Rent Collection Services for Tacoma and Pierce County Owners
Rent gets collected online, late rent gets handled the same way every month, and your money reaches your bank by ACH with a statement attached. Rent collection is included in our management fee.
How your tenants pay
Residents pay online through their AppFolio resident portal. They can set up autopay, see their balance, and get a receipt without calling anyone. Autopay is the single biggest reason rent arrives on time, so we push every new resident to set it up during move-in rather than after the first late month.
Payments post to your ledger as they clear. You do not chase anybody, you do not handle a check, and you are never the person a resident argues with about a payment date.
What happens when rent is late
We work the same process every month, in the same order, for every resident. That consistency is what keeps a late month from turning into a lost quarter.
Day one after the due date, the resident gets a reminder through the portal and by phone. We find out what is happening. Most late rent in this market is a timing problem, not a payment problem, and a two day fix is much cheaper for you than a legal process.
If the balance is not resolved, we move to formal notice. Washington requires a 14 day pay or vacate notice before a nonpayment case can proceed, under RCW 59.12.030. Nonpayment is also one of the just cause grounds under RCW 59.18.650, which sets 14 days for nonpayment, 10 days for a lease violation and 3 days for waste or nuisance. Notices must be served correctly to be worth anything. As of June 11, 2026, HB 2664 changed one detail of that: when a notice is served by substitute service, the mailed copy now goes by regular mail rather than certified mail.
If it goes further than that, eviction assistance is included in the Gold Package at no extra fee, and it applies inside Tacoma city limits. Read more about eviction protection and the Washington eviction process.
The Tacoma late fee problem, and how we handle it
This is the section that will save some owners real money, and it is a rule almost no property management site in this market explains.
Tacoma has two rental codes that both cover late fees, and they do not agree.
TMC 1.95.065 allows a late fee of up to 1.5 percent of the unpaid monthly rent. The old flat $75 cap was removed on January 1, 2026 by Ordinance 29086. This code is enforced by the City.
TMC 1.100, the Landlord Fairness Code Initiative passed by voters in November 2023, caps late fees at $10 per month. This code is enforced only through private lawsuits by tenants and organizations.
At the Tacoma median rent of $1,677, 1.5 percent is about $25. A landlord who charges $25 is following TMC 1.95 and is still exposed under TMC 1.100, because complying with one code does not defend you against the other. Penalties under TMC 1.100.080(2) start at $500 and run up to five times the monthly rent per violation, plus injunctive relief.
So the practical rule inside Tacoma city limits is simple: do not charge more than $10 per month in late fees. A $15 difference is not worth a claim that starts at $500. We follow the safest reading of the two codes.
Late fees are not how a rental makes money anyway. On-time rent is. Read more about Tacoma’s rental housing codes.
How and when you get paid
Once rent clears and any approved invoices are paid, your funds go out by ACH direct deposit straight to your bank account. There is no fee for ACH payment and no fee for your monthly statement. Both are included.
Your monthly owner statement shows rent collected, management and leasing fees, every maintenance invoice with the vendor named, and your net disbursement. It posts to your AppFolio owner portal, where your lease documents, invoices and year-end tax paperwork also live. There is no charge for your 1099 or your end-of-year statement either.
Owners who live out of the area tend to care most about this part, because the statement is how you actually see your property from a distance. Read more about owner financial reporting.
Want rent that arrives on time?
Chasing rent is stressful. Our team handles rent collection, late notices, and follow-up so you get paid without the awkward phone calls. Send us a message to learn how it works.
- Easy online payments. Residents pay through their portal, and owners see deposits in theirs.
- A real person reads every message. No bots, just our local team.
- Quick replies. Most messages get a response within one business day.
- No pressure. Property owners can ask questions with no obligation.
TESTIMONIALSThe Trusted Choice for
Rent Collection Services
Cassidy and Celina have been absolutely amazing through the whole rental/move in processes. I’ve been renting from Red Roof Rentals for almost a year now and am extremely happy with the team. Definitely check them out! You won’t regret it!
