How to Get Your Tenants to Pay Rent Online

It’s a valuable asset when tenants pay rent online, and there are several benefits for both the property owner and the renter. In order to get tenants to pay rent online, landlords must first have a sound online rental payment option in use.

Benefits of Property Management Software

The right property management software can offer more than just a way for tenants to pay rent online, which can make the entire rental experience more convenient. When tenants pay rent online, there are benefits for both parties.

Benefits for Landlords

Landlords who use property management software will enjoy a host of advantages that make property management less time-consuming and more profitable. Some of the benefits to landlords of using a comprehensive program include:

• A streamlined rent collection process
• Automated late rent notice delivery
• Easily accessible bookkeeping and accounting
• Rewards for renters to encourage on-time payments
• Real-time information available at the touch of a button

In reality, the landlord also benefits from all of the advantages these programs offer renters; anything that makes renters happier is a good thing!

Benefits for Tenants

When tenants pay rent online using a payment program, the entire process of renting is less inconvenient. The benefits that are available to renters with access to an online payment management system can make all the difference. Some of those benefits include:

• The ability to pay at any time from anywhere
• Automatic rent payment receipts
• Optional automatic rent payment capability
• Multiple payment option availability
• Payment history records that are immediately available
• Rewards for paying online and on time
• Boost credit score

In addition to these benefits, landlords can offer rewards and incentives when tenants pay rent online and on time, and these rewards can be automatically tracked and awarded when the criteria for them are met. 

Some excellent rewards might be automatic late payment fee waivers, small loan eligibility, and reporting on-time payments to the credit bureaus to help them build up their credit scores and credit histories.

How to Convince Tenants to Pay Rent Online

Oftentimes, the biggest reason for people not signing up to pay their rent online is unfamiliarity. Many tenants are still not very familiar with the internet. They may be intimidated by the thought of creating an account, setting everything up, and inputting their financial information into an online program.

Make Sure They Know Help Is Available

In order to help encourage tenants to pay rent online, as a landlord, you need to make sure that tenants know there is help available. 

If they need help getting an account set up, help them do that. If they have technical issues that you cannot help with, make sure they know how to reach customer service for the payment system to get help.

Provide Clear Information

When tenants sign a lease, have all of the information about the benefits of online payments written out on a sheet of paper that you include in their welcome packets. Include clear instructions about how to set up an account and list the reasons why they should sign up. 

Make sure to highlight the benefits they will enjoy by making payments online. Let them know how quick and easy it is and that they can view their balance, manage automatic payments, and even connect their bank for maximum convenience.

Give Advance Notice of Changes

If you have current tenants who are not signed up for online payments yet, make sure to give them some notice about any changes that will become required. If a tenant has paid for years via checks, they will appreciate advance notice of this change, which to them may seem drastic and stressful.

Making It a Part of the Lease

In some states, it’s the law that landlords must accept more than one type of payment method for rental payments. You can use this to your advantage and include that it’s not a requirement that tenants pay rent online in your leases. 

Follow that information with some of the key facts regarding online payments. State that you want to make paying rent as simple as possible for tenants. 

It should be noted that within leases, you can always state what your preferred method of payment is, but (depending on your state) you may be legally bound to accept more than one.

The key to getting tenants to pay rent online is to emphasize how easy it is to sign up and use. Make sure to highlight all of the benefits tenants can enjoy and stress that there is always help available, should they need it.