Reasonable late fees to charge for paying rent late

[Jonathan Blanco]

Florida Statutes 83.808 (3) talks about charging reasonable late fees when rent payments are late. Reasonable means $20 or 20% of the monthly rent, whichever is greater per the statute.

- Is this 20% per month? Per year? So if my rent is $1200 a month, can I charge 20% x $1200 = $240 every month the rent is late, or max $240 for the year? I have it in the lease that rent is due on the 1st, I charge $75 per day late fee, starting in the 2nd day rent is late.

- How much do landlords usually charge that is "reasonable" for the court? And is it charged every month rent is late?

- Can a landlord go to jail for charging unreasonable fees? Or just get their eviction case dismissed?

[Elenis Camargo]

Hi Jonathan! We manage in Jacksonville and South Florida. We like to keep it simple and instead of using a percentage, we do $100 on the 6th and $5 a day after that. It caps at $225. This way they have a significant reason to pay on time as they would get the $100 right off the bat and then increases slowly. We also post notices on the 6th and that's another $50. We don't do this to be mean or to make money, we do this to entice the tenants to pay on time. That's our #1 goal. In a perfect world, they would all pay on time and we would not many anything off posting fees or late fees. And no one will go to jail for late fees. Just make sure you're using a lease written by an attorney or work with a property manager to place your tenants for you and use their lease. Our lease has so much in it to protect owners and us. I hope this helps!