Is it lawful for a landlord to charge a $25 per day late fee?

Its not a good idea to piggyback your post on another thread. To avoid confusion I've moved your post to it's own thread?

Are you in NJ? If not where, as laws vary.

The late fees should be spelled out in your lease. Have you checked?

Okay thank you, yes I am in NJ. Yes, it does say that the fee is
$25 per late day, but this my first time time seeing that in all the time I've been renting. Is it lawful to charge $25 per late day?

I can't see anything specific defining what a late fee can be. But if you signed the lease you agreed to the fee. NJ requires a 5 day grace period, so if you are late you are really late.

We do have someone who knows the specifics of NJ law here and she should be along shortly. But I think she will say the same.

I understand, I've just never seen it before. It is normally a set fee, so I was just curious if it was legal. I thank you so much for your time!

There are two points to a late fee. First to discourage being late, second to reimburse the person being paid for the inconvenience of you being late. Your landlord has bills to pay. Your being late may mean he can't pay his bills and incurs his own late charges.

I do not own rental in NJ but do ( or did) in several other states, this is very common and has gotten more and more common over the past few years.

Normally what you will find is a late fee ( 50 to 100) and then a small amount per day, such as 10 dollars or so a day.

Others are doing the larger per day, such as your 25 dollars a day. Some states may have a max, such as an amount equal to one months rent.

But he idea is too many landlords are getting tired of rent coming on the 10th or the 3th each month, so if it is not paid on the first, they start applying late charges.

I can't see anything specific defining what a late fee can be. But if you signed the lease you agreed to the fee. NJ requires a 5 day grace period, so if you are late you are really late.

We do have someone who knows the specifics of NJ law here and she should be along shortly. But I think she will say the same.

You are incorrectly citing the law.

NJ law requires a 5 day grace period only for senior citizens.

To the OP:

A landlord in NJ can charge a late fee as long as it is reasonable and is spelled out in the lease. $25 is not considered an unreasonable late fee.

Sorry, I relied on this site:
New Jersey Landlord Tenant Rent Law NJ Security Depsoits Evictions (http://www.rentlaw.com/newjersey.htm)

That did not qualify that the grace period was only for senior citizens. While this site:

http://www.nj.gov/dca/divisions/codes/publications/pdf_lti/sencitzen_5day_grace_period_law.pdf

Is titled Senior Citizens, the law doesn't specify it simply says "A Person" There were other cites that didn't qualify the 5 day period as only for Senior Citizens and some that did and some that were unclear in my further research.

But you didn't answer part of the OP's question. I agree a $25 late fee is reasonable. But the landlord is charging $25 PER DAY that its late. Is that legal?

you are incorrectly citing the law.
...

Actually, ScottGem didn't cite the law at all in the earlier post (#4). He summarized it incorrectly.

He cited it in the last post (#9 - if a link counts as a cite). :)

He summarized it incorrectly.



Actually, if we are going to nitpick ;) I mistakenly relied on the accuracy of a site in relaying the law. The rentlaw site (which is usually pretty good) just states a 5 day grace period is required.

Sorry, I relied on this site:
New Jersey Landlord Tenant Rent Law NJ Security Depsoits Evictions (http://www.rentlaw.com/newjersey.htm)

That did not qualify that the grace period was only for senior citizens. While this site:

http://www.nj.gov/dca/divisions/codes/publications/pdf_lti/sencitzen_5day_grace_period_law.pdf

Is titled Senior Citizens, the law doesn't specify it simply says "A Person" There were other cites that didn't qualify the 5 day period as only for Senior Citizens and some that did and some that were unclear in my further research.

Yes, it does specify it. Read 2A:42-6.3 Applicability of Act further down on the same page.


But you didn't answer part of the OP's question. I agree a $25 late fee is reasonable. But the landlord is charging $25 PER DAY that its late. Is that legal?

Yes, if the fee reasonably represents the landlord's costs then the fee may be charged per day.