late payment on rent: landlord demands compensation for bank overdraft

My check for this month's rent bounced. My landlord incurred a large overdraft fees as a consequence of this and the fact that it took him 10 days to find out. As soon as he let me know, I gave him the rent within 24 hours. He wants to be compensated, however, for his entire overdraft which is about 25% of the rent. Is this my liability? And should he be allowed to demand this compensation?

Let me preface this by saying I'm not a lawyer.

That's difficult to say. Put yourself in his shoes, who would you blame?

Has he at least asked his bank to refund any of the fees? Seems like he could at least do that. Many banks will refund half of OD/NSF fees or more if it's the first offense.

MAKE SURE TO GET A COPY OF THE STATEMENT. DON'T JUST TAKE HIS WORD FOR IT.

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You do owe him any bounced check fees that the bank charged him for your bad check (normally $25-35), and any late fees listed in your lease. You don't owe him for overdraft fees his bank chanrged him to cover his own account.

In future, pay with a money order, or be sure the money is in the account prior to writing the check. I suggest your LL take the check to your bank to cash it, rather than just depositing it in his own acount too. He'll find out immediatley if the account has enough for the check to clear and won't incur any fees.