Excessive late fees

I live in a mobile home park in Florida, where my electric, water, and sewer are all paid together with rent.

This summer due to the weather being excessively hot my electric bill doubled. Since I have my rent payment scheduled with a bill pay service it is set at the amount that usually covers the charge with $30-$40 extra that stays on the account for any unforeseen charges.

But the extra electric cost ate up anything that accumulated on the account and I was in arrears for about $400.

I was waiting for a check to come in to catch up on this arrears. But when my new rent check came in for the 2nd month, they held my check did not apply it to the rent and charged me $165 for the arrears. Claiming they can not accept partial payment.

My question is can they legaly charge you such a high amount for late charges ? This amount is technically not rent related, since my rent was paid, but the amount only covered excess electric bills.

I know even banks have laws governing how much they can charge on interests in mortgages, but is there a law that prevents a landlord from charging you high late fees ?

I need to know how I can fight this.

[OHlandlord]

First, if all the bills are lumped togather and termed in the lease as additional rent, this amount does count as rent. Late charges can be charged against it.

How much is your arrears? How much are you behind in your rent and utility bills currently? Does this late fee only cover the late charges for this month, or have they been accumulating since July? If this late fee covers several months, it could be legal. If it is only for this month and they charged $165 on a $400 bill, that would be excessive.

My next question, if you knew in July that you were behind in your rent/utility payment, why would you wait so long to try and catch up? That was 5 months ago? Surely you know that no LL is going to wait 5 months for his money.

Hi,

Thanks for getting back with me.

The late amount only happened in November when all the extra money were ate up by the excessive electric bill.

Now the thing is in November they applied my rent check even though I was $400 short. But December they refused to do that but instead they charged me $165 for being late paying on my rent.

Technically I'm only late since the 5th of December when the rent is due, up to today only 9 days, if you don't count the $400 from November.

So from what you are suggesting, there is nothing I can do since all the charged are lumped in together and they all can be considered Rent ?

So I have to pay the $165 no matter how outrageous that is ?


Thanks for giving me a heads up on this

Ellen Ciccarello

[OHlandlord]

Q: "So from what you are suggesting, there is nothing I can do since all the charged are lumped in together and they all can be considered Rent ?"

A: If all are lumped together and considered rent, they may charge late fees on the amount owed if late fees are specified in your lease.

Q: "So I have to pay the $165 no matter how outrageous that is ?"

A: Not necessarily. If the late fee is only for this motnh, and is on a total of only $400, the $165 charge is excessive. That amounts to over 40% interest on the amount due. Most judges cap late fees at 10% of the amount due, although I could find no specific statute on limitations of late fees for your state.

I suggest you pay the rent/utility bill that is due immediately (without the late fees) and send a letter to the LL telling him you dispute the late fees since $165 fee on an unpaid balance of $400 is excessive for only one month's charge. Ask him to respond to you in writing within 10 days. Send it to him by certified mail, return receipt requested, and keep a copy. Hopefully he will see it as excessive and lower the late fees to a reasonable amount. Most states do not allow a LL to evict for only unpaid late fees. But if you are on a lease, he can evict for unpaid rent. If you are on a month to month agreement, he can terminate the agreement with (usually) 30 days notice.

One other thing... You might want to check your state laws. Some states have seperate sections of the law for trailers or mobile home parks. I did not check these. My answer is based on residential LL-Tenant law, which may not apply if there are seperate laws for MH parks.

Thank you so much for breaking it down for me. This helps me to know how to deal with this situation.

PS; Since I'm unemployed this is especially sobering for me. Just think of people who can't afford to pay and also have small children to worry about. Then you run into landlords that treat you like property and show not a trace of compassion, not only that slaps heavy fines on top of what you have to take care of. Somehow I just think there aught to be a law against this kind of indecency.

Anyway, you on the other hand has been extremely helpful to me; thank you so much.

Have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you,

Ellen Ciccarello

[OHlandlord]

As in every other profession in life, there are those that are good and bad at their jobs. Most LLs take good care of their rentals, keep them in good repair, and are honest. Some LLs get power hungry, some just get discouraged or jaded by tenants with no common sense or those who have poor excuses for not paying their rent. Most tenants are reasonable people who want to pay their rent on time and take care of the units. But there are some that do not. Some LLs forget that most fall into the first category. (BTW, if this continues on and goes to court, it is doubtful that a judge will award him that amount of late fees on that level of unpaid balance for only one month's fees.) Good luck with your problem. Please update your post later to let me know the outcome. Happy Holidays to you and yours.