If you’ve been in a rental for a long time and everything has been going well, it’s easy to get complacent with your rent payments. 

 Even if you take great care of the rental, keep the noise to a minimum, and are a model tenant, you can undo all the excellent work by missing rental payments. 

 Unlike our cousins in the US, we probably don’t take our credit history as seriously as we should. Moreover, even minor blemishes on our credit history, such as a missed rental payment, can cause us to be refused finance. So, if you want a home loan at some stage, your late rental repayments may count against you in the approval process and set your real estate plans back many years.

Impact your rental history

Missed rent payments can impact your credit history, but they also won’t do much for your rental history. 

The market may have become tighter and more competitive than during your previous lease, and suddenly you find yourself up against a stack of other would-be tenants with impeccable payment records. Put yourself in the Property Manager or landlord’s shoes.

Property Managers also rely on a tenant database known as TICA to get the good oil on prospective renters. The TICA national tenant database has grown over the past 25 years to be the largest in Australia, with over 7 million tenant records and over 7,000 members – around 150,000 tenants are checked monthly. On top of this, TICA also shows what other agencies have searched for you in the past. So, even if you haven’t defaulted, multiple searches by different agencies might sound alarms for a Property Manager mulling over a prospective tenant’s application.

If your rent is in arrears by a certain number of days (check your state or territory), you can be served a termination of tenancy notice. This gives you another set period to get your rent up to date or enter into a payment agreement with your landlord. If you fail to meet that deadline, you may face eviction.

Don’t get caught out by due dates

Some tenants make late payments accidentally because they are confused about when rent is due. Say they moved in on a Friday, they may think their weekly rent is due on a Friday. But the seven days end on a Thursday, so that’s when rent is due. If you’re one day late, your rent is in arrears, which can go on your rental record as can outstanding tenant invoices such as water usage.

To ensure your rent is on time, it’s best to make the payment early – your Raine & Horne Property Manager can assist here.