Notice to Tenant of Rent Default: What purpose does it serve?

A landlord/owner can give a ‘Notice to Tenant of Rent Default’ to the tenant in order to demand the default rent. Default is said to occur when the tenant fails to pay the specified rent as per the rental or lease agreement.

Required necessary information

A landlord should include the following information in the notice before sending it to the tenant.

• Name of the tenant

• Date when the notice is signed

• Description of the lease agreement

• The date till which the landlord owes rent

• The amount of rent owed (including the late fees)

• Number of days within which the tenant has to pay the

outstanding rent; the number of days is calculated from the day the tenant receives the notice.

Make sure you give enough time (as mentioned in the lease agreement) to the tenant so that he/she can pay the default amount.

After filling out the above information, the landlord has to sign at the bottom of the form with necessary details (such as, his/her full name and address) as mentioned in the original lease contract.

What purpose does the notice serve?

It is mentioned in the ‘Notice to Tenant of Rent Default’ that the tenant has to pay the default rent within the specified number of days. Otherwise, the landlord/owner has every right to terminate the contract as well as start with the eviction and collection proceedings.

In some states, the landlord can keep the security deposit as the partial payment for the defaulted rent amount. However, a landlord can demand for the entire default amount and also start collection efforts. It is advisable that you take help of an attorney to plan your future actions if you don’t get