On-time rent collection is one of a property manager’s most important jobs each month. When a resident pays late, here are the steps we take to get them caught up, and get our clients paid.
We begin the process for rent collection before rent is ever posted, by sending out a reminder email to all of our residents detailing their upcoming charges. We don’t ever want our residents to be caught off guard by their balance due on the first of the month. Starting on the first of each month, we send out daily reminders of any past-due balance, including rent.
If a resident hasn’t paid their rent balance in full by the end of the day on the 1st, their rent is considered late. Starting on the 2nd of each month, we send out our regular daily reminder of their past-due balance, plus start sending out additional communication, usually by email and text, with payment instructions, and their total balance due, or other required communication to establish things like: primary language (critical if we move forward with a demand posting), or eligibility for mandatory mediation prior to any eviction filing.
If a resident still hasn’t paid their rent balance in full by the 5th of the month, we will begin preparing and posting rent demand forms. These are prepared on the 5th of each month, or the first business day after the 5th if it falls on a weekend, and are uploaded to our third-party process server on the same day. At the same time, we disable online payment access, as our lease requires certified funds after a resident is posted with a rent demand. We never want to be in a position where we either accept a partial payment without realizing it and void the demand, or accept an online payment that then bounces. In both cases, we would have to begin the process again with a new demand, essentially starting over from scratch.
If a resident hasn’t paid their rent by the end of the day on the 8th, midnight, not 5 PM, then we move forward with applying late fees on their account early on the 9th. Colorado has a statutory grace period of 7 calendar days before a late fee can post for rent payments, and caps late fees at 5% of the current month’s unpaid rent, or $50.00, whichever is greater. Any lease clause that lays out a late fee above these limits is considered void and unenforceable.
These steps are all done on certain calendar dates based on Colorado law, but the below timing can vary, depending on what type of demand we use: a 10-day demand or a 30-day demand. The demand we use is determined by the mortgage and lease status, and whether or not your property or resident receive, or received, any sort of federal backing. In 2025, Colorado enshrined the federal CARES Act on the state-level, although our state Supreme Court had also ruled a few years prior that the particular clause in the CARES Act did not sunset with the rest of the bill, so this has been standard practice across the state since the Act was passed in 2020.
Once a resident has been posted, we continue sending daily reminders of their balance, in addition to reaching out by text and email in the hopes of encouraging them to pay their rent. If they are eligible for mandatory mediation, we will schedule that before the demand expires to try and minimize delays around starting the eviction process.
Once a demand expires, we will compile the necessary documentation, including the demand, the lease, current ledger, mediation certification, if required, and the CARES Act affidavit from the property owner, and send it all to our attorneys to review. So long as there is no issue with any of the documentation, they will file with the county court at the first available opportunity. If the demand expires on a Saturday or Sunday, or holiday, we will send the file on the next business day.
From there, the court takes over. The resident must be served with the court summons and complaint, and has the right to file an answer contesting the case. If this happens, we will notify our client and discuss next steps, and ensure that we are all on the same page about your desired outcome: do you want the resident to pay, or do you just want the property back?
Regardless of your ideal outcome, renters in Colorado have a statutory right to cure that begins the moment a rent demand is posted, and continues up through the time the court enters judgement on a hearing. If, at any point in this process, your resident comes up with a payment for their full rent balance, we are required to accept it.
The good news here: a majority of our residents make on-time payments, and a vast majority of our residents pay before the end of the demand period. While late payments and evictions are a reality in any rental industry, our company does everything we can to minimize this risk for our clients, starting with our application process. Late payments are stressful, not just for the resident, but also for the property owner, and an eviction process is never easy. Our team has experience both with the court process, and everything that comes next. Lean on our expertise, and we will help you get through the process–either by getting an in-full payment, or by getting your property back.
