When a tenant files for bankruptcy on DIY landlord software — the automatic stay, rent reminders, late fees, autopay, and your proof of claim

• Is: a side-by-side of how to make RentRedi, TurboTenant, and Avail stop collecting on a pre-filing balance while keeping the record intact, plus the federal rules a small landlord needs in order to read a bankruptcy notice: the automatic stay, the residential-eviction exceptions, lease assumption and rejection, deposits, proofs of claim, and stay-relief motions. Colorado is the worked state, with a decision table, a $1,850 worked example, a checklist, and an FAQ.
• Is not: a guide to filing anything in bankruptcy court. A stay-relief motion is a contested federal court filing; in the District of Colorado it carries a $199 fee, a payment-history attachment, and a Servicemembers Civil Relief Act affidavit. Most small landlords hire counsel for it.
• Not the same as: a tenant who simply stopped paying (eviction & collections handoff), one who vanished (abandoned units), or a co-signer or guarantor who filed while the tenant didn’t (see the Chapter 13 co-debtor stay below, and co-signers & guarantors).
• Uncertainty rule: we didn’t run a bankruptcy through a live account. Vendor steps come from help-center pages read tonight (RentRedi reminders, late fees, block payments, AutoPay; TurboTenant late fees, reminders, and Disable payments) plus earlier research for our eviction and partial-payment pages. Avail’s help center renders as a JavaScript shell, so its settings are cited from search-index copies and community posts. No vendor publishes bankruptcy-specific guidance that we found.

• The stay starts at filing, not when you find out. A petition “operates as a stay, applicable to all entities” (362(a)). Something you did between the filing and your notice usually isn’t “willful,” but the Tenth Circuit Bankruptcy Appellate Panel, whose decisions bind no one but are persuasive in Colorado, agreed with courts holding that “an innocent stay violation can become willful if the creditor fails to remedy the violation after receiving notice of the stay” (In re Diviney, 1998). It adopted the test that willfulness needs only that you “knew of the automatic stay” and your actions “were intentional,” with no intent to violate the stay required. An app automation you know is running and leave on is the kind of thing that test reaches.
• What it stops (relevant parts). Starting or continuing a court case against the debtor on a pre-filing claim (a)(1); enforcing a pre-filing judgment (a)(2); “any act to obtain possession of property of the estate” (a)(3), which includes the tenant’s leasehold; enforcing liens (a)(4)–(5); “any act to collect, assess, or recover” a pre-filing claim (a)(6); and setoff of a pre-filing debt (a)(7). Reminder emails about old rent, new late fees on old rent, pay-or-quit notices, collection referrals, and keeping the deposit to cover old rent all sit inside that list.
• Damages. “An individual injured by any willful violation of a stay … shall recover actual damages, including costs and attorneys’ fees, and, in appropriate circumstances, may recover punitive damages” (362(k)(1)). In Diviney a creditor paid $2,850 in actual damages, $15,000 in fees, and $40,000 in punitive damages.
• Pre-filing vs. post-filing rent. The stay and the discharge are aimed at debts that arose before the filing. A Chapter 7 discharge covers “all debts that arose before the date of the order for relief” (727(b)), so rent coming due after the filing generally isn’t discharged. Accepting a voluntary current-rent payment, including an autopay the tenant set up, is ordinary. Demanding or enforcing post-filing rent is less clear-cut, especially in Chapter 13, where “earnings from services performed by the debtor after the commencement of the case” are part of the estate (1306(a)(2)). Ask counsel before you send a demand for post-filing rent.
• You can’t end the lease because they filed. A lease “may not be terminated or modified … solely because of a provision” keyed to the tenant’s financial condition or the bankruptcy filing (365(e)(1)). An “ipso facto” clause in your lease template doesn’t help.
• Repeat filers. If the debtor had one case dismissed within the past year, the stay “with respect to any lease” ends on day 30 of the new case unless the court extends it (362(c)(3)(A)). With two or more dismissed cases that year, no stay goes into effect at all, and the court “shall promptly enter an order confirming that no stay is in effect” on request (362(c)(4)(A)). Look up the debtor’s filing history on PACER or ask counsel before you assume either.

