Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in New Jersey
Is there a cap as to how much late fee rental I can be charged?
So I just moved out of my apartment and my landlord refuses to give me my security deposit back because he said I accrued over $16k worth of late fee. I was unable to pay my rent for 5 months, lost my job, and now he's threatening to take me to court for these late fees. There is a clause in my lease that says that after the 5th the late fee is $25 plus double the rate after. I must say that I did not read my lease in its entirety but that was my fault. I did however pay him $5,370 in October of last year for past due rent, returned check fee and what I thought was all of late fee so I'm a little confused. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Is there a cap as to how much late fee rental I can be charged?
Did you say 16000 in late fees?
A late fee is meant to reimburse the landlord for the extra costs in
receiving a late payment. So if you did not pay rent for 5 months, he
cant charge 5 late fees.
Thus, a late fee can be charged in only those months where a payment was
actually made, but received late.
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