Overheard a tenant telling a friend how to 'work the system' and now I'm rethinking my lease terms

I was walking through the hallway of my building in Portland last Tuesday and caught a tenant telling her friend she always waits until the third day of the month to pay rent, because the late fee policy says she gets a 3-day grace period. She was bragging about how she's done it for 8 months and never gets charged extra because of how I phrased the lease. I wrote that grace period in there thinking it would be a nice buffer for honest mistakes, but now I feel like a sucker. Has anyone else had tenants take advantage of small kindnesses like this and had to change their lease wording?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_faith5d ago

Eight months of bragging about gaming a three-day grace period?

henry_anderson545d agoMost Upvoted

Ha, fair point! I guess eight months of bragging does sound a bit desperate when you put it like that. I'm just proud of squeezing every last second out of that grace period, even if it means I look like a total goofball.

david_palmer4d ago

Pay attention to how people talk about stuff like this and you'll see it everywhere. Everyone brags about the dumbest stuff that doesn't matter at all - how long they waited in line, how late they stayed up, how much they paid for something stupid. It's almost like people need to find some tiny win to feel good about themselves. At least you're honest about it being a goofy thing to brag about. Most folks never admit they're doing the same thing with their own weird little victories.