Re: Late fee - how to collect - Landlord Forum thread 181459

Re: Late fee - how to collect by Anonymous on July 8, 2009 @16:10

You have to approach this on a case by case basis. My tenant was late with the very first months rent. This in itself is not good. The excuse was that the Post Office didn't deliver it in time. She said they told her they would deliver it the same day! No carrier offers same day delivery of a letter, not FedEx, not UPS and not the USPS. I asked her why did you wait until the last minute to mail it? Answer, bla, bla, bla. I didn't buy this BS so I enforced the late fee. Couple months later she gives me a NSF check for the rent. This time it was the bank's fault, yeah sure. Late fee again. She was sore about this because it was not her fault, but the bank's fault. Couple months later, you guessed it. Late again. Why? Her purse was stolen in the Walmart parking lot. Duh!

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Re: Late fee - how to collect by Anonymous on July 9, 2009 @00:53	[ Reply ]

You CAN'T approach this on a case by case basis. Not unless you want one tenant compaining that you enforced it against him, but not against some other tenant that paid late. I can see a cry of discrimination already. (how do you prove that you weren't discriminating against the person you failed to waive it?) If they pay late, they are assessed a late fee. If there are true extenuating circumstances, you send a letter that says due to those you will waive the fee this time ONLY but they will be enforced in the future. This way you don't set a precedent where you can never charge a late fee.