---
title: "How to send a rent reminder"
description: "Send one rent reminder before the due date and a follow-up if the balance is still open after the grace period. Use the same dates for every lease."
url: https://tivio.io/blog/how-to-send-a-rent-reminder
author: "Tivio Team"
publisher: Tivio (https://tivio.io)
published: 2026-10-26
updated: 2026-10-26
topic: "Rent & payments"
---

# How to send a rent reminder

> Send a written rent reminder to every current lease about five days before the due date, then a follow-up only when the ledger is still open after the grace period. State the unit, the open amount, the due date, and how to pay. Use the same dates for every property. In Texas, a late fee waits until any unpaid rent is two full days past due, and only if the fee is in the lease. Other places differ. Check local law. This is not legal advice.

## Key takeaways

- Send a before-due reminder to every current lease on the same calendar date.
- After the grace period, write only to ledgers that are still open and quote that open balance.
- Post a late fee only when the lease allows it and the statute for that unit allows it.
- File the date, the channel, and the amount you quoted on the ledger the same day.

A rent reminder is a short written note that states the amount still open, the due date, and how the tenant should pay. Send one before the due date to every current lease, then send a follow-up only when the ledger is still open after the grace period. Use the same dates for every property. A reminder is a collection habit. A statute that lets you end a tenancy uses its own form.

![A red Canada Post mailbox on a Montreal sidewalk.](https://tivio.io/blog/media/2026/10/a-red-canada-post-mailbox-on-a-montreal-sidewalk-dts7qh.webp)

## What should a rent reminder say?

Name the property, the unit, the tenants on the lease, the period, and the amount still open. Pull the amount from the ledger the morning you send the note. If October rent is $1,450 and nothing older is open, the reminder says $1,450. If $200 from September is still open, the reminder says $1,650 and names both charges. A round guess creates a second email.

Say how to pay in the method the lease already allows, such as a check payable to the trust account or a bank transfer to the account on the welcome letter. Record the payment when the money arrives. The reminder also names the grace period end date and states that a late fee posts only when the lease allows it and local law allows it.

Leave eviction language out of a courtesy note. When a statute requires a pay-or-quit notice or a tribunal form, send that document on its own, in the way that statute describes. Staff should be able to tell the two papers apart in the file.

## When should you send a rent reminder?

Pick three dates and write them on the office calendar so nobody invents a fourth on a busy Monday.

Send the first note five days before rent is due, to every current lease. For rent due on the 1st, that is the 26th of the prior month, or the next business day if the 26th falls on a weekend. The note states what will be due and when. It goes to tenants who usually pay on time, because a private list of "people who forget" is how the practice drifts.

Send the second note on the morning of the due date, and only for ledgers that are still open. Lead with the amount and the date. Skip any lease that is already paid in full.

Send the third note on the morning after the grace period ends, before you post a late fee. Read the lease first. If the lease gives five grace days, you wait five days even when a statute would have allowed a fee sooner. Then read the statute for that unit. In Texas, [Property Code section 92.019](https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/PR/htm/PR.92.htm) says a landlord may not collect a late fee unless the fee is in a written lease, the fee is reasonable, and any portion of the rent has remained unpaid for two full days after the original due date. If rent is due on the 1st, the 2nd and the 3rd are those two full days, so the 4th is the first day that statute allows the fee. The Texas section also treats a fee as reasonable in many cases when it stays within 12 percent of the rent for a dwelling in a building of four or fewer units, or 10 percent when the building has more than four units. Other states and provinces use different clocks and different caps. Check the law where the unit sits. This is general practice, and it is not legal advice.

The grace period and the fee amount belong in the lease before you send the third note. The steps for choosing those numbers are in [How to set a late fee and a grace period](https://tivio.io/blog/how-to-set-a-late-fee-and-a-grace-period).

## How do you keep every lease on the same schedule?

The federal Fair Housing Act prohibits different terms and conditions in a rental because of race, color, religion, sex, disability, familial status, or national origin. HUD publishes an overview of that statute at the [Fair Housing Act overview](https://www.hud.gov/program_offices/fair_housing_equal_opp/fair_housing_act_overview). A reminder schedule is part of how you enforce the rent clause. Run the same three dates for every lease you manage.

Work from the open-balance list, not from memory. If Unit 2 and Unit 5 are both short, both get the past-due note the same morning. If you grant a short extension, write the reason on the ledger, and use a reason you would offer any tenant in the same position, such as a check the bank has not cleared yet. Cities and provinces add their own protected classes and their own notice forms. Your reminder email does not stand in for those forms.

