# Late rent fees **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 10, 2014, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/late-rent-fees/695210 "2014-08-10T03:53:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![shiftless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9c0ed/32.png) [@shiftless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shiftless)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2014, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/late-rent-fees/695210/41 "2014-08-12T14:16:03Z")
> [@Chip\_Dundas](#): > > Great question. Next time I’ll take more time when reading a lease. Shades of my son’s college years. He and his roommates had a couple of cases of WTF! because they didn’t read the lease. I told him to think of the late fees as tuition. Every lease is different and they include all kinds of things that most of us would never think of. For example, make sure you know when you have to give notice that you intend to vacate. We assumed that signing a years lease meant we would be leaving in a year. 12 months later we found out that 2 months notice was required, so we had to pay two extra months rent for a place we couldn’t use. ---
**Author:** ![Ann\_Hedonia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ann_hedonia/32/319_2.png) [@Ann\_Hedonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Hedonia)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2014, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/late-rent-fees/695210/42 "2014-08-12T15:33:53Z")
Before you go all confrontational on their asses, try apologizing and asking if they will waive the late fee just this once. It may work. My building management has a loose policy of waiving the late fee for first time offenders IF THEY ASK …nicely, I suggest. If they ask in a not nice manner they might piss off the woman working the phones who might then forget to pass along the request. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Zagna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d2c977/32.png) [@El\_Zagna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Zagna)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2014, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/late-rent-fees/695210/43 "2014-08-12T16:31:19Z")
So, Chip, give us an update. ---
**Author:** ![DingoelGringo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9d8465/32.png) [@DingoelGringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DingoelGringo)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2014, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/late-rent-fees/695210/44 "2014-08-12T16:42:42Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Why would you sign the lease if the terms were not acceptable? Who ever reads a lease? ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2014, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/late-rent-fees/695210/45 "2014-08-12T16:45:47Z")
> [@DingoelGringo](#): > > Who ever reads a lease? Seriously? I’ve read every one I’ve ever signed and walked away from one that I can think of. ---
**Author:** ![Seanette](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/seanette/32/9139_2.png) [@Seanette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seanette)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2014, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/late-rent-fees/695210/46 "2014-08-12T16:56:06Z")
Why in the world would anyone sign a CONTRACT without bothering to read what’s being committed to? ---
**Author:** ![AnaMen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dfb087/32.png) [@AnaMen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AnaMen)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2014, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/late-rent-fees/695210/47 "2014-08-12T18:22:57Z")
> [@DingoelGringo](#): > > Who ever reads a lease? If you can’t understand the “legalese” in a document, and thus think there is no point in reading it, take a copy to someone who can – a lawyer or free legal service, if you don’t know and trust a friend or relative that can. Don’t you think your signature means anything? Why would you agree to an unknown? ---
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2014, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/late-rent-fees/695210/48 "2014-08-12T19:25:29Z")
I used a free service once to help me understand a lease. It was a local organization. If you don’t have one nearby, in not sure what the next best option is. Anyone have experience here? ---
**Author:** ![shiftless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9c0ed/32.png) [@shiftless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shiftless)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2014, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/late-rent-fees/695210/49 "2014-08-12T20:25:35Z")
I had my son contact a local lawyer who specialized in renter issues when he had a problem. Cost about $50 to find out that he DID owe the money, so it didn’t help us then but it would have been well worth the $50 if we had gotten him go over the lease beforehand. When you’re spending something like $3-5000 on a lease for a year and you don’t want to read all the legalese then 50 to 100 bucks seems like a good investment. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Zagna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d2c977/32.png) [@El\_Zagna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Zagna)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2014, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/late-rent-fees/695210/50 "2014-08-13T13:05:44Z")
Well, I’m just a tad bit skeptical of these claims that some of you have made that you read and understand every contract you sign. Does that include the EULA of every piece of software you have installed? IANAL, but I believe that most - maybe all - states have laws that protect people from certain excesses that they might agree to in a contract. Usury laws would be one example. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2014, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/late-rent-fees/695210/51 "2014-08-13T13:28:55Z")
> [@El\_Zagna](#): > > Well, I’m just a tad bit skeptical of these claims that some of you have made that you read and understand every contract you sign. Does that include the EULA of every piece of software you have installed? > > IANAL, but I believe that most - maybe all - states have laws that protect people from certain excesses that they might agree to in a contract. Usury laws would be one example. I used to read EULAs for a living. Once you know what you are looking for, you can scan through them in a few minutes (and for laughs: [Video-game shoppers surrender their immortal souls - Boing Boing](http://boingboing.net/2010/04/16/video-game-shoppers.html)) Legalese gets pretty easy after a while. Its simply a dialect. And leases in particular don’t tend to be long or difficult to understand. Plus, where your EULA for an individual carries frankly very little risk (its unlikely Microsoft is going to come after an individual for installing Office on more than one computer, or for not deleting your Home Use Program copy when you leave a job) - a lease is a big deal. Try a 200 page statement of work, master services agreement, non-disclosure contract package - and redlining that over four or six months until you start changing things that you SWEAR you changed already. You cannot sign away your rights in a contract, nor can a contract force illegal behavior - including violate usury laws - but that isn’t the case here. And some transactions - like mortgages - carry a lot of regulation around them. Leases do carry a lot of regulation around them - but a $100 late fine for six days late - you aren’t likely to find a law even in a state with a lot of renters rights laws that think $100 is out of line - much less a libertarian leaning state like Montana. ---
**Author:** ![AnaMen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dfb087/32.png) [@AnaMen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AnaMen)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2014, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/late-rent-fees/695210/52 "2014-08-13T13:40:36Z")
I don’t sign software agreements, I click that I have read them, and yes, I scan them quickly. Anything weird would jump out at me. Normally any document you are asked to read and sign on the spot will be short enough to actually do so. If it isn’t, you probably should have a lawyer involved. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2014, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/late-rent-fees/695210/53 "2014-08-13T15:03:28Z")
> [@AnaMen](#): > > I don’t sign software agreements, I click that I have read them, and yes, I scan them quickly. Anything weird would jump out at me. > Normally any document you are asked to read and sign on the spot will be short enough to actually do so. If it isn’t, you probably should have a lawyer involved. Or - like a mortgage - the closer will send you all the documents in advance so you can review them before you show up. My husband and I still drive the closer nuts because we BOTH read and negotiate contracts at work, so we at least scan EVERYTHING vaguely legal. So I scan and sign - pass the paper to him and he scans and signs, the closer pulls out and explains the next piece of paper - I scan and sign, he scans and signs. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Zagna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d2c977/32.png) [@El\_Zagna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Zagna)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2014, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/late-rent-fees/695210/54 "2014-08-13T16:10:10Z")
> [@Dangerosa](#): > > I used to read EULAs for a living. Once you know what you are looking for, you can scan through them in a few minutes And the rest of us are grateful that there are those who do that and keep the publishers honest. You are also right that for a law to override something in a contract, the contract would have to have some seriously excessive language. Here in Texas we have something called a [landlord’s lien](http://www.housing-rights.org/lien.html). This basically allows the landlord to take a tenant’s stuff if they get behind on payments. As you can imagine, the law is very specific on what you can take and how the landlord’s lien is presented in the contract. The wording has to be precise, and it must be highlighted or bolded on the contract. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/late-rent-fees/695210.md?page=2)