First, cover the landlord if you can: a late or short rent payment usually lands on whoever signed the lease. Then talk to your roommate directly, with the facts: the amount, the due date, and when they can pay. If it keeps happening, write down a plan (a new date, a smaller payment now) and look at your lease and local tenant rules. To stop it next month, set a due date before the landlord's and make who has paid visible to the whole house, which is how TableCash works.

This month: protect the rent

Landlords generally want one full payment. If the lease is in your name, or you all signed one lease together, the landlord can often hold any tenant responsible for the whole rent, not just their room. So if you can cover the gap, it's usually cheaper than a late fee or a mark on your rental history. Write down what you covered and when.

Talk about it with the facts

• Be specific. "Your $750 for October was due on the 25th" is easier to answer than "you're always late."
• Ask for a date. When can they pay, and can they pay part of it now?
• Put it in writing. A text that says the amount and the new date is a record you both agreed to.

If it keeps happening

Look at your lease and any roommate agreement you signed. If the roommate isn't on the lease, your options differ from when they are. Local tenant rules decide what you can do next; a local tenant's rights group or legal aid office can tell you where you stand. Small claims court is how many people recover money a roommate agreed to pay. This is general information, not legal advice.

Next month: make it hard to forget

1. Set the house's due date around the 20th if the landlord wants rent on the 1st, so a late payment isn't a crisis.
2. Make it visible. In TableCash the whole house sees how much has come in and how many have paid, so nobody has to ask in the group chat.
3. Let the app send the reminders: 3 days and 1 day before the due date, to anyone who hasn't paid.
4. Make paying easy: card from a link, or tap that they paid on Venmo or Zelle.

If you're still setting up the house, write the late-rent rule into the roommate agreement before anyone moves in.