Can You Require Your Tenant to Pay Rent in a Specific Form?

Yes, in most cases a lease can name the payment methods you accept, such as personal check, money order, cashier's check, or an online portal, and you can refuse cash unless state law says otherwise. Some states limit this. California requires you to accept at least one method that is neither cash nor electronic transfer, and it bans fees for paying by check. Washington bars a lease that requires electronic payment only, and Rhode Island bars convenience fees unless you also accept a fee-free method.

Put the accepted methods, the payee, and the address or portal in the lease itself. For the other terms a lease should state, see what terms to include in a lease.

Which payment rules can a lease set?

No federal law requires a private business to accept cash. The Federal Reserve says businesses can set their own cash policies unless a state law says otherwise. That leaves the question to state law, and a lease clause that breaks it is unenforceable.

These state rules change what your lease can say:

California's lease must also state the form of payment and either the usual days and hours for paying in person or the details for paying by bank deposit or electronic transfer.

When can you require cash?

California lets you require cash after a tenant's check bounces for insufficient funds or the tenant stops payment on it. To switch to cash:

1. Give the tenant written notice that the check was dishonored and that rent must be paid in cash for a stated period.
2. Keep that period to 3 months or less after the bounced check or stop-payment.
3. Attach a copy of the dishonored check to the notice.
4. If the change alters the lease terms, give the advance notice that a change in terms requires.

The same rule applies to a security deposit paid by a check that bounces.

In California, you can charge a returned-check fee if the lease authorizes it and the amount is reasonable, such as your bank's charge plus your costs. Instead of that fee, Civil Code section 1719 allows a service charge of up to $25 for the first insufficient-funds check and $35 for each subsequent check, without requiring advance disclosure.

Do you have to give a receipt for cash?

Yes, in several states, and it protects you in a payment dispute everywhere.

• New York: You must give a written receipt for rent paid in cash, by money order, or any way other than the tenant's personal check. It must show the date, amount, unit, rental period covered, and the signature and title of the person who received it. Give it immediately for in-person payment, or within 15 days for mailed payments. Keep records of cash receipts for 3 years. A tenant who pays by personal check can ask in writing for receipts too.
• Washington: You must give a receipt for any cash payment you accept, and for other forms of payment when the tenant asks.
• California: A tenant is entitled to a written receipt whenever they pay rent, according to the California Department of Real Estate.

New York also requires you to send a written notice by certified mail if rent is not received within 5 days of the due date. A tenant can use your failure to send it as a defense in a nonpayment case.

Do you have to accept rent from someone else?

In California, yes, if the third party (a relative, employer, or charity paying for the tenant) signs a written acknowledgment that they are not a tenant and that paying does not create a new tenancy. Key points:

• You may give the payer your own form, but you must accept a form that substantially matches the one in the statute.
• You may require an acknowledgment with each payment, or agree that one covers several payments over a set period.
• If the payer refuses to sign, you do not have to accept the payment.
• The third-party-payment rule itself does not require you to join Section 8 or another housing assistance program. But California's separate protections against discrimination based on how tenants pay rent prohibit covered landlords from rejecting tenants because they use vouchers or refusing to complete required assistance-program paperwork.
• It does not extend the rent due date or require you to accept rent after a three-day notice period has run.

Can you refuse a partial payment?

Usually, yes. A lease can state that you do not accept partial rent. What happens if you take one depends on the state:

• California: You may refuse a partial payment, or accept it and still serve a three-day notice to pay or quit, according to the California Department of Real Estate. If you agree to let the tenant pay the rest later, put it in writing: the amount paid, the date the balance is due, any late fee, and your agreement not to start an eviction if the tenant pays by that date.
• Florida: Accepting partial rent does not waive your right to end the lease. But if you accept partial rent after posting a 3-day notice, you must choose one of three options: give the tenant a receipt showing the date and amount received and the agreed date and balance due before filing for eviction; deposit the partial payment with the court when you file; or post a new 3-day notice for the new amount due. If you use a new notice, wait for its 3-day period, excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and court-observed holidays, to expire before filing.

For the next steps when rent comes in short or late, see how to handle late or partial payments and how to collect late fees. For lease basics, see what a lease agreement is.