Property Management | Advice needed on verbiage for letter to tenants re: late rent.

We have some new tenants in an IP who are always late with the rent and never give us forewarning, just make up excuses when we contact them about it being late. They have only been in the property for 4 weeks and have been late every single week so far.

The first week we didn't chase for a few days because we know that sometimes it takes time to set up the direct deposit etc. They then paid on the 7th day. The second week they paid on time (same day as the first week), but not the full amount, they said it was a mistake and that they would pay the missing money on the following Monday, it was finally paid on the Wednesday. The third week we chased them after being 2 days late and they then paid the following day and the fourth week has just come and gone – they were supposed to pay on Friday, it is now Wednesday… I contacted them yesterday, haven't heard back yet.

I have contacted the QLD RTA and they advised that we can only send a form 11 after they have been in arrears for 7 days and then once another 7 days pass we can serve them with a form 12 and ask them to leave within 7 days.

We are frustrated because it seems like as long as they pay within somewhere within 14 days of their weekly rent due date there is nothing we can do about their constant tardiness.

I would like to take some action at the least write them a formal letter. Can anyone assist me with verbiage for the letter or give me any other ideas on how to manage this situation?

Some background information:

All communication to date about the late rent has been via phone and text message to date, I have kept a detailed record of all of the conversations.

They are on a 12 month lease, we are managing the tenancy ourselves due to a bad experience with local agencies, but feel pretty confident in doing so – try to run it like a business.

When they commenced their tenancy we asked them what period they wanted to pay and what day? They both get paid weekly on a Thursday so said Friday would work best for them. We also asked them if it was ok to pay via direct deposit and they said it was easy for them as they used the same bank, they have a deposit book so they can deposit in branch, but can also use internet banking or phone banking.

I reference checked their both their employers where one had been for 10+ years and the other had been for 4+ years, I spoke to their previous property manager and landlord where they had been for 4 years and to the property manager they had before where they were for 2 years. I also did 4 personal reference checks and checked TICA. Nothing showed up except the fact that they were excellent tenants who always paid on time… Very strange!