• You already have a judgment for possession: 362(b)(22) with 362(l). The stay doesn’t apply, “under subsection (a)(3),” to “the continuation of any eviction … by a lessor against a debtor involving residential property in which the debtor resides as a tenant” if the lessor obtained “a judgment for possession” before the petition. Two limits. First, the exception covers possession only; collecting the money part of that judgment is still stayed. Second, 362(l) lets the tenant hold you off for 30 days by filing, with the petition, a certification that state law lets them “cure the entire monetary default that gave rise to the judgment for possession, after that judgment for possession was entered,” and by depositing with the clerk “any rent that would become due during the 30-day period after the filing.” That’s Official Form 101A. If they then cure the whole default within the 30 days and certify it (Form 101B), the exception doesn’t apply. You may object; the court “shall hold a hearing within 10 days” (362(l)(3)(A)). If the tenant disclosed the judgment on the petition but filed no certification, the exception “shall apply immediately” and the clerk serves you a certified copy of the docket (362(l)(4)).
• The Colorado angle on (l). Colorado’s statutory cure right runs “at any time until a judge issues a judgment for possession” (C.R.S. 13-40-115(4); Justia’s 2025 text adds amounts “lawfully due” and rent due under a 13-40-104(4)(e) repayment plan). We found no Colorado statute giving a residential tenant a right to cure after the judgment. Our reading is that a 101A certification in a Colorado case may be hard to support truthfully, and that’s grounds for an objection, but that’s a legal argument for your bankruptcy attorney, not a rule we found a court applying.
• Endangerment or illegal drug use: 362(b)(23) with 362(m). No stay under (a)(3) for an eviction “based on endangerment of such property or the illegal use of controlled substances on such property,” but only if you file and serve “a certification under penalty of perjury” that the eviction has been filed or that the debtor, in the 30 days before your certification, endangered the property or illegally used or allowed a controlled substance there. It takes effect 15 days after you file it unless the debtor objects, which triggers a hearing within 10 days (362(m)).
• Everything else needs stay relief. No judgment before the filing, or you just want to file for nonpayment: ask the bankruptcy court to lift the stay under 362(d) “for cause, including the lack of adequate protection.” Unpaid post-filing rent is the usual cause. For acts against estate property, the stay ends 30 days after the request unless the court continues it after a hearing (362(e)(1)). An order granting relief is itself stayed 14 days “unless the court orders otherwise” (Rule 4001(a)(4)). You can also ask for an order “confirming that the automatic stay has been terminated” (362(j)), which is useful once a Chapter 7 discharge has been entered or the case is dismissed.

• Chapter 7: 60 days. “If the trustee does not assume or reject … an unexpired lease of residential real property … within 60 days after the order for relief,” or within extra time the court sets inside that window, the lease “is deemed rejected” (365(d)(1)). Trustees rarely assume a consumer’s apartment lease, so expect deemed rejection. Rejection doesn’t make the tenant leave on its own; it’s treated as a breach “immediately before the date of the filing” (365(g)(1)), so your damages become a pre-filing claim, and you still need the stay to end, through relief, a 362(j) order, discharge, or dismissal, before you evict.
• Chapter 13: before plan confirmation. The debtor may assume or reject “at any time before the confirmation of a plan,” and the court can set a deadline at your request (365(d)(2)). Most Chapter 13 plans list the lease under executory contracts. Read that section of the plan when you get it.
• Assumption requires a cure. A lease in default can’t be assumed unless the debtor “cures, or provides adequate assurance that the trustee will promptly cure,” compensates you for actual pecuniary loss, and gives “adequate assurance of future performance” (365(b)(1)). That’s why your pre-filing number needs to be right: it becomes the cure amount.
• Damage cap. A lessor’s claim for lease-termination damages is capped at the rent reserved “for the greater of one year, or 15 percent, not to exceed three years, of the remaining term,” plus unpaid rent due on the earlier of the filing or surrender date (502(b)(6)). On a typical 12-month residential lease the one-year floor is larger than the remaining term, so the cap rarely bites. It matters on long leases.
• Co-signers and guarantors. In Chapter 13 only, a creditor “may not act … to collect all or any part of a consumer debt of the debtor from any individual that is liable on such debt with the debtor” (1301(a)), with exceptions and relief available. A parent guarantor of a Chapter 13 tenant is protected too; a guarantor of a Chapter 7 tenant isn’t covered by 1301. If the guarantor is the one who filed, the stay protects the guarantor, not your tenant.

