Since tenants have different financial obligations and their income is sometimes affected by a lot of work-related or personal problems, there will be times when they wouldn’t be able to pay rent on the due date. There are also instances when they might offer to pay only a fraction of the total amount due, also known as partial rental payment. 

A landlord may or may not accept the partial payment because it may have effects on how he operates the business and the relationship dynamics between the landlord and his tenants. 

There are no laws that consider neither acceptance or denial of partial payment as illegal. However, it may negatively affect ongoing legal proceedings.

Accepting Partial Payments

An ethical landlord should not view his tenants as mere sources of income. Yes, they are the individuals who keep your business generating income and it is only right that they pay you in exchange for a roof over their heads. However, you have to be able to empathize with them and give human consideration in trying times. 

If a tenant who never failed in paying his rent on time happened to encounter a financial crisis, such as a sudden loss of job or unexpected medical bills, accepting their offer to pay only partial rent can ease their burden.

How to Accept Partial Payments

As a landlord, you also need to make sure that you protect your business from financial loss. To do that, you have to make sure that the remaining balance will be payable on a specific date and that the failure to pay will not happen again. 

Have a signed agreement with the tenant that they will pay the remaining balance, plus a late fee. It must also detail the consequences if they fail to do so, such as eviction. 

When to reject partial rent payment

Acceptance of partial rent payment must be a privilege. There are the so-called “professional tenants” who intentionally find ways to avoid paying rent. If they are irresponsible payers and create lousy excuses, never accept partial rent from them. Tolerating their behavior will encourage them to do it again. It may even encourage other tenants to do the same.

Never accepting partial payment from any tenant is more reasonable if you manage multiple properties. Bending the rules for one tenant would destroy the credibility of your rental policy. Other tenants might feel discriminated if you accept partial payment from one tenant but reject theirs. 

You also have to put state housing laws into account. If you accept partial payments from a tenant that you have an ongoing eviction case against, you may have to start the long eviction process from the very beginning. Some states even consider that by accepting partial rent, you are waiving your right to collect the total rent due. 

Lease agreement

Having a well-detailed rent payment policy on your lease agreement is the best way you can prevent issues when it comes to rental payments:

• Clearly state rent amount and due dates
• Set a grace period
• Enumerate consequences of non-payment or late payment
• Lay down your rules on partial rent payment or if you entirely forbid it

When you are publishing your property listing on platforms like Padleads, you can either mention your rental payment policy or include it on your initial discussion with applicants because they can directly contact you for questions or concerns. Do not worry if they will be discouraged after learning your payment policy. It’s one way for you to weed out bad tenants from your pool of applicants.