New Data: Rent Payments During the Pandemic

Key Takeaways:

• 65% of landlords received full rent payments in April
• 61% of landlords received full rent payments in May
• 63% of landlords received full rent payments in June
• In April, May, and June landlords with one to four units were hit the hardest, with 25%, 24%, and 22% reporting receiving no rent for each respective month.

Survey Method

In mid-June, we sent a survey to over 27,000 active TurboTenant landlords to better understand how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected them, specifically regarding rent payments. We conducted the survey between June 12th and June 16th. We have broken the data down below by month, units, and state.

Rent Payment Feedback

Our first questions centered around rent payments for April, May, and June. Sixty-four percent reported receiving the full rent amount for April. Eleven percent of respondents received part of the month’s rent, 20% did not receive any rent for the month of April, 2% of the respondents said they worked with their tenants to set up a payment plan. Three percent of landlords canceled rent for the month of April.

May’s full payments were down by three points month over month, coming in at 61%. The number of landlords who received no rent for May was up a point at 20%, and partial payments increased by a percentage point as well at 12.%. Payment plans ticked up a bit, coming in at 3%. May rent cancelations held steady at 3% month over month.

June was slightly better than May in the full payment category coming in at 63%. The number of landlords that did not receive any rent in June was down two points month over month reported at 19%. Partial payments, payment plans, and rent cancellation all held steady at 12%, 3%, and 3% respectively.

Rent Payments by Number of Units

We distilled the data further to see how landlords in various unit categories were affected. First, we will break down the respondents per unit size. The majority of respondents, 65% own 1-4 units, 16% own 5-10 units, 8% own 11-20 units, and 11% of respondents own 21 or more units.

April

Here is a breakdown of who fared best in each payment category for April.

• Full Payment  – Landlords with 5-10 units
• Partial Payments – Landlords with 21+ units
• Set-up Payment Plans – Landlords with  21+ units
• No Rent Received – Landlords with 1-4 units

May

Here is a breakdown of who fared best in each payment category for May.

• Full Payment  – Landlords with 5-10 units
• Partial Payments – Landlords with 21+
• Set-up Payment Plans – Landlords with 21+ units
• No Rent Received – Landlords with 1-4 units

June

Here is a breakdown of who fared best in each payment category for May.

• Full Payment  – Landlords with 5-10 units
• Partial Payments – Landlords with 21+ units
• Set-up Payment Plans – Landlords with 21+ units
• No Rent Received – Landlords with 1-4 units

Rent Payments by State

The top six states our survey respondents own rental property in are: California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, New York, and Texas. We’ve broken down the hardest hit states by category below.

• Full Payment  – Colorado reported the most rent payments received in full at 83%
• Partial Payments – Illinois had the most partial payments received at 27%
• Set-up Payment Plans – Texas landlords set up the most payment plans at 8%
• No Rent Received – Florida landlords were hit the hardest in this category, with 29% reporting receiving no rent payments