To get this out of the way, you’re not a lawyer, or you’re not my lawyer, laws vary by jurisdiction, this isn’t legal advice, that about cover it?
So my landlady sent me a little nastygram today because supposedly I have this history of being “late” on the rent (like she gets it on the 2nd instead of the 1st) and she’s trying to cahrge me a $50 late fee. No intention of paying it regardless, but she enclosed a copy of the lease provision she’s citing. The language of the provision is “$X due by the 1st of each month (deduct $50 if paid by the 1st).” She’s saying that since my March rent wasn’t in by the 1st I owe $X+50. Now, the way I read it is if I pay by the 1st I owe $X-50 and after the first I owe $X. Since I’ve been living there I’ve been paying $X every month. Wouldn’t the plain language of the lease provision (absent any other provision or some aspect of law) indicate that I’ve actually been overpaying $50 every month my rent’s been in on the 1st or earlier?
I think you’re spot on, if the the language of the provision is as you’ve given it. (And yes, I am not your lawyer, don’t know your jurisdiction, not giving legal advice, etc.)
Most cities have a department that will help you with landlord-tenant problems (more specifically, with ensuring compliance with Fair Housing laws). If you call city hall and tell them that you have a dispute with your landlord over your lease (it appears she is trying to charge you more than the lease allows), they will likely refer you to some office that can provide you actual legal advice.
A couple of things to consider, however: First, read the whole lease. Make sure there isn’t something else in there that’s going to swing around and wap you on the head if you pursue this.
Second, do you want to continue living there? Because if you push this too hard or too far, you may find yourself out in the cold (figuratively or literally). I wonder why your landlady is pushing this issue now – does she need money? is she trying to force you out to raise the rent?
If you can, you may be best off to sit down with her and try to figure out where she’s coming from and negotiate a reasonable solution to this. Good luck.
Her writing is flawed. In some places, a late penalty is not allowed, so the lease is written with ($desired rent+$penalty) expressed as the payment due on the 15th, with a prepayment courtesy discount of ($desired rent) due on the first.
I read it the same way. It is not the same language as the Wisconsin lease available online, so you may find All Leases Not Created Equal in Wisconsin of some interest.
I initially posted from work and didn’t have the lease in front of me so I thought perhaps I’d mis-remembered, but nope. The original lease (signed back in 2000) states (using phony numbers because my rent ain’t any of y’all’s bidness):
“$500.00* per month.”
“*If rent is paid by the 1st of each month, deduct $50.00.”
Then under “special conditions” it says “**If rent is received by the 20th of the month prior to the month for which rent is to be paid, an additional $10.00 may be deducted.”
Rather than signing a new lease every year I sign a “lease extension agreement.” The most recent one, from July of 2004, says
"2. Rent of $550 for the premises is due on the first of the month and is payable at [landlady’s office address], delivered or mailed. Other fees for (blank struck through) in the amount of (blank struck through) will be added to the monthly rent.
“3. All other terms and conditions of the original lease agreement, including any addendums, not modified by this lease extension agreement, shall remain the same.”
So yeah, I’m totally reading this as if I pay by the 1st of the month I owe $500 because of the $50 deduction from the original lease.
This is huge. If my interpretation is correct, not only does my landlady have no right to add a late fee but I’ve overpaid my rent by hundreds of dollars over the last 4.5 years.
Otto, the extension language muddies the waters a little bit. I still think that our interpretation is correct, but maybe there’s enough doubt for a judge to find some ambiguity in the documents.
If so, extrinsic evidence as to the parties’ intent may come in. One method of devining the parties’ intent is their course of performance. If you’ve been paying the full rent, with no deductions ever, no matter when it was paid, the LL could argue that your actions show that you intended to agree to her version of the clause.
Also, your actions might be held to be a waiver of the right to make a deduction.
Does the lease have a non-waiver clause and, if so, is it mutual?
Find out what the laws are in Madison. Here, even if there is a provision for money for late rent in a lease, it’s not legal for a landlord to collect on that unless he/she can prove costs acquired by not having the rent on time. ‘Late fees’ are nothing more than an intimidation tool here.
If your records are good enough to back it up, and you have by and large paid by the 1st, I you should calculate how much money they owe you, and ask for a refund.
The UW law school used to have a service where you could talk to law students for legal advice (with all the usual disclaimers), though I don’t know if they still do. You might give the school a buzz and see if that is still available.
If you’ve paid in time 10 months of every twelve, they owe you a couple of thousand bucks. But, some of that may not be collectable because of statutes if limitation, hence the idea to talk to a law student.
I don’t need records; the landlady kindly provided me with a list of all the dates and amounts paid as part of her snark.
As it now stands I don’t want to antagonize the landlady. I do still have to live here after all, at least for a while. I’m thinking down the road, if she tries to screw with my security deposit.
I think you’ve already antagonized her, as she’s trying to levy a late fee against you which she has no apparent right to do. And if she’s not antagonized yet, she probably will be when you refuse to pay the fee.
If you want to stay there when your current lease runs out, you have another reason to talk to a lawyer, because if I were you (and about to refuse to pay her demands) I would figure she’ll try to boot me out. I have no idea if a tennant has any legal right to expect a continuation of a lease if they haven’t violated any of its provisions, but I’d start researching that question right now…
