RPA Tenant Rights Blog » Uncategorized » Late fees and cleaning fees

Late fees and cleaning fees

By Graham Mills

Hello,

So I need some advice.
I recently finished a lease with an individual landlord, and soon after received a letter detailing a substantial amount of late rent fees and cleaning fees that I had accumulated during the course of the one year lease, without my knowledge.
My lease started August 1st, 2010 and ended July 31st, 2011. However, I notified the landlord that I would be out of the unit by July 1st, 2011. During that time, I apparently was late with my rent for October 2010, January 2011, March 2011, April 2011, and May 2011. Each late rent entails a $45 late fee, plus $5 per day that it continues to be late.
With the exception of March 2011, my landlord never notified me that my rent was late or that a fee had been assigned. In march I received a phone call from him asking if I had sent the rent check, which I had. Even then, no mention of an assigned fee was made. The lease dictates that the late fee must be paid during the month the rent is due. 
On July 29th, I received the letter which indicated that I had around $250 worth of late fees, and that they had to be paid, no exception. When asked why I wasn’t notified at the time these fees were assigned, the landlord said that fees were "a touchy subject for landlords and tenants, and I try to deal with each person the way I think they would like to be."
I asked for verification that the rents were indeed late, and he said that they kept the post dated envelopes that were late. This leads me to assume that he intentionally did not tell me about the fees to force me to pay more, and convey the impression that my rents were not late, and thus there was no reason to change my payment schedule.
Is this entrapment? Any legal advice would be much appreciated.
Additionally, I moved out of the apartment on July 1st, one month before my lease was up. The lease was not terminated early. The landlord indicated that if I had the place clean and ready by the 15th, that he could try and rent it early and give me back rent. I spent 35 hours cleaning the apartment to all of his specifications. That place was clean, and had a couple of small scratches in the floor that I knew I would have to pay for. I scheduled a closing walk through with the landlord for July 14th. 
On July 14th, the landlord failed to show up for the walk thru. I called him and he had "simply forgot" and would not be able to meet me that night. Still under the assumption that he was trying to rent it out early, I told him that I was leaving the keys with the adjacent unit, and that if there were any issues with the apartment, to contact me. (My mistake for not getting it in writing.)
I received no notification that anything was wrong with the apartment until July 29th, when the letter arrived detailing a significant amount of additional cleaning and damages, beyond the small scratches. This cleaning pertained to some dust on curtains (not shades), and dust on moulding 6 inches from the ceiling, and then a couple of other damages that were actually made by the landlord himself. That’s it.
It turns out the landlord did not rent the unit out early, and instead made all of the cleaning changes during the two weeks my lease was still active. He never notified me that any cleaning was required, or that fees would need to be assigned. Everything except for the scratches could have been easily fixed by me without any fees. 
So I ask again, is this entrapment?

Do I have a legitimate complaint?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Pin It
Email
Print

Related posts:

Holy Cow, we couldn't find any other related post. Sorry. :(

YARPP

Edited on: Tuesday, August 9th, 2011 6:24 pm
Get Started

No Responses to “Late fees and cleaning fees”

My response: (We welcome stories, examples, explanations, answers and a touch of your personality)
 

Close


Yes, the RPA® Can Help You!

Filing an official complaint is the nation's fastest way to solve tenant problems.

Not Ready? Learn more...

Ohio Complaint Filling Deadline  Tips/Suggestion

Need Help Filing Your Complaint?

Agents Available Mon- Fri 10am to 10pm

Recently Resolved Complaints:

See how the Nation's Rental Authority has helped thousands of tenants already!

Ask Question:

Post a new question to the RPA Tenants rights forum.

You Have Tenant Rights.
Recently Posted Questions:

Over 4,000 questions have been asked by tenants including these new posts:

Tenant Rights Categories

Popular categories about renters rights.