Can tenants split rent or pay partial rent?

Hemlane is flexible with payments. Hemlane allows landlords and managers to select whether a payment is to be paid in full or can be partially paid. Partial payments are commonly used for roommate situations or to allow a flexible payment opportunity to your tenant who may need to pay throughout the month instead all at once.

What are partial payments?

Partial payments allow multiple payments against the request. It is typically used in roommate situations and allows each roommate to pay their portion of the rent. If you do not want to allow partial payments then only one person can pay the full amount requested.

You can use this partial payment option to allow a tenant to have flexible payment terms as well. For example, allowing partial payments for a rent request of $1000 will allow your tenant to pay $600 the first week of the month and the remaining $400 before next month's rent is due.

How do I allow tenants to split rent or pay partial rent?

During a request for payment (rent or something else), a user is asked a series of questions including how they would like to configure their payment options. By default, Hemlane allows tenants to pay partial rent. Check the box below if you do not want to allow partial payments:

What are the risks of allowing partial payments?

Many professional managers will require full payments (they check the box that says "Do not allow partial payments"). There are risks involved with partial payments including:

• Inability to evict non-paying tenants
  By accepting payments, an owner greatly increases their chances of a prolonged eviction processes. Allowing partial payments means an owner abandons their ability to evict tenants who pay any partial amount of the total requested -- even $1.00 -- and some states will require owners to restart the eviction process if they accept any amount of funds after filing. 
  
  
• Cash Flow Interruptions 
  Allowing partial payments may cause delays in the accuracy and timeliness of an owner's cash flow. A healthy relationship with a tenant means setting clear guidelines and expectations of payment, late fees that might occur and when they would be applied, as well as any return policies, such as those for returned checks.

For more information regarding rent collection, please view our blog "Venmo, Paypal, Zelle, Direct Deposit for Rent Collection".

Other things to keep in mind?

A payment cannot be made on a rent bill unless all previous rent bills for that unit have been paid. And, if a late fee is initiated, it still needs to be paid before the rent payment. Hemlane ensures incoming payments from tenants are directed to the oldest past-due rent bill and late fees therefore removing any attempts by a tenant to indicate the funds are for payment for another bill or time period. 

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