Rental Late Fee Legal? (insurance, house, landlord)

[Jonotastic]

Late fees are completely legal, it should be specified in your lease contract.

[bayarea-girl]

Either ask the landlord to forgive the charge this one time and plan to pay your rent on time (or explain that the situation will happen from time to time and could they work something out with you). If you don't pay your rent then the landlord will most likely take it from your deposit. Don't make problems for yourself or anger the owner/manager, just pay your rent on time.

Good luck!

[MissDaisy]

Originally Posted by frogcollector3

Thank you for that quote. I am also a landlord of many many years. I have had to insert in that clause that rent is due by 5:00 PM on the first because people interpret wording so differently. I even stopped the grace period because of the fact that people see that time as perfectly fine to not pay until that last grace period day without a late fee is accessed (even when I live close enough and pick up rent every month). Alot of states do have a law of maximum late fee to charge and usually is 5-6 %.

Welcome to my hellish landlord world frogcollector3!!! We have two rental properties...one in TX (a hardy howdy to aslowdodge & 13cent!) and they have been since the lease inception in April 08 PERFECT and beyond!!

...the tenants in CA....well, they have been in the home since 8/03...I have had to have plumbers come out (expensively!) 'cuz they cannot comprehend the simple fact that paper towels do not go down the toilet!!, I have gone 3 rounds with them about friend's large dogs "visiting" (against condo HOA rules) and have managed to date to narrowly avoid fines..no doubt that is a short lived situation...

Though their rent checks have yet to bounce.....

We have the same traditional 3 day window as everyone else. For the first year, rent paid within the time allowed...second to fourth year, paid and cleared the bank by the 10th...this last year...jeezzzzz...I pretty much have to call her on the 15th to find out when she plans to pay...I even set up a personal rent payment account at our mutual bank to make things *easier* for all involved....now, the last two months, we get the money in 2-3 payments...the most recent just two days ago!!! I told her that the monthly rent NEEDS to post in the month it is due, no carryovers...we would clearly lose in the long (or short ) run..

The only reason I begin to tolerate this is because the $$ is ultimately good...but I'll tell ya...one bounced check and that will be the end of it...

As to the OP....you need to keep in mind that your (and our tenant's) late payments REALLY affect your landlord's daily cash flow (ie GROCERIES) Most landlords are not keeping bags of money in the closet...this is an investment we calculated for the l-o-n-g term, not unlike a 401k, for our futures, not our present time...and most of us (like me) are actually carrying forward negative cash flow today for the (hopeful) good of tomorrow! We are not *rich* by any definition!! So when you abuse the due date--this really puts us in a bind to pay the mortgage!! We are being responsible and scrimping to pay the mortgage on time until you pay us....please quit crying fowl for your own delinquent behavior...there is no such thing as *entitlement* We have worked hard to accomplish what we have...if you pay Citibank late, they WILL charge you a late fee...why is that so out of the realm of propriety for an individual landlord to do the same???

[aslowdodge]

a shout out to the other landlords! I realize there are some real slumlords out there, but there's some really fair ones out there too.
I work 60 hours a week plus put time in for landlording. Instead of spending my hard earned money on junk, i invested in rental property. I still have to work to pay for them. Funny thing is the tenants who are less motivated to work to make more to get ahead often think that all landlords are rich and sit at home and count the rent money. I've had tenants call me at work who wanted me to drive out to the property 20 miles out immediately to let them in because they locked themselves out. I told them I can't come out until after work. They thought I didn't work but just sat at home because I was a rich landlord. They also thought it was my obligation to come out and let them in even though i had nothing to do with them locking themselves out.
another tenant was threatening to withold rent because a neighbor hadn't cleaned out their yard and it was embarassing for her friends to drive by the messy house. I asked her if she ever talked to the neighbor and politely asked them to clean up the yard and she said no that I should do it.