• Don’t apply the deposit to pre-filing rent. Using the deposit to pay off the old balance is a setoff of “any debt owing to the debtor that arose before the commencement of the case” against your claim, which 362(a)(7) stays. Section 553 preserves your setoff right but makes it subject to 362. Keep the deposit where it is, list it on your proof of claim (Form 410 line 11, “Is this claim subject to a right of setoff?”), and ask for stay relief or a trustee stipulation if you want to apply it.
• Colorado’s move-out deadline doesn’t pause. If the tenant moves out mid-case, 38-12-103 still requires the return or a written statement of “the exact reasons” within one month (up to 60 days if the lease says so). Our reading is that you should mail the itemized statement on time, describe the pre-filing rent as claimed but not applied because of the bankruptcy, and apply only post-filing items (damage after the filing, post-filing rent) if counsel agrees. We found no Colorado authority reconciling the two deadlines; this is an open question to ask your attorney.
• Collections and credit reporting. Referring a pre-filing balance to a collection agency, or furnishing it as a new delinquency, is an act to collect. Pull any referral the day you learn of the filing. After a discharge, the discharge “operates as an injunction against … an act, to collect, recover or offset any such debt as a personal liability of the debtor” (524(a)(2)), so the stop is permanent for discharged amounts. We didn’t verify how RentRedi’s, TurboTenant’s, or Avail’s optional rent-reporting features treat a tenant in bankruptcy; check before leaving any of them on.
• Screening the next applicant. Consumer reports may include bankruptcy cases up to 10 years from the order for relief (15 U.S.C. 1681c(a)(1)). Section 525(a)’s anti-discrimination rule is aimed at governmental units (and 525(b) at employers), not private landlords; HUD-assisted and public housing, local ordinances, and fair-housing rules are separate questions. Apply any bankruptcy criterion the same way to every applicant, and see screening costs for what each tool’s report includes.

• Export first. Download the Tenant Ledger PDF and CSV with the date filter ending on the petition date, and a second full export. That’s your itemized statement for Rule 3001(c)(2)(A).
• Reminders. Search “Rent Reminders,” open the unit’s rule, click the X, and save. Remember the onboarding default reminds the tenant every day after the due date until paid. On a pre-filing balance that’s a daily collection email.
• Late fees. Search “late fee” → Late Fee Rules → select the unit → Delete Rule. Recurring late fees otherwise “continue to accrue until the charge in RentRedi is fully paid,” and a fee you edit away comes back the next morning if the rule is still on. If you want late fees on post-filing rent, add a new rule later, with counsel’s okay.
• Payment order. If you turned on “pay oldest charges first,” turn it off for this tenant, or the post-filing autopay pays September instead of November.
• Don’t block payments by reflex. Block All Payments is built for eviction holds. In bankruptcy you usually want current rent to keep arriving. Leave AutoPay alone; it’s the tenant’s to cancel.
• Leave the old charges on the ledger. Don’t delete or zero them; the discharge or the plan decides what happens to them. If you’re advised to write them off after a discharge, use a dated credit note so history stays readable.

• Export first. Payments → Charges CSV and Deposits CSV, plus screenshots of each pre-filing charge.
• Late fees. On every past-due pre-filing rent charge, select Stop Late Fees. Changing the recurring charge’s settings won’t reach charges that are already past due. Delete any fee TurboTenant created after the petition date; it was assessed in violation of the stay.
• Reminders can’t be turned off. TurboTenant sends past-due reminders while any unpaid charge sits on an active lease, and its help says they stop only if the charge is paid, recorded as paid, deleted, or the lease is archived. We found no setting that pauses reminders on one charge. Recording a fake offline payment is wrong; it falsifies the ledger. Our suggestion: export, then contact support (support@turbotenant.com) in writing, explain the bankruptcy, and ask them to suppress reminders on the pre-filing charges. If they can’t, ask your attorney whether to delete those charges from the live ledger and keep the export as the record. We didn’t confirm whether support can do this.
• The charge sent 15 days early. November’s rent is posted around October 17. If the petition lands between posting and November 1, that charge is still post-filing rent because it falls due after the filing. Leave it.
• Disable payments is a trap here. It removes the tenant’s Autopay across all your leases, nobody is notified, and the tenant has to re-enroll after you re-enable. Use it only if counsel tells you to stop accepting payments, for example after a judgment for possession.

