Question about rent and late fee charges

[basara318]

Hi all
Is it legal for the landlord to refuse rent payment for the current month if i have the money for the rent but not for the incurring late charges(i was 2 days late and owe 65$ for late fees)?
any response would be greatly appreciated
Thanks

 

[dxkj]

I doubt they would refuse it, but they might charge you late fees on the late fees.

 

[amnesiac]

Depends on the laws in your state.
In CA, the landlord can evict you for being a day late with rent and they don't need to accept it from you.
This is assuming you are paying month to month, because your "contract" is really only 1 month from the date you last paid. If you have a lease, that's a completely different story.

 

[bozo1]

In Minnesota, a landlord can't evict you if they accept a partial payment on rent, and that includes any late charges, etc. Therefore, none here would and lose their eviction recourse.

 

[basara318]

Hi all
thanks for the replies. i am just trying to gather as much info as i can. I currently live in TX and i am on a lease along with my irresponsible roomate. the entire matter is complicated but to cut a long story short. my roomate owed the apt around 200$ in late fees because he didnt pay his part of the rent in time last month and he promised he would take care of it. I called the office just to make sure that he did pay the rent for last month and they told me he paid the rent for last month but didnt pay the late fees for last month. and that they wont accept rent for feb if the late fees for jan were not paid in full. Feb rolls around and the rent is due on feb 4th, i gave my roomate my portion of the rent on the 5th, i told him i would pay the late fee (55$) for the day that i was late and that he should just go ahead and pay the rent now. 2 weeks later. i got a voicemail sayin we still owe them money. i confronted my roomate and he told me that he recved a call from the office a couple days after he turned in the rent that they cant accept the money order because we still have late charges of 210$. when i asked him if he paid his late charges last month in time and he told me yes. but there would be no way that i owe em 210$ for that one day i am late and they CANT refuse to take the rent for this month. furthermore, as far as i know when i looked in the texas tenant handbook. chargin late fees on late fees is not legal. I am gonna call the office tomorrow and find out what exactly is going on but i am kinda upset because, first of all if its my fault that they didnt take the m.o because we just paid for the rent and not for the late charges(which should be just 55$ for the day i am late). why wasnt i informed of this by my roomate. I suspect my roomate simply didnt pay the late charges for last month on time. any other opinions?