Hi I live in Virginia, I consistently pay my rent late because I am a commissioned worker and I get paid once a month.. My landlord is fully aware of this and made provisions for my rent to be paid on the 5th of every month.. well that sometimes doesn't work either so every month my landlord charges me 10% of the rent... which stinks but is fine as it is stated in my lease... My problem however is

I lost my job and paid my rent late and did not pay the late fees for two months. I have NEVER not paid my rent but my landlord is stating that every month (even when my rent is ontime) my lent is late until I get those two late fees COMPLETELY paid off...

They have been deducting my late fees from each month rent thus making it a "partial payment of rent" and causing my rent to be late..

Can you tell me if it is legal to deduct miscellaneous fees from the rent causing the above in my State. NOWHERE in my lease does it state that they can. They stated in a letter that it was "policy" of my management company but nowhere have I been notified that that is their policy.

Does my state have a statute that protects me from them doing this...

Thanks!

Does my state have a statute that protects me from them doing this...


NO - Va statutes don't prevent this... your landlord is using commonly accepted accounting practices by crediting your payments to the oldest amount due... you can't designate what portion of your rent/late fees you are paying so paying the entire amount due is your only option.

Late fees are commonly incorporated as rent once they have been charged so you should make up your deliquent amount to your landlord ASAP.

The practice you refer to is legal just about everywhere. Its not restricted to rent. Anytime you have a fixed payment the creditor has a choice of either adding late fees to the outstanding balance and/or not crediting a full payment.

I had a simialr situation with my mortgage a number of years ago. I didn't agree with their escrow calcs so I paid what I felt was a reasonable escrow amount. Apparently the software had a threshold with respect to the payment. If the amount was within a certain pct of the full payment, they accepted it. If not, they applied what was paid, but not as a full payment so the payment became late.

So, your only option is bring the rental up to date.