Tenants who always pay after Lien Process is started... charge a Fee??

sdgr35 · March 19

I have a Tenant that always pays right after we spend the money and time to process the Lien Letter. He never responds to my emails, letters, texts, or calls until then. The owner never put in place to charge fees for certified lien letters.

Is this something that you do? If so how would this be set up?
We are losing money everytime this happens and I have had other tenants that have done this in the past too. thanks

GM_SJ_BSS · March 19

sdgr35 said:

I have a Tenant that always pays right after we spend the money and time to process the Lien Letter. He never responds to my emails, letters, texts, or calls until then. The owner never put in place to charge fees for certified lien letters.

Is this something that you do? If so how would this be set up?
We are losing money everytime this happens and I have had other tenants that have done this in the past too. thanks

You should be charging a Lien fee. Once an account hits Lien status, we charge a cut lock fee and when the Lien Notice goes out, the account is charged a lien fee. At the place I'm at, we charge 50.00. The last storage facility I was at charged a 100.00 lien fee. Charging them these fees either encourages them to move out or to at least start paying on time.

To add the fees, if using Sitelink, you would go to 'setup', then 'charges', if 'lien' is on your list click on it or if not, on the right click add, and follow the prompts. Once that is done, while still under setup, go to past due schedule, select lien and in the fee box, look for the fee you created on the list and follow the prompts.

sdgr35 · March 19

Thank you, is the decision of the price to charge your own or a set rule by your state?

GM_SJ_BSS · March 20

sdgr35 said:

Thank you, is the decision of the price to charge your own or a set rule by your state?

In CT, there are no legal suggested fees, just states that they should be reasonable. The owner of the facility I'm at, decided what each fee would be, as long as they are clearly stated in your rental agreement of what the fees are with the amount of the fees shown and when the fees would apply to the account. On our rental agreement, under section 'other charges and fees', we list the late fees, cut lock fee, Lien fee, NSF fee etc. with the amounts of them and when they occur and the tenant must initial on the line next to each one.

skinman · March 20

I have a different mentality regarding this I guess. I'm perfectly fine with the handful of tenants I have had that practice this behavior over the years. Their rent still gets increased annually like everyone else.. I make a lot of money on late fees , and they virtually never have access. Maybe for a week or two right after they pay.

Then it's right back to overlocked, late fees and no access. Have no idea why some people play this game, but it's not a major ordeal for me. I more than make up for a cut lock notice in the monthly late fees they have assessed.

MamaDuke7 · March 20

skinman said:

I have a different mentality regarding this I guess. I'm perfectly fine with the handful of tenants I have had that practice this behavior over the years. Their rent still gets increased annually like everyone else.. I make a lot of money on late fees , and they virtually never have access. Maybe for a week or two right after they pay.

Then it's right back to overlocked, late fees and no access. Have no idea why some people play this game, but it's not a major ordeal for me. I more than make up for a cut lock notice in the monthly late fees they have assessed.

This is exactly my mentality. More money. Yes, a slight bit more office work, but not a big deal.

GM_SJ_BSS · March 20

Well here in CT at this facility we only allow the tenant to go to Lien twice in a 12 month period, if it happens a third time, they are evicted. Its not actually hard to get the tenants trained. We prefer low AR's. Private owner doesn't care about the little bit of extra revenue in fees, he prefers on time payments. We compete with 4 huge corporate storage facilities in town and have no problem keeping up. We currently have 8 buildings and are adding 3 more exterior bldgs. and one split level big climate control. We have been open for 6 years (brand new build) and haven't had an auction or had to cut a lock for about 3 years since we put a limit on reaching liens and adding that verbiage in the rental agreement.

sonyawiprud · March 22

skinman said:

I have a different mentality regarding this I guess. I'm perfectly fine with the handful of tenants I have had that practice this behavior over the years. Their rent still gets increased annually like everyone else.. I make a lot of money on late fees , and they virtually never have access. Maybe for a week or two right after they pay.

Then it's right back to overlocked, late fees and no access. Have no idea why some people play this game, but it's not a major ordeal for me. I more than make up for a cut lock notice in the monthly late fees they have assessed.

Thank you for this, it always puts it back into perspective for me, I get so tired of processing letters and chasing after my handful of repeat offenders. Then you remind me, one of my customers in particular is here all day everyday during the week he's not locked out, bathrooming it up, asking for water, and candy all day. We definitely don't want that. I'll think of you next time I'm processing letters on him!

Tenants who always pay after Lien Process is started... charge a Fee??

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