Managing delinquencies and rent aging

Unpaid rent is the single biggest threat to a property’s cash flow, and the longer a balance goes uncollected the harder it is to recover. TenantLedger gives you two tools to stay ahead of it: the Delinquencies tile and Delinquency Rent History panel on your Dashboard, and the A/R Aging Report. This guide shows you how to read aging buckets, when to act, and a simple escalation routine that keeps small balances from turning into write-offs.

Why aging matters: the cost of waiting

A balance that is one day past due is almost always collectible. A balance that is 90+ days past due often is not — the tenant may have moved out, stopped responding, or simply decided the debt is negotiable. The whole point of tracking aging (how old each unpaid balance is) instead of just who owes is to catch problems while they are still fixable.

The rule of thumb: the older a balance gets, the lower your odds of collecting it. Your job is to keep balances moving out of the older buckets, not just to know they exist.

Understand the aging buckets

TenantLedger groups every unpaid balance by how many days past due it is. You’ll see slightly different labels depending on where you look, but they mean the same thing.

What it means	Dashboard label	A/R Aging Report column
Not yet due	Coming Due	(not shown — only past-due amounts age)
30 days past due or less	1-30 Days	Current
31-60 days past due	31-60 Days	Over 30
61-90 days past due	61-90 Days	Over 60
91-120 days past due	Over 90 Days	Over 90
More than 120 days past due	Over 90 Days	Over 120

Buckets are calculated from each charge’s due date compared to the date you’re looking at (today on the Dashboard, or your chosen As of Date on the report). A tenant can appear in more than one bucket at once — for example, last month’s rent in the 31-60 column and this month’s in the 1-30 column.

Read the buckets right to left. The oldest columns (Over 90, Over 120) are where money is most likely to be lost, so those tenants get your attention first, even if a newer balance is larger in dollars.

Watch the Dashboard every day

The Dashboard is your early-warning system. Make a habit of glancing at it at the start of each day or week.

The Delinquencies tile shows the number of tenants with an unpaid balance. If that count jumps, something changed — investigate before it grows.
The Delinquency Rent History panel breaks the overdue total into the same aging buckets, with a running total. Watch for dollars shifting from newer buckets into older ones over time; that drift is your signal to escalate.
Use the Owner and Property dropdowns to focus on one property or owner when you’re reviewing a specific portfolio.

Every line on the Dashboard is a live link, so you can click straight through to the underlying list and take action.

See Understanding your Dashboard for a full tour.

Run the A/R Aging Report for the full picture

When you’re ready to actually work your collections list, run the A/R Aging Report (Reports > Leases & Tenants > A/R Aging Report). It gives you what the Dashboard can’t: one row per tenant, the balance split across every aging column, and each tenant’s last payment amount and date.

That last-payment detail is gold. It tells you the difference between:

A tenant who is partially behind but still paying (a payment landed recently) — usually a reminder is enough.
A tenant who has stopped paying entirely (no payment in months) — this needs a firmer, faster escalation.

Tips for getting the most from the report:

Set the As of Date to today for a current snapshot, or to a past date to see what aging looked like back then.
Leave Lease Status on Active for normal collections. Switch it to All or Terminated when you’re chasing money owed on leases that have already ended.
Use Download PDF to save a dated, printable copy to file, email to an owner, or attach to a notice.

Full walkthrough: Run the Delinquency / outstanding rent report.

Act early — the 30-day rule

The most important best practice in collections is also the simplest: don’t wait. A friendly reminder on day 5 collects far more rent than a stern letter on day 60.

Set a personal trigger: any balance still unpaid at 30 days past due gets active follow-up, not just a note to “keep an eye on it.” By the time a balance reaches the 31-60 bucket, it has already survived your first reminder cycle, and the tenant has signaled — intentionally or not — that they need pressure to pay.

A simple escalation cadence

Pick a cadence and apply it consistently to every tenant. Consistency matters more than the exact days — tenants who learn that late rent always triggers the same predictable steps tend to prioritize paying you. Adjust the specifics to your lease terms and local rules.

Days past due	Bucket	Action
1-5	Coming Due / Current	Friendly reminder (email, text, or call). Many late payments are simple oversights.
6-15	1-30	Second reminder noting any late fee that now applies per the lease.
16-30	1-30	Direct contact — call or in-person. Confirm the tenant’s intent and offer a payment plan if appropriate.
31-60	Over 30	Formal written notice. Escalate per your lease and local law. Stop the slide before it ages further.
61-90	Over 60	Final notice / begin formal proceedings as allowed in your area.
90+	Over 90 / Over 120	Pursue collection, legal action, or write-off — but only after exhausting earlier steps.

A few practices that make the cadence work:

Record every payment the day it arrives. Aging is only accurate if balances are current. A payment you haven’t entered yet makes a tenant look more delinquent than they are — and may send a reminder to someone who already paid. See Receive a rent payment.
Apply late fees consistently if your lease provides for them. Selective enforcement is hard to defend and trains tenants that fees are negotiable.
Document your contact. Use the payment Memo field, notes, or your own log so you can show a clear history if a balance ends up in dispute or court.
Offer payment plans before the balance ages out of reach. A partial payment that keeps a tenant in the 1-30 bucket is far better than a full balance drifting to 90+. See Handle a partial payment.

A weekly collections routine

A short, repeatable routine beats sporadic heroics. Once a week:

Open the Dashboard. Note the Delinquencies count and scan the Delinquency Rent History buckets for anything that moved into an older column since last week.
Run the A/R Aging Report for All properties, As of Date = today.
Work the report oldest bucket first (Over 120, then Over 90, and so on). Match each tenant to the right step in your escalation cadence.
Check the last payment date for each delinquent tenant to tell “behind but paying” apart from “stopped paying.”
Send reminders, make calls, or issue notices as the cadence dictates — and record what you did.
As payments come in, enter them immediately so next week’s aging starts clean.

Common mistakes to avoid

Don’t wait for balances to “sort themselves out.” They rarely do. Act at 30 days, every time.
Don’t sort by dollar amount alone. A small, very old balance is often a bigger red flag than a large, brand-new one. Work the oldest buckets first.
Don’t let unrecorded payments distort your aging. Enter every payment promptly so the Dashboard and report reflect reality.
Don’t treat the Dashboard count as your whole picture. The tile tells you how many tenants owe; only the A/R Aging Report tells you how old and how much — which is what drives action.
Don’t apply your cadence selectively. Inconsistent follow-up (and inconsistent late fees) undermines every future collection.
Don’t confuse a security deposit with rent owed. Deposits are held as a liability on the tenant’s behalf, not income, and shouldn’t be quietly applied to a past-due balance without following your lease terms and local rules.
Don’t forget terminated leases. Money owed after a tenant moves out still counts — switch the report’s Lease Status to All so it doesn’t disappear from view.