Rent is due on the 1st. By the 6th you are leaving voicemails nobody returns and taping notices to doors for tenants who simply forgot. A lot of late rent comes from tenants whose autopay card expired or who lost track of the date, and a text three days early catches most of them for the price of one message.
Below is a month a small property management office can run by text, covering rent, maintenance windows, the after-hours line and renewals. Each template says what triggers it, how long to wait, and what to do when nobody replies.
The month on one page
Adjust the days to your lease's due date and grace period.
| When | Message | Who owns replies |
|---|---|---|
| 3 days before due | Rent reminder with amount and pay link | Office |
| Due date, 9am | Short "due today" nudge, only to unpaid | Office |
| Day after grace ends | Late notice heads-up, before any paper | Property manager |
| 2 days before entry | Maintenance window notice | Maintenance coordinator |
| Day before entry | Window confirmation, reply to reschedule | Maintenance coordinator |
| 90, 60, 30 days before lease end | Renewal ladder | Leasing |
Two rules sit behind the table: nobody who has paid gets a second rent message, and a text never stands in for a notice the law says must be on paper.
The rent-due sequence
Message 1: the early reminder
Trigger: 3 days before the due date. Send between 10am and 6pm in the tenant's time zone, never before 8am.
Hi Maria, this is Dan at Oakridge Property. Rent for 14B ($1,450) is due Saturday the 1st. Pay here: [portal link]. Reply PAID if it's already sent, or reply if you need to talk about timing. Text STOP to opt out.
The amount and unit number let a tenant act on it from the lock screen. "Reply PAID" gives them a reason to answer, and those answers tell you who to drop from the next step.
On no reply: do nothing. Most people pay without answering.
Message 2: due-today nudge
Trigger: 9am on the due date, sent only to tenants whose payment hasn't posted.
Morning Maria, quick reminder that rent for 14B is due today. Portal: [link]. If you've already paid, thanks, and ignore this.
Some of these tenants paid last night and it hasn't cleared, so the "ignore this" line saves you irritated replies.
On no reply: wait until the morning after your grace period ends.
Message 3: the grace-period heads-up
Trigger: the morning after the grace period ends, still unpaid, no payment arrangement on file.
Hi Maria, this is Dan at Oakridge. We haven't received rent for 14B yet and the grace period ended yesterday, so a late fee applies under your lease. If something's going on, reply here or call me at 555-0142 today and we can talk options before anything formal goes out.
The tenants who answer this one are usually the ones you can work with: a paycheck date, or part now and the rest Friday. Silence is your cue to start your normal written notice process, served the way your state requires.
On no reply: the property manager calls the same day.
Handling the replies
Replies around the 1st fall into a few buckets. Build a quick reply for each so whoever is on the desk answers the same way. In Android Texter, quick replies are slash shortcuts that expand to the full text in the composer, and the dashboard tracks how often each one gets used.
/paid: "Thanks Maria, we'll confirm once it posts. Have a good weekend."/portal: "Here's the payment link again: [link]. Reply if it gives you any trouble."/plan: "Thanks for letting me know. Can you do part today and the rest by a specific date? Reply with what works and I'll put it in writing."/receipt: "Got it. Your receipt is in the portal under Payments. Reply if you don't see it by tomorrow."/callme: "Easier to sort out by phone. I'm in the office until 5, call 555-0142."
One person owns rent replies from the 28th to the 6th, so a tenant never hears two answers about a late fee. Anything agreed in a text ("rest by Friday") goes into your property management software that day.
Android Texter suppresses STOP, UNSUBSCRIBE, CANCEL, END and QUIT automatically. If a tenant writes "please stop texting me" in their own words, a person removes them.
Maintenance windows and the after-hours line
Message 4: entry window notice
Trigger: 2 days before a scheduled entry, after the written notice has gone out.
Hi Maria, a reminder that our plumber is scheduled to enter 14B on Thursday between 9am and 12pm to replace the kitchen faucet, as in the notice we left. Reply OK to confirm or RESCHEDULE if that window doesn't work.
Message 5: day-before confirmation
Trigger: the day before entry, only if there was no reply to message 4.
Hi Maria, confirming the plumber at 14B tomorrow 9am to 12pm.
On RESCHEDULE: the coordinator replies the same business day with two alternative windows, which settles it faster than asking "when works?"
The after-hours auto-reply
Set a business-hours auto-reply rule so a tenant texting at 11pm knows where they stand:
Thanks, our office is closed until 8am. If this is an emergency (active water leak, no heat, gas smell, lockout), call our on-call line at 555-0199 now. For gas, leave the unit and call your gas company first.
