks.

I would not object to an automatic transfer, but my impression is that around here people who rent are usually kind of paycheck to paycheck, and they want to make sure that the money is in the account before they get us the payment.

[SparklyUnicorn]

I've heard more people ask who has checks anymore.  A lot of people still have checks.  I keep some checks because there are a couple of instances where they don't take anything else and it's way less expensive than having to buy a money order or something like that.

 

Couple of weeks ago at the store a woman said to her kids that people don't use checks anymore.  The cashier said to me, after hearing that, that she doesn't know what that woman is talking about because every other customer uses a check.

 

 

[creekland]

Our tenants mail us checks.  We had one who did cash and we had to pick it up.  That was very inconvenient comparatively.  No one has complained about mailing us checks.

 

Personally, we still have checks we use - for church, for hay payments, for vet bills, for one of our rental house mortgage payments where they charge me a fee if I do it online, for sending money as birthday or Christmas presents, etc.  When people buy ponies they sometimes pay by check too.  Hubby gets pretty much all of his payments from clients by checks too.  One or two will pay via Paypal (and credit card), but that's very rare.

 

It honestly surprises me that so many don't have checks with the number of things we still use ours for.  Granted, most bills are paid online and we run most expenses through our bonus points credit cards, but there are still some things those don't work well with.

[SparklyUnicorn]

I do avoid using checks because BLAH, but it's a built in receipt.  I prefer it over cash for that reason.

 

I can pay individuals using my automatic bill pay stuff through the bank, but all they do is mail the person a check!  If they can't deposit something automatically that is what they do.  They don't charge me for it either, but it takes longer than if I send a check myself. 

 

 

[poppy]

I have checks personally but from organizing scouts and coop / homeschool classes I know that a sizable minority do not. It's like landlines.

 

 

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[SparklyUnicorn]

I have checks personally but from organizing scouts and coop / homeschool classes I know that a sizable minority do not. It's like landlines.

 

 

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We can't even get landlines where we are anymore!  So annoying.

[Guest]

We are buying now, but I miss our last two landlords. The one in FL, we put our check in a lockbox by our mailboxes and he would check it here or there. The one before this house was a small town. When I deposited dh's check, we told the bank to put the rent amount into our landlord's rental acct. Easy peasy.

[Guest]

We have tenants paying a variety of ways. Many send checks, but some do online direct debit. Sometimes this is through a bank; other times it's through a credit card. One lady apparently goes to her bank and makes a deposit to our company bank account. We have a business PayPal, but we don't have a tenant who is using it to pay rent yet. One tenant sends six months worth of post-dated checks at a time. I deposit them as the months come up.

[Guest]

We can't even get landlines where we are anymore! So annoying.

I still have a landline at my house, though I sometimes wonder what for. I have concluded it is because someone has to answer the fake IRS calls and the irritating political robocalls.

[Lady Marmalade]

Renter here.

 

We pay with cashier's checks.  Once a month I go to the bank and get a cashier's check for rent at no extra charge to us.  I think we can do up to three a month at no cost with our credit union.  This way the money is out of our bank account immediately with no danger of checks overdrafting or bouncing. It also is an excellent way to trace payments.

 

 I don't have to worry about the LL who holds a check for WEEKS without getting my check cashed, and I can also go into the bank and ask for my cashier's checks to be tracked.  They can go to my account and print out when they were drafted from the bank, and when they were cashed- and who they were cashed by.  This was very important several years ago when we had a LL trying to rip us off and telling us that she was missing a few months rent from us.   I was able to go to the bank and get print outs that proved that she had, in fact, signed the checks and cashed them.  

 

Our neighbor (duplex) pays his rent by physically driving over to LL's house and giving them cash. 

[EmseB]

Color me totally surprised by how many people are still using physical checks and banking these days.  Our previous two landlords required direct deposit and our current landlord was totally on board once we asked to do it that way.

 

Our bank has no (or very few) physical branches so that plays a part, but I thought it was really common for landlords to require direct deposit as insurance against not getting paid or getting paid late or being told the check was in the mail.  Plus, all the receipt/evidence for payment is right there on everyone's bank statements.

