As a Landlord do I have to continue to accept late payments on a rent to own contract?

It depends on what your contract specified as to how/when rent is to be paid. If it is completely silent on these terms, you and the tenant need to negotiate an addendum/modification to the lease that specifies rent payments with particularity. Otherwise, if they are paying it "late every month," that is a material breach of the lease, your remedy of which would be the summary ejectment process, outlined in Article 3 of N.C.G.S. Chapter 42. The usual process is that rent is due on a certain date (usually the first); a five-day grace period follows (usually through close of business on the fifth); rent is still not paid; the landlord sends a notice of his/her/its intent to file for summary ejectment if the past due amount is not paid within ten days after the grace period ends (usually the fifteenth); and after the ten days, the landlord files for summary ejectment, usually in the small claims section of the local district court division. The complaint would need to be served upon the tenant, and the case would be calendared. A magistrate (sometimes an attorney, but not always) would hear the case, and render a final judgment that would be binding on the parties. I would explain all of this to the tenant at next opportunity. If you have further questions, seek out a North Carolina real property attorney for a brief consultation on the matter. Best wishes.

I would need to review the contract to give a reliable answer. But generally speaking, no, I do not think that you have to keep accepting late payments. Tenant's failure to pay rent in a timely manner is a breach of contract and, depending on the exact terms of the contract, should give you the right to terminate tenant's right to possession of the premises. If tenant does not agree to terminate the agreement and to vacate the premises, you will need to give proper notice and file a summary ejectment action. Again, I strongly suggest that you have an attorney review your agreement and the payment history before taking action. I hope this is helpful! Feel free to ask further questions if you need anything else.

Rent to Own contracts are very tricky items, and draw the ire of North Carolina Courts and the NC Legislature. For example, you should take a look at Chapter 75, Article 5A (N.C. Gen. Stat. 75-120, et. al.), which was passed in 2010 to set some parameters on Rent to Own contracts. Violation of this statute constitutes an unfair and deceptive trade practice, which could subject you to treble damages (triple the amount you would otherwise owe) and attorney's fees. Additionally, you've got a purchase agreement and a lease agreement in one document, which means that eviction must be done through the courts and cannot be done without a court order. If the tenant is consistently in default you may need to get a judicial order showing that the tenant has breached the financing part of the agreement, and essentially invalidating the purchase portion. Then you would have to go through the eviction process, which you will probably not be successful with if the tenant is paying you within 30 days of the due date (you won't get in front of a judge in time to evict before the tenant cures the default). There are additional questions that need review before you should take any of these steps, particularly as the agreement has no dates. That may significantly impair your ability to terminate or enforce the agreement, and may have created a murky contractual situation for you and the tenant. You need to speak with an attorney and have that attorney review your documents before proceeding down any path, as there is potential liability on your side if you do something that varies from the proper process. NC Courts tend to protect residents, whether home owners or renters, and they tend to punish landlords who don't follow the right procedures.