is my landlord being a jerk?

[crywolf2010]

my rent is due every second thursday. suppose i dont pay on that thursday first thing friday morning i get a text message from my land lord saying "ur in breach of contract...blah blah blah". wow not even one day late.... does he have the right to do that? do you think hes being a jerk?

[Kodos]

Nah, that's pretty standard. He has to protect his legal rights.

Also, the renter and the landlord have different stress/anxiety over paying the rent. The renter is more casual, "Oh, I forgot, big deal, I'll pay him in full later." The landlord, however, is really looking forward that rent, as he has expenses to pay, and if he doesn't get it, he's "I'm really annoyed I didn't get the rent I was looking forward to; I hope this isn't a payment problem developing." Also, it means he has to go to the bank twice (or more) -- that get's really annoying. It's also business, it's not personal.

So instead of paying every second Thursday, modify your expectations and plan to pay on every second Wednesday - a day early. Then if you forget, hey, you've given yourself a grace day.

[bpladybug]

He needs your rent to pay his mortgage. So it is serious business for him. Not just a matter of your rent being a day late but of his obligation to the bank.

[Aurochs]

You agreed to pay rent on the second Thursday of the month when you signed the rental agreement. This is the date that the landlord plans to see payment by. If you don't pay on time, he cannot keep his own promises to his bank, his contractors, etc.

Think of it like this. If you call up your landlord about a broken oven and he says he'll be there Tuesday to fix it, how annoyed would you be if he didn't show up until Friday? That's basically what you're doing to him - if he doesn't get rent when he expects it, he may not be able to pay contractors to do repairs or renovations on other properties. He's also less motivated to do repairs on your own property in a timely manner.

Depending on your jurisdiction, you may have some sort of grace period before he can start taking legal action, but he's fully entitled to both demand payment and charge late fees starting the day after rent is due.

Repeatedly paying the rent late will not help you get a good rental reference. I would advise you to pay early whenever possible. If you can't pay the rent on the due date, call the landlord up and work something out. It's common courtesy.

[Stickler]

If you have the money, I suggest you pay him the rent on the payday before the rent is due...that way he gets the rent in advance and he's happy, you get it in well on time, he likes you as a tenant, no nasty notices, and your cred score goes up.

Credit score is actually looked at by both apartment managers and employers these days, so it behooves you to pay everything on time, every time-it can mean better jobs and nicer apartments in the long term.

[AnneMarie]

Actually, if you are late with the rent, you are the one being a bit jerky.

[SashaSue]

What Stacia said.