Walk It Through: The Late Rent
Eight percent at most, eviction once rent is due, and paying to redeem.
A tenant loses shifts at work and pays the rent a few days late, and the landlord adds a late fee.
Two things a person in this spot might do. Picking one shows what the law says about it.
One apartment and one late month. A lease violation alleged alongside the rent, federal late fee schedules, and the hearing itself are not worked through here.
A practice walkthrough, not a prediction of how any real one will go. Legal information, not legal advice.
Words this turns on
Terms with a legal meaning that is narrower than the everyday one. Each links to the definition and the authority behind it.
- RedemptionIn an eviction for nonpayment, restoring the tenancy at any time before possession is delivered by paying the rent in arrears with interest, costs and an attorney fee not to exceed $5.
- Tenancy at willA tenancy with no fixed end, which ends on written notice at least as long as the interval between rent payments, or three months, whichever is less.
- Late feeA charge for overdue rent, allowed only when landlord and tenant agreed in writing that one may be charged and when, and never more than eight percent of the overdue payment.