Edited October 11, 2016 by JodiSue

[Lady Marmalade]

Color me totally surprised by how many people are still using physical checks and banking these days.  Our previous two landlords required direct deposit and our current landlord was totally on board once we asked to do it that way.

 

Our bank has no (or very few) physical branches so that plays a part, but I thought it was really common for landlords to require direct deposit as insurance against not getting paid or getting paid late or being told the check was in the mail.  Plus, all the receipt/evidence for payment is right there on everyone's bank statements.

 

We had a LL in the past who was one of those who wouldn't cash a check for weeks.  Really irritating because sometimes he would hold a check the entire month and then cash two at once.  We tried over and over again to get him to allow us to pay electronically.  We offered to pay extra with rent to cover any fees.  I even offered to drive my check to his bank and deposit it for him, but he was not having any of it.  That was when we started doing the cashier's checks.  When my DH works out of town and doesn't have access to banking info, I need the balance to reflect what is actually in the bank account, not the balance minus the rent checks that have not been cashed.  

[Laura Corin]

In the UK it's usually by direct transfer from one bank account to the other, often by a regular 'standing order' which happens on the same day each month.

[Farrar]

My mother's tenants always pay cash. But to me, it's an element of how sketchy they are sometimes. Sigh. Nice people... who are very disorganized.

[wendy not in HI]

We are currently renting. Our previous landlord had us directly transfer funds to his account. That was easy pease.  Our new landlord would prefer that I write a check, take it to their bank, and deposit it into their account, using their deposit slip (which I have just 6 months of and will have to coordinate getting more deposit slips in a couple months.)  Not very convenient for me.  

 

Just before the first of October, I ran out of checks - I knew it would take a while to get new checks delivered and I didn't want to be late with our rent, so I asked if we could set up a direct deposit to their account.  They allowed us to do it, but I could tell it was not something they prefer.  

 

The transfer went through easily...  I'm not sure if I can go ahead with the online transfer, or if I should write the monthly check and take it to their bank? 

[SparklyUnicorn]

I still have a landline at my house, though I sometimes wonder what for. I have concluded it is because someone has to answer the fake IRS calls and the irritating political robocalls.

 

Oh yeah true.  But what I mean is they literally do not have landlines.  They only do VoiP if you want something like a landline.  So when the power goes out, no phone.  We have a battery backup in the cellar with a phone attached, but it is only good for a few hours.

[SparklyUnicorn]

In the UK it's usually by direct transfer from one bank account to the other, often by a regular 'standing order' which happens on the same day each month.

 

Yeah we are still in the Stone Ages.   I know of no such thing here except if you are paying a larger business.

[creekland]

Color me totally surprised by how many people are still using physical checks and banking these days.  Our previous two landlords required direct deposit and our current landlord was totally on board once we asked to do it that way.

 

Our bank has no (or very few) physical branches so that plays a part, but I thought it was really common for landlords to require direct deposit as insurance against not getting paid or getting paid late or being told the check was in the mail.  Plus, all the receipt/evidence for payment is right there on everyone's bank statements.

 

No one has ever asked us to do it that way.  I can't say I'd be opposed to it, but I also wonder what problems could arise with a tenant having our bank account number.

 

When paying by check tenants have proof of payment too.  Their bank keeps films of cashed checks with signatures of who cashed them and when.  Our bank keeps track of what we deposit too.  I can pull up copies of the pics online for no cost.

 

When we had the one tenant who wanted to pay in cash, we always wrote him a receipt.

[Spy Car]

Autopay with direct deposit is in the lease with tenants. Saves a lot of headaches.

 

Bill

[Laura Corin]

Yeah we are still in the Stone Ages.   I know of no such thing here except if you are paying a larger business.

 

I pay my son's pocket money by standing order directly into his bank account.

[SparklyUnicorn]

Autopay with direct deposit is in the lease with tenants. Saves a lot of headaches.

 

Bill

 

How exactly do you set that up?

[SparklyUnicorn]

Just looked up if I could direct debit.  Yes, but with a fee per transaction and there are limits per day. 

 

So gee no wonder nobody does it.  They don't want to pay fees.

