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The Tennessee commercial real estate market is stronger compared to the overall U.S. commercial market. This is great news if you are a commercial real estate investor.
However, you might find that your rental income isn't as much as you thought. This could be because you aren't streamlining your rent collection process.
Keep reading to learn about commercial rent collection best practices.
1. Switch to Online Rent Collection
Money orders, cash, and checks are outdated ways of collecting commercial rent. With technology, more providers are moving online and allowing tenants to easily pay rent from their devices.
Switching to paying rent online through software or apps improves rent collection success. These programs offer more payment features for tenants and commercial property owners to benefit from.
For example, some apps and rent collection systems allow tenants to set automatic payment dates to ensure they are never late on rent. The software also helps property owners see when a payment has been scheduled by a tenant.
Technology can help you easily keep electronic records of payments and receipts so that property accounting is easier to manage.
2. Enforce Late Payments
To protect commercial investment properties from bad tenants, enforce late payments. This is a great way to streamline rent collection for commercial properties.
Although landlords want to improve tenant relations, enforcing consequences is a great business decision.
If you decide to go this route, be sure to communicate about what tenants can expect if they pay rent late in advance. This should be outlined in the commercial lease agreement.
Choosing a late fee charge that is mild enough to motivate tenants to pay early but not high enough to cause a serious financial burden is key.
3. Clearly Communicate Rent Due Dates
Just like you should be clear about late fees, you need to be clear about due dates for rental collection for commercial properties. Communicate with tenants from the start to discourage continuous late payments.
Clear communication and lease agreements can also prevent any confusion your tenants might have about rent payment lease terms and due dates. A property management company can help make things clear.
The lease should be clearly written out and include due dates. You should also define the late payment structures in this document, whether paper or electronic.
These clear details can protect commercial properties in Dickson, TN, and their owners from legal problems if a tenant tries to sue you. You will have evidence that you gave clear instructions on rent payment procedures.
Streamlining Rent Collection With Property Management
These three rent collection best practices can help streamline the process of collecting commercial rent. However, the best way to ensure proper rent collection is by hiring a commercial property management company.
Professional property managers from PMI Hometown Living can help commercial property owners like you increase profits by collecting rent on time.
We have years of experience with management software that makes rent collection easier and can enforce due dates and late fees. Contact us today to learn more about our services.