• Export first. Pull Received Payment Reports and the lease’s charge list; screenshot the ledger as of the petition date.
• Reminders. Payment Settings → Communication Options → toggle off each tenant reminder (search-index copy; the live page didn’t render). Confirm nothing past-due is still being sent.
• Late fees. Disable the late fee in Payment Settings. Avail staff say late fees “do not occur by default” and “can be … changed at anytime during the lease.” Delete any fee posted after the filing date.
• Stop Payments only on advice. It shuts off online rent for the lease, the opposite of what you want while the tenant is paying current rent.
• Month-to-month leases. If the lease is on month-to-month and Customer Care’s 2024 statement still holds, new charges may not generate while a prior balance is unpaid. Check that post-filing rent charges are actually being created, and call Customer Care if they aren’t.

• Deadline. In a voluntary Chapter 7 or a Chapter 13 case, a claim “is timely if filed within 70 days after the order for relief” (Rule 3002(c)). In a Chapter 7 case where the notice says there are no assets to distribute, the clerk sends a later notice with a claims deadline if assets turn up (Rule 3002(c)(5)). A claim arising from a rejected lease “may be filed within the time set by the court” (3002(c)(4)).
• The amount is as of the filing date. Form 410: “Fill in all the information about the claim as of the date the case was filed.” Line 7 asks for the total and whether it includes fees; if it does, attach the itemized statement Rule 3001(c)(2)(A) requires. Line 10 asks whether the claim is based on a lease and the “amount necessary to cure any default as of the date of the petition.” Line 11 covers setoff (the deposit).
• Attach the lease. If a claim is “based on a writing, the creditor must file a copy” (Rule 3001(c)(1)). Redact to the last four digits of any Social Security or account number. Form 410 says “Do not send original documents.” Skipping the required attachments can get your evidence excluded and fees awarded against you (3001(c)(3)).
• What the export must show. Each pre-filing charge with its due date, each payment with its date and the charge it was applied to, each late fee with its date, the running balance on the petition date, and nothing dated after it. Post-filing rent goes on a separate schedule, because it isn’t part of the claim.
• Check late fees against Colorado law before you claim them. No fee until rent is at least seven calendar days late, capped at the greater of $50 or 5% of the past-due rent, charged once per late payment unless the total stays under the cap, disclosed in the lease, and noticed in writing within 180 days (38-12-105(1)). A noncompliant fee clause is “void and unenforceable” (105(2)), and a daily fee that pushed past $92.50 on $1,850 rent is the kind of line an objection picks off.
• You sign under penalty of perjury. The form warns a fraudulent claim can mean a fine of up to $500,000, up to five years in prison, or both. Your signature also acknowledges “the creditor gave the debtor credit for any payments received.”

• Fee: $199 to file a motion “to terminate, annul, modify or condition the automatic stay” (Bankruptcy Court Miscellaneous Fee Schedule item 19, effective Dec 1, 2023). Agreed stipulations don’t pay the fee.
• Hearing date: the latest available date on the assigned judge’s calendar “not more than 30 days” after filing. Setting it later or continuing it waives the 362(e) automatic-termination clock (L.B.R. 4001-1(a)(1)–(2)).
• What you file: facts pleaded “with specificity”; if the basis is a payment default, “a detailed, understandable payment history regarding the debt and arrearages and a summary,” which is where your ledger export goes; notice on L.B.F. 4001-1.1 with an objection date at least seven days before the hearing; an SCRA affidavit for an individual debtor; and a proposed order on L.B.F. 4001-1.3 (L.B.R. 4001-1(a)(3)–(4)). Unopposed? File a Certificate of Non-contested Matter no sooner than the hearing date.
• After the order: it’s stayed 14 days unless the court orders otherwise (Rule 4001(a)(4)). Then you start over under Colorado law: a fresh demand, the eviction filing, and a writ executed no sooner than 10 days after judgment (30 days for tenants on SSI, SSDI, or Colorado Works, with an exception for landlords with five or fewer single-family homes and no more than five total units) (13-40-122(1)).
• Co-debtor stay: the hearing must be within 20 days for relief from the 1301 co-debtor stay in Colorado (L.B.R. 4001-1(b)). The fee schedule exempts motions for relief from the co-debtor stay.

