That’s What the Law is For!!!
I struggle to understand why property managers give clients so much leeway, only to find that when things go wrong it always is the direct fault of the property manager.
Now stop it, just stop it I say.
When your clients breach their contractual agreement, such as failure to pay rent, the law is there to protect the property manager, just as much as both parties to the lease agreement.
I know that it seems like a ‘nice’ thing to do to let the tenant have the benefit of the doubt and trust that they will pay the rent in a day or so according to their word. In all fairness most do but the fact is the tenant is in breach of their lease agreement and property managers have a contractual obligation to issue breach notices if and when they are required. If they have failed to pay the rent, issue a breach, they will soon learn that rental arrears will not be tolerated.
Imagine if the poor owner went to the bank and said…”Oh, I am sorry. I can’t pay my mortgage payment because my tenant is late with the rent.” Well the bank will just say, “Oh we are sorry to hear that but you are now paying interest on the overdue amount and oh…by the way…we have also hit you with a late fee.” Just doesn’t quite seem fair, does it?
So why do we let tenant’s fall into arrears. The law is simple, though varies in different locations. If the tenant is in arrears, issue the breach notice. If they fail to remedy, issue the notice to leave. If they still fail to leave and pay rent, apply for a termination and Warrant of Possession. Get them out, minimise the loss and protect the owner’s asset and your ass 
There are enormous risks and liabilities we carry if we fail to abide by legislative requirements. I’m sure it is of no surprise that failure to issue the required notice at the time it is due will more than likely result in the owner’s landlord protection insurance being deemed null and void. Who carries all the liability then?
More importantly, why make it harder for you? You go home at night, sick with worry about the tenant not paying the rent. The stress is enormous. Just issue the breach and follow legislative requirements to the letter. After all, that’s what they are there for.
Be kind to yourself too.
Well written Jo, thoroughly agree with you. Why is it that so many property managers choose to ignore this most important aspect of property management. Is it fear, is it laziness or is overworking. I know that in a lot of cases arrears and prospecting are the first two things overlooked when property managers don’t have the resources available to them and are too busy with routines, show throughs, repairs and maintentance and trust accounting, causing arrears management to get done once per week if lucky. Unfortunately in the industry we are in, until such time as we start charging more for our services we will never have the resources available to be able to correctly staff these areas and the viscious circle will continue. Time to reform the industry and remove the I’m not worth it mentallity. Keep up the good work with the program.