Rent Late Fee Calculator (with State Limits)

How to use the late fee calculator

Enter:

• Monthly rent.
• Days late, counting from the due date in your lease.
• Fee type: a flat dollar amount, or a percentage of the rent.
• State.

The calculator shows the fee and flags it if it’s over your state’s cap or if the rent isn’t late enough yet to charge one under a statutory grace period.

The late fee formula

• Flat fee: the amount in your lease
• Percentage fee: monthly rent (or past-due amount, where the statute says so) x percentage
• Then compare with the state limit, which might be a percentage, a dollar figure, a “lesser of” or “greater of” test, or a day count before any fee is allowed

The “lesser of” and “greater of” rules trip people up. New York’s cap is the lesser of $50 or 5% of monthly rent. North Carolina’s is the greater of $15 or 5%.

A worked example

Rent is $1,650 and your lease sets a 5% late fee. 5% of $1,650 is $82.50.

State	Rule	Max fee on $1,650	Earliest you can charge
New York	Lesser of $50 or 5% of monthly rent	$50	After 5 days
Colorado	Greater of $50 or 5% of past-due rent	$82.50	7 days late
Texas (4 or fewer units)	Presumed reasonable up to 12%	$198	2 full days after the due date
Maine	4% of one month’s rent	$66	More than 15 days late
Tennessee	10% of past-due rent	$165	After a 5-day grace period
Ohio	No statutory cap; must be reasonable	No fixed figure	Per your lease

In New York, your 5% clause would be cut to $50. In Maine, 5% is over the 4% cap, so the most you can charge is $66, and only after the 15th day. In Texas, a $75 flat fee is well inside the 12% presumption.

What a good late fee looks like

A good late fee is big enough that tenants pay on time and small enough that a judge wouldn’t call it a penalty. Many small landlords set it at or under 5% of the rent with a short grace period, because a fee that reads as reasonable is easier to collect and defend. Put the amount, the grace period and the date it applies in the lease, and charge it the same way every time. Waiving it for one tenant and not another invites trouble.

Statutes behind the flags

• Colorado: C.R.S. § 38-12-105
• Connecticut: Conn. Gen. Stat. § 47a-15a
• Massachusetts: Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 186, § 15B(1)(c)
• New York: N.Y. Real Prop. Law § 238-a(2)
• North Carolina: N.C. Gen. Stat. § 42-46
• Oregon: ORS 90.260
• Texas: Tex. Prop. Code § 92.019
• Washington: Rev. Code Wash. § 59.18.170 (no fee until rent is more than 5 days late)

Limits of this calculator

• Local rules can be stricter. The Chicago RLTO and Cook County RTLO cap late fees at $10 a month for the first $1,000 of rent plus 5% of the rent above $1,000. Some Ohio cities, such as Dayton, have local caps.
• “Reasonable” isn’t a number. In states without a cap, the tool can’t tell you what a court will accept. California, for example, requires the fee to be a reasonable estimate of your actual damages.
• Subsidized housing often has its own rules in the program agreement.
• General information, not legal advice. Check your state’s statute before you write the clause.