Chasing late payments kindly but firmly

Every association has its regulars. The flat on the third floor that pays two months late every winter and catches up in March. The owner abroad who forgets until the third reminder. The young couple who paid on time for six years and then suddenly stopped. They need different conversations, and a process that treats them all as debtors damages relationships you will need at the next annual meeting.

Arrears are also everyone's money. When three flats owe €1,500 between them, the other 57 are covering the gap, and the board has a duty to act. September is a good time to look: summer holidays leave a trail of missed payments, and you want them cleared before heating costs climb.

Know who has actually paid

The worst reminder is the one sent to someone who paid yesterday. Before any reminder goes out, import the latest bank statement and match payments to invoices. Payments with the wrong reference, two months paid in one transfer, a partner paying from their own account: these are where false reminders come from. Spend ten minutes on the unmatched payments first. One angry email from a resident who paid on time costs more goodwill than ten polite reminders earn back.

A reminder schedule that runs itself

Decide the schedule once, as a board, so nobody has to decide whether to remind a neighbour they know. Ours looks like this, counted from the due date:

1. 1Step 1: Day 3, a friendly nudge. A short message with no fee: “Your September payment of €312 hasn't reached us yet. If you've already paid, thank you, and please ignore this.”
2. 2Step 2: Day 14, a formal reminder. The amount, the original invoice and a new due date ten days later. Add a reminder fee only if it was agreed in advance and is allowed where you are. In Sweden, for example, reminder fees are capped by law at a small amount.
3. 3Step 3: Day 30, personal contact. Someone from the board or office calls or writes personally, asks whether something has changed, and offers a payment plan.
4. 4Step 4: Day 45, a final notice. A clear letter with the full amount, a last date, and what happens next if it isn't paid or a plan agreed.
5. 5Step 5: Day 60 onwards, collection. Hand over to a collection agency or start the formal process your bylaws and national law provide, and tell the board when it happens.

The personal call does most of the work

Most of the money comes back around day 30, not day 60. A call from a neighbour on the board, “Hi, it's Anna from the board, I noticed August is still open, is everything all right?”, gets answers a letter never will. Usually it is mundane: a new bank, a changed salary date, a direct debit that lapsed. Sometimes it is a divorce, a lost job or an illness, and the resident is embarrassed. Hearing it early gives you options. Hearing it at day 90 doesn't.

Keep the call short, kind and specific. Don't raise the debt in the stairwell or in front of others, and don't mention it to other residents. Arrears are personal information and should be handled that way, by as few people as possible.

Payment plans that hold

A payment plan turns an unpaid sum into a schedule. For it to work, the current month's fee must still be paid on time on top of the instalments. The instalments must be realistic for the resident: €100 a month that arrives beats €300 that doesn't. And the plan must be written down with dates and amounts, confirmed by both sides. Agree what happens if an instalment is missed. Usually the plan lapses and the normal schedule resumes. For a resident who is behind because of a temporary problem, three to six months is usually enough. A plan that needs much longer is a sign the fee itself has become unaffordable, which is a different conversation.

Track plans as carefully as invoices. A plan nobody checks quietly turns into a second debt.

When to escalate

Escalation is for people who won't engage, not for people who can't pay this month. If someone has ignored the call, the final notice and the offer of a plan, hand it over. Housing associations generally have strong legal remedies for persistent non-payment, but the formal routes are slow and hard on everyone. Use them knowing the relationship may not recover, and document every earlier step so the association's case is clean. Before handing over, check that the reminders, the call and the offer of a plan actually happened and were recorded with dates. Collection agencies and courts ask for this, and gaps cost time.

Then review the year. If the same flats show up every winter, maybe they need a plan agreed in October rather than reminders in December.

Kelvo Nest matches payments from your bank statement imports, sends reminders in the steps you choose and keeps track of payment plans, so the schedule runs the same way every month. See pricing.