## What does a reminder month look like in dollars?

Here is October 2026 at 14 Maple Street, three leases you manage for one owner. Rent is due on the 1st. The written grace period runs through the 3rd. A $50 late fee posts on the 4th only when some rent is still open, the fee is in the lease, and local law allows it. Fifty dollars is about 3 percent of these rents.

| Unit | Tenant | October rent | Paid before Oct 4 | Open on Oct 4 | Late fee if allowed |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | Jordan Lee | $1,450 | $0 | $1,450 | $50 |
| 2 | Sam Ortiz | $1,600 | $1,000 on Oct 2 | $600 | $50 |
| 3 | Priya Nair | $1,375 | $1,375 on Sep 28 | $0 | $0 |

On September 26, all three leases receive the before-due note. Jordan's note says October rent of $1,450 is due October 1. Sam's note says $1,600. Priya's note says $1,375. The wording is the same. Only the amount changes.

On the morning of October 1, Priya's ledger is at zero, so Priya gets nothing further. Jordan and Sam are unpaid, so each gets a due-date note for the full October rent. On October 2, Sam pays $1,000. You apply it to October rent and the open balance becomes $600. You do not send a new reminder that afternoon unless your calendar says so.

On the morning of October 4, Jordan's note says $1,450 of October rent is still open. Sam's note says $600 is still open, and it does not say the month was paid. If the lease and local law allow the fee, you post $50 on Jordan's ledger and $50 on Sam's ledger after the note goes out. Priya's ledger stays at zero, with no fee. Before fees, the building is short $2,050. After the two fees, it is short $2,150.

Write the send on each ledger the same day: date, channel, and the balance you quoted. [How to keep a rent ledger](https://tivio.io/blog/how-to-keep-a-rent-ledger) covers the line you want when the money later arrives. The reminder and the ledger have to tell the same story.

## Which channel should you use?

Use the channel named in the lease or in your written house rule, and use it for every lease. Email fits a portfolio of 10 to 300 units because you keep a copy with a timestamp. A text message can follow the email when the tenant has agreed to texts, and when you text every open balance rather than a private short list. Mail the note when email bounces, or when the lease requires mail for notices about money.

A courtesy email follows your house rule. A notice required by statute follows that statute's delivery rules. Read the delivery section before you rely on an email to do a legal job. If you are unsure which document you are sending, send the courtesy reminder only, and ask a local attorney before you send anything that says the tenancy will end.

## What do you record after you send it?

Record the date, the channel, the balance you quoted, and the staff initials. If the tenant replies that a check is in the mail, note the reply and wait for the deposit into the trust account. A reply is not a payment. The rent is paid when the money is in the trust account and applied on the ledger.

[Tivio](https://tivio.io/) is property management software for independent property managers. It posts the monthly rent charge on its own and can add the late fee after the grace period you set. You still write and send the reminder. The amount in the reminder should be the open balance on that same ledger.

Before the notes go out, match the reminder list to the who-owes report. If Sam's reminder says $600 and the report says $1,600, stop and fix the ledger. Owners see balances again on the monthly statement. A reminder that disagrees with the statement is the call you will take on Friday.

## What if only part of the rent arrived?

Quote the remaining balance. Sam's October 4 note says $600 of October rent is still open. If the $50 late fee has posted, list it on its own line and give the new total of $650. Say what the $1,000 paid, and say what it left. Apply the money to the oldest open charges first, then receipt it. The past-due note after that payment uses the new balance, so the tenant can pay the rest without guessing.

Keep a simple weekly pass. Monday, export the open balances, send the notes that the calendar calls for, and file the copy. Friday, check that every note you sent still matches the ledger, because a payment may have arrived on Wednesday. That pass is the whole system. The wording can stay short.

The closing line for the owner, if they ask why you emailed a tenant who "usually pays," is the same three dates. Everyone received the before-due note. Only open ledgers received the rest. You can show the copy.

Use [Tivio](https://tivio.io/) to keep the charge, the grace period, and the late fee on one ledger, then send the reminder from the balance that ledger shows.

## Frequently asked questions

### Is a rent reminder the same as a pay-or-quit notice?

A reminder states the amount and the due date on your schedule. A pay-or-quit notice or a tribunal form is a statutory document with its own wording and delivery rules. Use the statutory form only when you mean to, and follow that statute.

### Should I remind tenants who always pay on time?

Send the before-due note to every current lease, including tenants who usually pay early. Send the past-due note only when that ledger is still open. One schedule for every lease keeps the practice even.

### Can I charge a late fee the day after rent is due?

Only when the lease says so and local law allows it. In Texas, Property Code section 92.019 requires two full days of unpaid rent, and the fee has to be in the written lease. A longer grace period in the lease controls.

### What amount goes in the reminder after a partial payment?

Quote the balance still open, not the original charge. If a tenant paid $1,000 of $1,600, the next note says $600 is open. List a late fee on its own line only after you have posted it.

## Sources

- [Texas Property Code section 92.019, Late Payment of Rent; Fees](https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/PR/htm/PR.92.htm), Texas Legislature
- [Fair Housing Act overview](https://www.hud.gov/program_offices/fair_housing_equal_opp/fair_housing_act_overview), U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development