Guide · Manufactured housing communities
The monthly lot-rent cycle: a guide
3 minute read. Last updated 2026-11.
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Lot rent runs on a rhythm. Parks that handle it well do the same things in the same order every month, so nothing is decided in a hurry on the first. This guide lays that order out.
Before the month starts
The work of a clean month happens in the last week of the one before.
- Review the roster: who moved in, who moved out, and who is changing sites.
- Decide how partial months are handled and apply the same method to everyone.
- Confirm any rent change has gone out with the notice your lease and your own adviser say it needs, and note its effective date.
- Read utility meters, or collect the bills you are passing through, so the amounts are ready to post.
Post the charges
Every resident should see one clear statement of what is due and when. Post charges for the month in one pass so they all carry the same due date.
- Lot rent for each occupied site, at the rate on the lease.
- Utilities as their own line, so a resident can see rent and utilities separately.
- Any recurring fee in the lease (for example a pet or storage fee), as its own line.
- One-time items agreed with a resident, with a note saying why.
- Check the total posted against the number of occupied sites times the usual rent. A big gap usually means a missed site or a stale rate.
Send statements and make paying easy
- Send each resident their statement with the amount, the due date, and every way they can pay.
- Offer an option that does not require a trip to the office. Fewer trips means fewer missed payments and fewer cash handling steps.
- Say plainly what happens after the grace period, in the words your lease uses.
Collect and record payments
- Record every payment the day it arrives, whatever form it takes: online, check, money order, cash.
- Apply each payment to the charge it covers. A payment sitting unapplied makes a resident look behind when they are not.
- Give a receipt for every cash payment.
- Deposit on a regular schedule and keep the deposit slip with the payment list for that day.
Follow up on what is still owed
Late rent is easier to resolve when the first contact is early, specific and polite.
- On the day after the grace period ends, pull the list of unpaid balances.
- Contact each resident the same way: the amount, the date it was due, and how to pay.
- Apply late fees only as your lease provides, and apply them consistently.
- Write down every conversation and every promise to pay, with the date.
- For anything that goes beyond a reminder, such as a formal notice, check the steps with your own adviser. Rules vary and this guide does not cover them.
Close the month
- Review the rent roll: each site, what was charged, what was paid, what is still owed.
- Compare payments recorded with the deposits that hit your bank account.
- Look at deposits held, credits owed to residents, and anything left unapplied.
- Write short notes on anything unusual so next month you remember why.
- Save the month: a copy of the rent roll and the deposit reconciliation.
Keep the records
- Keep leases, statements, payment records and notices together by resident.
- Keep them as long as your own adviser recommends. Do not guess.
- Make sure two people know where they are and how to read them.
Where Site Complete fits
Site Complete posts recurring lot-rent charges, records resident payments, and shows a rent roll so you can see who still owes. The demo for manufactured housing walks through exactly this cycle.