You have to be careful when it comes to collections.
Yes, as an owner you do have rights. But so do your tenants. And it’s critically important that you know what those rights are— yours and theirs— as spelled out in the Ohio Revised Code, as well as other collections-specific laws.
This is something we make a concentrated effort to keep up with because laws change all the time. We make sure that all of our employees are keeping up to date in these areas. There are multiple dangers associated with collecting rent on a property.
A local landlord here in Ohio even recently made the news because he carried out what’s called a “non-judicial” eviction. Basically, he went into the house and started evicting his tenants and the tenant told the police that he had no right to go in there. And he didn’t. That’s a criminal act. He actually went to jail for a short time for that.
Which is to say— our job at Realty Trust Services is to collect the money our owners are due… AND keep our owners from going to jail in the process.
One basic rule we try to follow is a process we use to demonstrate to the tenant that we really are serious. We prioritize rent over a lot of other things because a lot of tenants actually have the money, they just have bad money management skills. They get behind and one thing leads to another.
We try to prevent that from happening, but at the same time, we have to balance our collections tactics with a personal touch so that people actually WANT to pay.
It’s very easy to go too far with collections and press people too hard, too many times, which makes them decide not to pay just out of spite.
So we prioritize getting the rent as soon as possible.
Ultimately, that’s a lot more important than being someone’s friend.
Have a great day— be a great landlord.
Our experienced investment property management team can relieve you of the burden of managing your rental property while saving you some serious money!
Call us today at (440) 220-7300 to see how we can help you!
