When you lease a property to a tenant, you will usually have the tenant sign a lease in which you agree not only to how much the tenant will be paying you for the property but how the payments will be made. While some landlords demand cash or check, you can also request that a tenant pay a different way, such as by depositing money in a bank account.
Payments
Depositing Rent
Change in Lease
While you can ask a tenant to deposit the money into a bank account, the lease must say that this payment method is the only acceptable one if that's what you want the tenant to do. You can request in the middle of a lease that a tenant change the way he has been paying you, but legally the tenant does not have to comply and you cannot enforce the requested change in court.
Considerations
Providing a tenant access to a bank account is extremely unusual. This is because if a landlord opens an account for a tenant and gives him access to it, he may be financially liable if the tenant overcharges the account. In addition to taking cash or check payments, you may wish to request the tenant make a direct deposit to your account each month, in which case, the money is automatically transferred.
References
- "Real Estate Law"; James Karp; 2003
- Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University. "America's Rental Housing 2020," Page 9. Accessed March 20, 2020.
- Nolo. "State Laws on Landlord's Access to Rental Property." Accessed March 20, 2020.
- Nolo. "How Evictions Work: Rules for Landlords and Property Managers." Accessed March 20, 2020.
- U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. "Housing Discrimination Under the Fair Housing Act." Accessed March 20, 2020.
Writer Bio
Michael Wolfe has been writing and editing since 2005, with a background including both business and creative writing. He has worked as a reporter for a community newspaper in New York City and a federal policy newsletter in Washington, D.C. Wolfe holds a B.A. in art history and is a resident of Brooklyn, N.Y.