[BennyPhoenix]

Originally Posted by aslowdodge

a shout out to the other landlords! I realize there are some real slumlords out there, but there's some really fair ones out there too.
I work 60 hours a week plus put time in for landlording. Instead of spending my hard earned money on junk, i invested in rental property. I still have to work to pay for them. Funny thing is the tenants who are less motivated to work to make more to get ahead often think that all landlords are rich and sit at home and count the rent money. I've had tenants call me at work who wanted me to drive out to the property 20 miles out immediately to let them in because they locked themselves out. I told them I can't come out until after work. They thought I didn't work but just sat at home because I was a rich landlord. They also thought it was my obligation to come out and let them in even though i had nothing to do with them locking themselves out.
another tenant was threatening to withold rent because a neighbor hadn't cleaned out their yard and it was embarassing for her friends to drive by the messy house. I asked her if she ever talked to the neighbor and politely asked them to clean up the yard and she said no that I should do it.

I charge a $50 lockout fee on buildings without an onsite manager. Adults need to take responsibility and make arrangements if they get locked out.

[Taboo2]

Originally Posted by mycoguy

I paid my rent late this month. We always pay on the 5th(the last day in the lease stating that is NOT late), because thats when our electronic funds arrive. I called the landlord on the 5th, and told him the situation, and, he agreed to hold our checks until I said deposit them. Well, I got the funds to gether the next day, the 6th, and, gave the landlord the go ahead to deposit. He said the 10 percent late fee would have to be paid, 140 dollars more.
I read all kinds of conflicting information from late fees being totally illegal, to "reasonable" late fees are legal, and I'm confused. Curious if his 10 percent would be "reasonable"---considering the rent was technically only 12 hours late, the landlord did not suffer any major economic loses. I'm willing to pay, but, if I don't have to, that would be nice. Comments welcomed.

UNless it is in your lease they cannot charge you any additional charges. Call ECHO housing to negotiate if you cannot.

[Angryman Keepinhiscool]

If I pay my rent on the second should I have to pay a late fee?

[PeixeGato]

Originally Posted by frogcollector3

Thank you for that quote. I am also a landlord of many many years. I have had to insert in that clause that rent is due by 5:00 PM on the first because people interpret wording so differently. I even stopped the grace period because of the fact that people see that time as perfectly fine to not pay until that last grace period day without a late fee is accessed (even when I live close enough and pick up rent every month). Alot of states do have a law of maximum late fee to charge and usually is 5-6 %.

Originally Posted by aslowdodge

You might want to pay him on time. I am a landlord and my rent agreements say rent is due on the first, but late on the 3rd. A few days are for when the mail is late or something. For some reason tenants think that is a license to pay 3 days after the 3rd. If i need the rent to help with the mortgage and you are holding back 1400 for 5 days, I could pay $250 more in interest payments, so $140 seems cheap.
Keep in mind that in Texas the rents might be lower. I had a home in texas I rented out for 1400. A similar house here in california would rent for about 2400, so it's all proportional. Plus Texas is a bit less riskier in that evictions are cheaper and faster than cali.

These are great points. The rent is due on the 1st, so you are actually 5 days late in paying on the 6th. Well, OK, you "paid" it on the 5th, but asked the landlord to do you a favor by waiting until the 6th to deposit the check. So you want to thank him/her for this by arguing over the late fee? Keep in mind that the grace period is "extra" time given to allow for things out of your control like slow mail service, NOT for your cash flow issues. By signing that lease, you agreed to pay the rent on the 1st.

The landlord likely has a mortgage to pay and the bank will definitely NOT waive his late fee if his payment is late, so why should he have to eat all of it when it is your check that is late? And even if he/she doesn't have a mortgage to pay, it is still your responsibility to pay the rent on time. Period.

I don't know if the late fee you were assessed is excessive or not in the eyes of the court, but do you really want to spend the time going to court to argue against a $140 late fee that was assessed because you were late? What is your time worth to you? Add to that the fact that when you go to rent another place, you won't be able to use this landlord as a reference, which will make finding your next place REALLY difficult. There isn't a landlord worth renting from that would touch you with a ten foot pole after hearing that you took your landlord to court over this.

If I were you, I'd try to reason with your landlord and ask to reduce the late fee, but if he doesn't agree to do so, then take your lumps, pay it, and get the rent paid on time going forward.

[PeixeGato]

Sorry, I didn't realize how old the OP was.

[jennnjoe2011]

I'm a landlord too and the teenate still dosen't have all my money its the 10 I was thinken about doing a 100-200 dollar late fee due to know my house insurance and water bills are both going to be paid late. Yes Late fees are fair as long as they are reasonable. We have bills we need to pay too!!!