How Auto-Late Fees Can Optimize Your Landlord Process

Why is it important to set up auto-late fees?

Having a methodical and repeatable process for collecting rent and late fees is critical to consistently following your best business practices. Deviating from your policies for one tenant can disrupt your whole system, leave you vulnerable to Fair Housing Act violations and cause a slew of other problems, depending on the tenant.

However, sometimes, it can be difficult to enforce your own policies. Especially when tenants have a reasonable story or ask for just one more day. That’s where auto-late fees come in handy. 

Property management services, like RentRedi, provide a straightforward platform through which you can charge auto-late fees with an impartial buffer between you and your tenant. You can also still prioritize and facilitate communication between the two parties. (I.e., you can set up auto-late fees on RentRedi’s platform while also utilizing our in-app notifications to send a reminder to tenants by unit or property that rent is due by the 6th or there will be late fees.)

So how can I get auto-late fees?

For late fees, especially, it can be a headache to create an efficient process for late fees or easily manage who owes you what after so many days. With RentRedi, we want to make sure that your “landlord process” is as efficient and easy as possible. Similar to our auto-tenant screening feature, our auto-late fees feature makes it easy to optimize your time and money.

auto-late fees image: screenshot of RentRedi's auto-late fees calculator
Our auto-late fees feature means you can set up a grace period, first-time late fee, recurring late fee, and max late—by dollar amount or by percentage.

Grace Period for Late Rent Payments

Set the grace period and indicate whether it is “Day” or “Week”. (The grace period is the number of days or weeks to wait before the first late fee is applied. Typically the grace period is “Day”, but we allow you to set it to “Week” if your grace period is longer.)

First Fee for First Late Rent Payment

Set the first fee and indicate whether it is a dollar amount “$” or percentage “%”. (This is the first late fee that will be charged to the tenant after the grace period ends.)

Recurring Late Fee for Late Rent Payments

Set recurring late fee. Every day or week that it is late after the first day, the recurring late fee will be added. If you do not have a recurring late fee, you can leave this blank. You can also set recurring late fee frequency. Typically recurring fees are for each day, but you can set it to “Week” if that is how your lease reads.

Max Late Fee for Late Rent Payments

Some leases, states, or municipalities have a maximum late fee that is allowed. Use this box to set a maximum, if applicable. It can be in dollars ($) or by percentage (%).

For landlords who want to encourage their tenants to pay their rent on-time by constructing an easy—yet firm—late-fee policy, RentRedi’s dashboard allows you to set up automatic late fees so you can easily track which tenants are on-time, late, and how much they owe.