Hypothetical, for arithmetic only. Single-family house, one tenant, $1,850 due on the 1st, $1,850 deposit, lease April 1, 2026 to March 31, 2027, managed in RentRedi with the default daily reminder, a late-fee rule of 5% (one-time, day 8), “pay oldest charges first” on, and tenant AutoPay on the 1st that failed in September and October for insufficient funds. September and October rent are unpaid; the landlord hasn’t served a demand or filed an eviction. The tenant files Chapter 13 on Tuesday, October 20, 2026. The landlord learns of it from the tenant’s text on Thursday, October 22, and the court’s notice arrives the next week.

• Pre-filing claim. September $1,850 + October $1,850 + two late fees of $92.50 (5% of $1,850 beats $50; each charged on the 8th, seven days late) = $3,885. That’s the Form 410 line 7 amount and the line 10 cure amount if the lease is assumed.
• What changes on October 22. Export the ledger through October 20. Delete the unit’s reminder rule (otherwise the tenant gets a past-due email every day). Delete the late-fee rule. Turn off oldest-first. Leave AutoPay and payments open. Note the $1,850 deposit as held, not applied.
• Post-filing rent. November 1 AutoPay of $1,850 goes through. It belongs on November’s charge. Late fees on November rent, if it had gone unpaid, would be a post-filing question for counsel.
• Claims deadline. October 20 + 70 days = Tuesday, December 29, 2026. Use the date on the notice if it differs. Attach the redacted lease and the ledger through October 20 showing $3,885, and list the $1,850 deposit under setoff.
• The plan. If the plan assumes the lease, it must provide for curing the $3,885 (or adequate assurance of a prompt cure) plus future performance. If it rejects, the claim becomes a pre-filing damages claim, and possession needs stay relief.

Wrong outcomes this avoids (example data):

• Leaving the default reminder on from October 22 to the end of December: about 70 daily past-due emails about pre-filing rent after you knew of the filing, the pattern Diviney treats as willful.
• Leaving oldest-first on: the November 1 $1,850 pays September, November shows unpaid, the rule adds a $92.50 late fee on November 8, and you’ve collected a pre-filing debt with post-filing money.
• Applying the $1,850 deposit to October rent: a setoff barred by 362(a)(7) without court permission.
• Serving a 10-day demand on October 26 for $3,885 and filing for possession in November: both acts violate the stay, and no (b)(22) exception applies because there was no judgment before the filing.
• Claiming late fees that never complied with 38-12-105, such as an added $10-a-day fee taking September’s total past $92.50: the excess is void, and an inflated claim signed under penalty of perjury invites an objection.
• Deleting the September and October charges to stop reminders, without exporting first: no itemized statement for the claim and no payment history for a stay-relief motion.
• Missing December 29: a late claim may be disallowed, and you’d get nothing through the plan for the $3,885.
• Clicking a payment block because the tenant is “in bankruptcy”: their AutoPay stops (in TurboTenant it’s removed), November’s rent doesn’t arrive, and you’ve created your own post-filing default.