Then add an SMS forwarding rule that sends messages containing "leak," "flood," "no heat" or "gas" to the on-call technician's phone. Android Texter's forwarding rules route inbound messages to another number or a Telegram channel by match pattern. The auto-reply still points to the phone line, because an emergency shouldn't depend on keyword matching.
The lease renewal ladder
Message 6: 90 days out
Hi Maria, your lease at 14B ends March 31. Are you planning to stay? Reply YES, NO or NOT SURE. No commitment yet, it just helps us plan.
Message 7: 60 days out (after the formal renewal offer has been delivered)
Hi Maria, your renewal offer for 14B went out in writing on Monday. Happy to answer questions about it here. Reply SIGN and I'll send the e-sign link.
Message 8: 30 days out, no decision
Hi Maria, checking in on 14B. Your lease ends in 30 days and we need to know by the 15th whether to list the unit. Reply or call 555-0142 and we'll sort it out.
A NOT SURE at 90 days is your best lead, so call that tenant. A NO at 90 days gives you three months to market the unit instead of three weeks.
Running it from one office
The practical setup for a small office is two paired Android phones: one for the office line (rent and leasing) and one for maintenance. Android Texter's multi-device pairing puts both numbers in one dashboard inbox, and you choose which phone each send goes from.
Messages 1 and 2 shouldn't depend on someone remembering. Queue them with the composer's scheduled-send picker, or through the REST API's scheduled_at field if someone on your team can script it from an export of unpaid tenants. Spread the sends out rather than firing hundreds of identical texts from one handset in a minute, which looks like spam to carrier filters.
To be honest about fit: many property management platforms already include tenant texting. If yours works at your volume and the cost doesn't bother you, keep it. Android Texter makes sense when you'd rather text from a number tenants recognize, on a phone you own, without brand registration and campaign fees for what is essentially a reminder service.
Where the text stops and the paper notice starts
This is the one section about rules, and it's here because it changes what you send.
Treat the text as a heads-up and serve legal notices separately. Statutory notices usually have their own delivery rules, and text messages often aren't among the permitted methods. In California, for example, a three-day notice to pay rent or quit must be served by the methods in Code of Civil Procedure 1162 (personal delivery, substitute service, or posting and mailing). Entry notice under Civil Code 1954 must be in writing and delivered in person, left at the door, or mailed. Rent increase notice under Civil Code 827 has its own delivery rules and notice periods of 30 or 90 days. That's why messages 4 and 7 refer to a notice already delivered. Check your state's rules with your attorney.
Get texting consent in the lease or application. A clause where the tenant gives a mobile number and agrees to texts about rent, maintenance and their tenancy is the cleanest record. Anything promotional, like a referral bonus, needs prior express written consent if it's sent with automated tools. Using your own phone doesn't change any of this: the TCPA applies to these messages exactly as it would through any other provider. We covered when an existing relationship does and doesn't count in Does an Established Business Relationship Cover Texts?
Honor opt-outs fast, however they arrive. FCC rules require revocation made by any reasonable method to be honored within ten business days. That includes a tenant telling your leasing agent in person. Our guide to TCPA opt-out rules explains what counts.
Late-rent texts can be debt collection under state law. The federal FDCPA generally excludes creditors collecting their own debts in their own name, but some states go further. California's Rosenthal Act defines a debt collector to include anyone regularly collecting "on behalf of that person or others." Keep message 3 factual, free of threats, and in business hours.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many days before rent is due should I send a reminder text?
Three days before the due date works for most buildings: close enough that the tenant acts, early enough to move money if payday falls badly. Follow up on the due date only with tenants whose payment hasn't posted, then send nothing until the grace period ends. More than that reads as pressure and pushes people to opt out.
Can I send a late rent notice by text message?
You can send a heads-up by text, and it often gets a tenant to pay or call. In many states, though, the statutory notice that starts an eviction has to be served by specific methods such as personal delivery or posting and mailing, and text is often not among them. Treat the text as a courtesy and serve the real notice the way your state requires.
Do I need tenant consent to send rent reminder texts?
Yes, get it in writing. Add a clause to the lease or application where the tenant gives a mobile number and agrees to receive texts about rent, maintenance and their tenancy. Promotional messages need stronger, written consent when automated tools send them. Honor every opt-out, whether it arrives as STOP or in plain words, within ten business days at the latest.
Should rent and maintenance texts come from the same number?
For anything past a handful of units, separate them. One number for the office and one for maintenance keeps urgent repair messages from getting lost among rent replies around the 1st, and tenants learn which number to use. With multi-device pairing, both lines still land in one shared inbox.
Run your rent week from a phone you own
Android Texter turns your office's Android phone into a two-way texting line with a shared web inbox, quick replies, scheduled sends and forwarding to whoever is on call, all without 10DLC registration. Pair a phone, load the templates above, and send this month's reminders three days early.