Rental payment late fees

Hi There. I would advice you to send your tenant a demand letter to pay or you would have to file a dispossessory action against them. and Yes, include the late fee.. If after the 7 days and no payment made, you can file it at the Magistrate Court. I have my property in GA and had just finished with the eviction of my tenants after 5 months. If you file, they have 7 days to answer and normally they will ask to mediate, meaning they will pay you but if you want to pursue an eviction ( if there is a pattern of always being late), you cannot accept any payment or else your case would be dismissed. If your tenant is smart enough just like mine, they will file bankruptcy. Bankruptcy protects them for x amount of time. Our Tenants had filed one after another. We have been to 4 hearings and finally the BK judge granted us to be relieved form her automatic stay – that she received when she filed BK. They file BK to stall eviction any action against them..

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First, the pay or quit notice should be served immediately. Also, let’s be clear, rent is due on the first. It’s a common misconception that because there is no late fee for XX days that rent is due XX days after the first. You can put up the pay or quit notice the day after the rent is due i.e. the second. The pay or quit notice should include and and all late rent, late fees, and other charges as applicable.

I would suggest that in the future you separate the clause about when the rent is due and the late fee into two distinct clauses. This helps the tenant understand that a late fee is not a change in the due date.