1. Write down how and when you learned of the filing. Get the case number, chapter, and court.
2. Stop all contact about past-due rent: no texts, calls, notices, or app messages about the old balance.
3. Export the full ledger and a ledger cut off at the petition date (PDF and CSV). Screenshot each pre-filing charge and fee.
4. Turn off reminder rules or emails for the unit (RentRedi rule X; Avail Communication Options; TurboTenant: ask support in writing).
5. Turn off late-fee rules for the old balance (RentRedi Delete Rule; TurboTenant Stop Late Fees on each past-due charge; Avail Payment Settings).
6. Delete any late fee posted on or after the filing date. Keep pre-filing charges on the ledger.
7. Turn off “pay oldest first” or any rule that applies new money to old balances.
8. Leave autopay and online payments open unless counsel says otherwise. Don’t click Disable payments, Block All Payments, or Stop Payments on reflex.
9. Pull any collection-agency referral and pause any credit-reporting feature for this tenant.
10. Don’t apply the security deposit to pre-filing rent.
11. If an eviction is pending, tell your attorney and the court clerk. Don’t take the next step without advice.
12. If you already hold a judgment for possession, watch for Form 101A and the 30-day deposit, and calendar day 30.
13. Calendar the proof-of-claim deadline (70 days after filing in Chapter 13 and voluntary Chapter 7 unless the notice says otherwise) and, in Chapter 7, day 60 for deemed rejection.
14. Prepare Form 410 with the redacted lease, the itemized ledger, and the deposit under setoff; check every late fee against your state’s cap.
15. Track post-filing rent separately. If it stops, ask counsel about a stay-relief motion and bring the payment history.
16. After discharge, dismissal, or stay relief, record the outcome in the tenant file, write off discharged amounts with a dated credit note, and only then re-enable any automation (see document vault & lease files).

• Can I still accept rent? Yes for current rent the tenant pays voluntarily. Apply it to the post-filing month, not the old balance.
• Is an automated reminder really a stay violation? I didn’t send it. You chose the setting. Courts look at whether you knew of the stay and intended the act, and an automation you leave on after notice is your act. Turn it off.
• Can I evict for the old rent? Not without stay relief, unless you already had a judgment for possession before the filing (362(b)(22)) or the endangerment/drug exception applies (362(b)(23)).
• How long does the stay last? For acts against the debtor, until the case is closed, dismissed, or a discharge is granted or denied (362(c)(2)). For estate property, until it leaves the estate (362(c)(1)). Repeat filers get 30 days or no stay at all.
• Do I have to file a proof of claim? In Chapter 13, file if you want paid through the plan. In a no-asset Chapter 7, the notice usually tells you not to file unless a later notice says assets are available.
• Can I collect from the co-signer? In Chapter 13, the co-debtor stay generally stops you for consumer debts (1301), and household rent is usually treated as one. In Chapter 7, the guarantor isn’t protected by the tenant’s case, but check with counsel before contacting them.
• Can I refuse to renew because they filed? You can’t terminate an existing lease for filing (365(e)(1)). Whether you may decline a renewal or a future application because of a bankruptcy depends on state and local law and any housing program rules; we didn’t find a federal bar for private landlords in 525.

• RentRedi gives you the most control: reminders, late fees, and payment order are separate per-unit rules you can switch off without touching charges. Its risk is the default daily reminder.
• TurboTenant handles late fees well (Stop Late Fees per charge) but reminders can’t be turned off, and Disable payments removes the tenant’s Autopay. Plan to contact support.
• Avail puts reminders and late fees in Payment Settings, but its help pages didn’t render for us, so confirm each toggle in your account. Watch the month-to-month charge-generation quirk.
• For all three, the bankruptcy file lives outside the app: notice, case number, ledger exports, the claim you filed, and the court orders. The software’s job is to stop collecting and keep an honest ledger.

• Whether a vendor’s automated reminder about a pre-filing balance violates the stay hasn’t been decided by a court in any case we read. Our caution rests on 362(a)(6)’s text and Diviney’s willfulness standard, which is persuasive, not binding.
• Collecting post-filing rent in Chapter 13, and the status of a deemed-rejected residential lease in Chapter 7, vary by court. We didn’t research Tenth Circuit or District of Colorado case law on either.
• The Colorado post-judgment cure question under 362(l) is our reading of 13-40-115(4); we found no court applying it.
• How Colorado’s deposit deadline (38-12-103) fits with the stay on setoff is unresolved in what we read.
• uscode.house.gov blocked our fetch; federal statute text is from Cornell LII. The District of Colorado local rule is from courtrules.net, because the court’s own PDF compendium returned an HTML page. Confirm current local rules on cob.uscourts.gov.
• Vendor items not verified tonight: Avail reminder and late-fee settings and AutoPay deactivation (search-index copies), Avail Stop Payments and ledger exports, RentRedi and TurboTenant ledger exports (from our October eviction research), whether TurboTenant support can suppress reminders on specific charges, and how any rent-reporting feature treats a tenant in bankruptcy.