late fees in ca (renters, evictions, tenant)

[BDIGGLER]

I think that late rent fees are a bunch of B.S. It would be one thing if a renter/tenant was always late paying rent I could see a courtesy call or at very most a 25.00 fee. However in a situation like the one I just had to endure should if isn't be illegal. Last month I had a family emergency that I had to leave the country for being that it was unplanned and on a must leave now deal I was in a rush just like any other ordinary person would be. My rent is due on the first of every month but after the 4th day the fees begin. Since i was rushing due to the nature of the family emergency I wasnt able to get my rent into the mail until the 3rd. I was gone for 7 days. In those 7 days my wife and i received at least 10 threatening, rude, and extremely unprofessional voice mails from my lamelord. My wife and I left our phones at home and before we even had a chance to un-wind and check our voice mails we were rudely greeted back home by a bulletin nailed to the front door stating we had 3 days to pay or vacate. I have only had 1 minor issue with the lamelord out of the 9 months stayed. It needs to be illegal and punishable by a fine for a lamelord to not only charge a ridiculous late fee of 150.00 on a 1350.00 rent even after we told him the legit reason we were late but all the belittling, rude, and harrassing messeges we got, the embarrassing pre eviction notice posted on my front door where all the neighbors could walk up and clearly view . This dick even made my wife and I the next day after we got back go to his office b4 1 pm to pay him the rent and 150 late fee in full or we were told that we were evicted. Landlords like this douche bag need to be punished and put out of there misery. Am I wrong? If not what can I do?

[jbunniii]

Why should an emergency on your part translate into the landlord being the one to suffer? Did you at any point consider calling him to explain what was going on? If not, is he supposed to be a mind reader?

You could have handled this any number of ways, from having automatic bill payment set up in your account to spending a few minutes before your departure to consider "do I have any bills due in the next week that I maybe should take care of now?"

$150 seems high for a late payment, but if it's what you agreed to in your rental contract then it is what it is. You don't have the moral or legal high ground here, so it's probably best to pay it and move on.

[Ceece]

Late fees are fine. It's an extra bookkeeping issue for the landlord and the person responsible for causing that should be responsible for paying for their trouble.

I hate how everyone feels that others should just suck it up and deal with their issues and emergencies. If I were late with a payment I'd feel so bad I would probably OFFER to pay some sort of fine. Geeze people, stop being so stupid and self centered.

[Mr. Fantastic]

Originally Posted by Ultrarunner

Just try to pay your mortgage late and see how long that lasts without repercussions.

There are people who have been doing that since you posted this and are still living rent free in their homes.

[Ceece]

Originally Posted by Mr. Fantastic

There are people who have been doing that since you posted this and are still living rent free in their homes.

But not without reprocussions. At lease if they value their credit rating.

[Mr. Fantastic]

Originally Posted by Ceece

But not without reprocussions. At lease if they value their credit rating.

Why would they value that? They already have hundreds of thousands of dollars in tax payer cash.

[KC6ZLV]

Information on late fees can be found on page 30 in the following PDF:

http://www.dca.ca.gov/publications/l...k/catenant.pdf

It is somewhat vague in that it states a landlord can charge a reasonable late fee. That is, late fees must be justified by actual out of pocket costs to the landlord and not simply because the landlord received the check a day late.

I had to deal with this. I dropped the rent in the mail on a holiday weekend. The letter was postmarked on the 2nd. The property management called on the 8th and told me they had not received the check, which was a result of the Post Office having financial problems which seems to be affecting their service in the last year. Anyway, I was out of town when they called and told them I had mailed it and I wouldn't be able to get a check to them on the 12th when I arrived back in town. The day I got back in town they called and let me know they received the check, but wanted $25.00 for the first five days, then another $30.00 for the second five days. I refused to pay it due to it not being in the lease (I didn't agree to it), it being unreasonable, and this is the first time they received a late payment from me.

Anyway, after several months of going around in circles with this we both ended up agreeing to mediation and the final outcome was in my favor based on late fees should only be used to discourage late payment, not to make extra money and I had paid on time previously, so it wasn't habitual. The fees were above and beyond the real costs of receiving payment late, and several other minor points including a notation about late fees prior to the fifth could not be reasonably justified because typically, property management companies wait for payments from all tenants to be received before making a deposit, which usually occurs after the 5th because that is just how long it normally takes, thus no real expense could be justified by anything like fees for multiple deposits.

[hsbosley]

Check out this case Orozco v. Casimiro - it is case law, where the california court did indeed rule that residential late fees are illegal. Even if the Landlord has to do extra paper work or make a second run to the bank, that is hardly substantial damages.

[hsbosley]

Which would be what? ten bucks??!!!

[steel7]

Where i live after the 5th of the month the late fee is 15.00 plus 7.00 a day thereafter. Thats discusting & greedy.