Re: late fee - Landlord Forum thread 351722

Re: late fee by Cedar Ponds (Oregon) on April 18, 2017 @12:43

This is the relevant ORS about it.

https://www.oregonlaws.org/ors/90.260

I suspect your tenant is right. You probably can't charge him a late fee because you didn't specify it in the rental agreement with the amount, day it would be due (by state law can't be before the 4th day after the rent was due), and it can't be an unreasonable amount. Unless the rent amount is really large $100 is not going to be seen as reasonable.

There are other laws around late fees and other important landlord tenant laws you should get familiar with. There are other changes to state landlord tenant laws that renters rights groups are trying to push through that are very punishing to landlords. They would like to make it so expensive for a landlord to terminate a tenancy that it will basically be renters choice only. They are also trying put in state wide rent control. So you probably need to get this situation under control very quickly in case state laws do change in this direction. If your rental is in Portland, it has already happened.

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