Rental Late Fee...too high? (renters, condo, mortgage)

[HowardMc]

Is there a limit to how much a landlord can charge as a late fee?
My rent is $1475. My rent payment reached his bank on the 7th. Now he wants to charge me a $147.50 late charge. Thats 10%. Mortgage late fees are less!!!

Ive read that the fee has to be resonable. If its so high as to be a penalty then its not allowed. But how high is too high?

[TomSD]

Was it in the lease? If so why are you only complaining now? If not I would raise your complaint with the management.

As to what is too much? I have no idea.

[cruitr]

According CA rental law, landlord late fees must be 'reasonable' and in line with the costs of collecting late rents. Excessive late fees might be considered a 'penalty' which are unlawful.

You can ask your landlord to justify the late fees with costs incurred by your late rent. However, if the late fee is spelled out in your lease agreement and you signed the agreement, you'd have a tough time claiming it's unreasonable after the lease has commenced.

Here's a good place to do some research:
http://www.dca.ca.gov/publications/l...k/catenant.pdf

[djxpress]

And if it is illegal, you have to go to small claims court, which is something I had to do once.

Then you get into cost vs. benefit, does taking a day off of work to go to court to possibly win the judgment against your landlord justify whatever amount of money you'd be losing from taking the day off of work.

It's a sucky situation, which is why I finally bought my own condo, which comes with it's own problems...it's a never ending, never winning circle my friend )

[moved]

This needs to be in the Renter's forum.

[HowardMc]

Sorry, Moved...I didnt know there was a renters forum. Did I intrude in owners territory?
Everyone else...thanks for your help. I think Ill just pay it and be more careful in the future.
The head ache and stress isnt worth 147 bucks.

[SoCalCenteroftheUniverse]

I charge my tenants 10% late fee. I think that's "reasonable' and I give multiple ways to pay me the rent including autodeposit, personal check through the mail or dropped off at my doorstep (my rentals and my house aren't too far apart). It's all spelled out in the lease very clearly and I always walk the tenant through the lease as part of signing it so they know what it says.

A tenant whose rent is late affects my monthly cash flow and causes me to do extra work I wouldn't do otherwise so a 10% "fee" to cover my efforts is not unreasonable.

[thepinksquid]

I know that ours is in our lease paperwork...I think it was $50 or something, I don't know, we've never been late. Honestly 10% isn't all that unreasonable, IMHO--but that should have been outlined in your lease agreement.

[HowardMc]

What happened was I set up "Bill Pay" with my bank to send it directly to his bank account. I thought it would be easier for us both. I initiated the payment on the 31st. My statement reflects that. But it didnt get posted to his account until the 7th. It chaps my cheeks that I made a good faith effort to pay on time. Ill send it earlier from now on.

[cruitr]

"Bill Pay" may cover the late fee. I use Quicken's online payment service and they covered a late fee for me in the past.