Awesome and amazing service along with great personal experience with staff especially Cassidy who was such a great free spirited person!!
I appreciate this property management on their great customer service and for helping us throughout the process when we had the ok that we were approved, Cassidy is such a great worker and helped me throughout the process she is very professional and just an awesome worker making everything easygoing.
Cassidy was very helpful! She made everything very stress free and she was very thorough with everything! :)
Cassidy was a great help!
They made setting everything up very easy, and Cassidy was a super great help!
I have had a great experience moving into my new place with Red Roof Rentals. The team is friendly, communicative, and so helpful! I am happy to be renting from them and appreciate their great service!
Great people all around! Helped us get into our home pretty fast.
I have never worked with a more pleasant property management company. Cassidy and Celina are incredibly responsive, knowledgeable, informative, and very friendly. They made the rental process go so smoothly and relieved a lot of the stress of a very stressful process. I can’t say enough great things about this team.
Thank you guys!
Everyone was super nice and friendly, I've never worked with a management company that's so hassle free. They got our move-in set up quickly and they made the process smooth and enjoyable.
My family and I recently moved into one of their apartment complex and Cassidy from the office was absolutely wonderful throughout the whole process. Her team was incredibly accommodating with our move in situation and got us in exactly when we wanted to be. I am so happy with the whole experience.
Red Roof has always been pleasant to work with! Highly recommend!
What rent collection costs you
Nothing extra. Rent collection is one of the services included in the Gold Package at no additional fee, along with tenant screening, owner portal access, your monthly statement, ACH payment, home maintenance support, eviction assistance and utility management. Management starts at 8 percent. See the full fee schedule.
Related services
Explore more property management services.
Most owners use a few of these together. See how each one works.
- Full-service management
- Property management fees
- Rental property marketing
- Tenant screening
- Eviction protection
- Maintenance and inspections
- Lease renewals and retention
- Owner financial reporting
- Single-family management
- Multi-family management
- Out-of-state owner management
- Get a free rental analysis
Rent collection questions
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Online through their AppFolio resident portal, with autopay available. Payments post to your ledger as they clear, and residents can see their balance and download receipts themselves. We set up autopay during move-in rather than waiting for a problem, because autopay is the single largest factor in on-time payment.
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Fourteen days. Washington requires a 14 day pay or vacate notice before a nonpayment case can proceed, under RCW 59.12.030, and nonpayment is a just cause ground under RCW 59.18.650. Other grounds carry different periods, including 10 days for a lease violation and 3 days for waste or nuisance.
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Tacoma has two conflicting rules. TMC 1.95.065 allows 1.5 percent of unpaid monthly rent, while TMC 1.100 caps late fees at $10 per month and is enforced through private lawsuits. Following only TMC 1.95 still leaves you exposed under TMC 1.100, where penalties start at $500. The safe practical rule is to charge no more than $10 per month.
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After rent clears and approved invoices are paid, your funds go out by ACH direct deposit with your monthly owner statement posted to your owner portal. There is no fee for ACH payment, no fee for the statement, and no fee for your 1099 or end-of-year paperwork.
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We serve the required notices on time and correctly, and eviction assistance is included in the Gold Package at no extra fee, inside Tacoma city limits included. Tacoma also restricts evictions during the Tacoma Public Schools year and from November 15 through March 15, with exemptions, so timing matters and guesswork is expensive.
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Yes. Red Roof holds the tenant security deposit in a trust account at a Washington financial institution, with written notice to the tenant of where it is held, as RCW 59.18.270 requires. Deposits must be returned with a full itemized statement within 30 days under RCW 59.18.280, a deadline that changed from 21 days in 2023 and is still widely misstated.
Stop being the person who asks for the rent
Book a consult and we will walk through what your rent collection looks like today, where your late fee policy sits against Tacoma’s two codes, and what changes on your statement if we take it over.
Call 253.222.3387, Monday to Friday, 9:00am to 4:00pm. Saturday and Sunday by appointment. We reply within 24 hours. See all of our property management services.
This page summarizes public law as of September 2026 and describes how we operate. It is general information, not legal advice.