Walk It Through: The Late Rent
Five days before a late fee, fourteen days to pay, and rent paid before the warrant.
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. The good cause eviction law, a stay of the warrant, and the court case 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.
- Search warrantA court's warrant to search, executed not more than ten days after it was issued, and only between 6:00 A.M. and 9:00 P.M. unless it expressly authorizes any time.
- Special proceedingThe court case through which alone a tenant or lawful occupant of a dwelling may be removed. A case for unpaid rent needs a written demand served with at least fourteen days' notice.
- Stay of the warrantA pause the court may grant on the occupant's good faith application, for not more than one year, when similar housing cannot be found or the occupant would suffer extreme hardship.
- Warrant of evictionThe warrant the court issues to a sheriff, marshal or constable after a judgment for the landlord. The officer gives at least fourteen days' written notice and carries it out only on a business day between sunrise and sunset.
- Late feeA fee for rent not paid within five days of its due date, which may not exceed fifty dollars or five percent of the monthly rent, whichever is less.