The table of contents of the fifth edition has incorrect page numbers. Click here to get the correct table of contents which is part of this Web site. Sorry for that mixup. That's the first time I have ever done that in 17 years of publishing.

The top of page 125 is missing the following:

summer,” doesn’t count. The purpose of notice in to enable you to find a new tenant. One of the first questions prospective tenants ask is, “When can I move in?” “This summer” is not an acceptable answer.

Page 126 is incorrect and should be replaced by the content below. The content below overlaps with page 125 and 127. This is some sort of error by the printers, duplicating a page from a previous chapter and placing it in this incorrect chapter.

Due date

Make all the rents due the first of the month. I started out making the person’s move-in date their monthly due date. If they moved in the eighth, their rent was due on the eighth of every month. That was OK until I got 20 units. Then it drove me nuts. So I switched everyone to the first.

Semi-monthly and weekly rents

As the Texas market collapsed, I found it necessary to agree to semi-monthly and weekly rent collections. That’s a pain. But it beats vacancies. Although such tenants tend to chronic delinquency.

If you allow tenants to pay more than once a month, charge a premium for the privilege. I recommend your semi-monthly and weekly rents be calculated by the following formula:

Semi-monthly rent: 110% x monthly rent divided ÷ 2
Weekly rent: 120% x monthly rent ÷ 4.3

For example, if your monthly rent is $350, your semi-monthly and weekly rents would be

Semi-monthly rent: 110% x $350 ÷ 2 = $192.50
Weekly rent: 120% x $350 ÷ 4.3 = 97.67

Round off to the nearest dollar. Weekly rentals may bring your building under hotel/motel regulations. Check your local and state laws.

Mail payments

When I first moved to California, I still owned twenty units in New Jersey. I had those twenty tenants mail their rent to me in California. Using the mail forced me to establish criteria for deciding when the rent was late. I chose this wording.

Rent will be considered late if received by the owner after the first and not postmarked at least three Postal Service working days prior to the due date.

Returned-check charge

You ought to have a charge for each returned (bounced) check a tenant gives you. In many cases, your bank will charge you for depositing it. Your charge should cover that charge plus the hassle.

In most areas, writing a bad check is a criminal, not civil, offense. Most other landlord/tenant disputes are civil. When someone breaks a criminal law, you can call the police. The police can get warrants for their arrest, read them their rights, take them “downtown,” “book ’em” (not for “murder one” though), and all that. A lot of tough guy tenants have an attitude adjustment when confronted by a police officer.

A returned check is also a late payment. So charge the late penalties—both initial and daily.

Keep it in the file

Sometimes tenants who owe late penalties don’t pay them. But they do stop paying late. In those cases, you probably don’t want to evict the tenant. But neither do you want them to get out of paying the late penalty.

Write the amount they owe and put it into their lease file so that you’ll see it when it comes time to return their security deposit or transfer the security deposit to a new owner.

Partial payment

If local law permits, include a clause which says you can accept partial payment without losing any rights to the rest.