 

 

[meena]

Under our first property manager, our tenants paid via check until they had insufficient funds three months in a row. Then we switched to money order only. When we hired a new property manager, he switched our tenants to online money transfer. The money goes from our tenants to the manager's bank account. He withdraws his monthly fee then deposits it to our account. I believe they are on auto-withdrawal now, because we get their payment at roughly the same time every month.

 

Make sure you have something in your lease to account for insufficient funds and late payments and be ready to enforce those provisions if needed with late fees, potential eviction notices, etc. Even if you don't think you'll need it, it's good for both tenants and landlords to have the terms clearly laid out. We had those terms in our lease from the beginning but our first property manager never enforced them. Our tenants took advantage of that and bounced checks and paid later and later in the month (due the first, got to where they were paying around the 20th!). We fired that manager and made sure our new one communicated to the tenants that he would be enforcing the lease. Our tenants were struggling financially so we did show some grace as they got caught up. Things have gone much smoother now that we have an enforced lease and direct payment.

[TravelingChris]

In the UK it's usually by direct transfer from one bank account to the other, often by a regular 'standing order' which happens on the same day each month.

  

 

It was like this when we lived in Belgium over ten years ago too.  Very easy.

[TravelingChris]

I pay my son's pocket money by standing order directly into his bank account.

  

 

I do this with my youngest in college too.  With the other two, I don't do standing orders but just do a one time transfer to them for whatever it is that I am doing-- for my one daughter it was school expenses, with my son, it is usually reimbursesments for groceries he bought for our house (he doesn't live here but occasionally helps out logistically by buying some groceries for us if he is at the store and he will be coming over).

[TravelingChris]

When we owned a house we rented, we were overseas and used a property management company. Our mortgage was due when their rent was due but we always paid our mortgage first.  Then when we were renters in our previous two residences, we paid with checks issued directly by our bank.  That is I had a standing order with my bank to send out the rent check each month.  I only needed to change that procedure once when a pipe burst around CHristmas time and the owners asked us to handle calling the plumber and paying the bill and then take it out of our rent check.  We did that and then the next month started a standing order again.

[EmseB]

Just looked up if I could direct debit. Yes, but with a fee per transaction and there are limits per day.

 

So gee no wonder nobody does it. They don't want to pay fees.

It must depend on your bank. We don't pay a fee. Nor does our ll's bank charge him to accept payments that way.

 

DH gets paid by direct deposit and we have a small disbursement that comes to us that way, no fees for any of it.

 

Does your bank charge a fee for check processing? That seems like it would be more labor intensive than an electronic transfer.

[SparklyUnicorn]

It must depend on your bank. We don't pay a fee. Nor does our ll's bank charge him to accept payments that way.

 

DH gets paid by direct deposit and we have a small disbursement that comes to us that way, no fees for any of it.

 

Does your bank charge a fee for check processing? That seems like it would be more labor intensive than an electronic transfer.

 

No.  I don't pay any fees for checks and no fees to pay businesses via the on-line banking thing (like credit card companies, phone company, etc.).  If I want to send money to individual people there is a per transaction fee.  We also have the direct deposit (no fee). 

[Noreen Claire]

We have two rentals. One walks over every month (the house is around the corner) and pays by bank check, on-time and in full. The other (the unit is the next town over) gives us the run-around every month and is still paying (never on time, sometimes even post-dated) with starter checks; sometimes he drops it off, sometimes we have to go pick it up. Both units will go up for sale next year, thank goodness!

[EmseB]

No.  I don't pay any fees for checks and no fees to pay businesses via the on-line banking thing (like credit card companies, phone company, etc.).  If I want to send money to individual people there is a per transaction fee.  We also have the direct deposit (no fee). 

 

Ah, I guess I'm not understanding the differences in the types of transactions because we don't pay fees for any of that.  I also use my online bill pay to send people checks (individuals and businesses).

 

We pay our landlord by sending money to his bank account electronically, which I thought was called direct deposit.  We don't pay a fee to do this.  He's not a business, it just goes to his personal account every month.  If I hypothetically had a kid in college, I'd send them money this way too.  And if I was a landlord, I'd probably have it written into the lease for people to pay me this way.

[KathyBC]

My son pays his rent through e-transfer. He and I send funds for various things to each other this way, as well. No fees.