Problems as a Landlord and How to Deal with Non Payment Tenants

I encountered the worst thing as a landlord these days that my tenant didn't pay the rent after it was due.

I have been a landlord for quite a long time. It has been breezy to me all the time that all my tenants are polite, nice and never fail to pay their rental. This is the first time such thing happened. I guess later or soon I need to face this kind of unpleasant situation if you choose to be a landlord.

I think it is time to equip myself with strategies to deal with such things and also the legal knowledge of Singapore Land Laws regarding remedies for landlord of non payment tenants. I spend most of my time to find related information these days.

Same as many people claim, I do feel that Singapore Law is rather landlord friendly comparing the laws in other countries. The following is what I found these days. If you are landlord, hope you will find them useful and will not be panic when you are unlucky to have similar situation.

1. Late Payment. The following articles NON-PAYMENT OF RENT explains how to be alert to the non-payment tenants and how to deal with it when you notice the late payment. Although it is written by people from UK, but it is applicable to everyone in the world. I believe that in any case, it is important to understand the tenants situation, maintain an amicable relationship and try to seek win-win solutions. In most cases, the problem will be solved in the first stage. The tenant may voluntarily move out or make a payment plan with you and show sincerity to carry it out.
2. Legal Action. If nothing can be achieved in the first stage, you may pursue legal action to solve the problem. According to your objective you may take the corresponding action.
1. Re-Possession of Land. This is the action you may take if the tenants are still in your property and you need to recover your rental arrears and take back your property.
2. Sue the Tenants. This action applies to the situation that tenants no longer stay in your property, but they own you rentals or damage your property. It can also be applied if you do not plan to take your property back and just want to recover the rental arrears.
3. Distress Act. This is the action  you may take at the same time with [1] or [2] (provided the tenants have assets in your property) to the demised premises to impound goods up to the value of the rents owed, so as to compel the tenant to pay up and recover your rental.
4. For how these actions can be carried out, the detailed procedures and general civil law and procedures, please refer to the following documents   
• Civial Procedure
• How can landlord reclaim house when tenant fails to pay rent?
• Remedies for A Landlord, 
• Landlord-Tenant : Remedies for Non-Payment of Rent,
5. If you like to read original legal documents and get more prices informaiton, you can read, Conveyancing and Law of Property Act (Chapter 61).

I do believe that in most of the cases, tenants have really encountered some genuine difficulties. There will be a better way to solve the problem instead of legal actions. The landlord may suffer a bit loss, but it is worthwhile if it can avoid the legal procedures which may bring even bigger damage to the tenants during their difficult time.

But to those who have ability to pay and just want to get free lunch, the Singapore Law is not something they can get away with.