THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, November 12, 1994 TAG: 9411100514
SECTION: REAL ESTATE WEEKLY PAGE: 02 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: William Mazel and Albert Teich Jr.
LENGTH: Medium: 67 lines
Q. Several months ago, my wife and I leased a very nice apartment for $650 per month. There is a provision in the lease that says the rent is due the 1st of the month and if not paid within five days of the due date, we will owe a 15-percent late fee.
Normally, we pay the rent on the due date. Recently, the payment simply slipped our minds and I did not realize until the 6th of the month that we had not paid the rent. We immediately went down and delivered a check but now our landlord claims we owe the late payment in the amount of $97.50 in accordance with our lease.
We contend that it was made within the five days of the due date and therefore we do not owe the $97.50. Our landlord says that the clause in the lease required the rent to be paid by the 5th of the month.
We believe that the 6th of the month is within five days of the due date on the 1st. Who is correct?
A. Leases are strictly construed against the person who drew the lease and, in this case, your landlord gave you a form lease to sign and you signed it. It will be strictly construed against your landlord.
It is our contention that the clause ``within five days of the due date'' means that if the due date is the 1st of the month, you have until the 6th to pay the rent before the penalty accrues.
Accrual does not start until the 7th of the month. If your landlord had wanted to the lease provision to be made any clearer, then he should havse said ``if the rent is not paid by the 5th of the month, a late payment will be imposed.'' Maybe the landlord's counting method would be at variance with ours, but we believe that you had until the 6th of the month before the late payment fee could be imposed. We believe you are correct. ONE
Q. A well-known real estate company acts as our property manager for two mobile homes we own in another state. One of the trailers is occupied by a single mother. She has been paying late fees since June because of a large car repair bill.
Last month, the property manager decided to drop the late fees, hoping it would help the tenant catch up. As of today, the rent is 22 days late. I do not mind the late payment once in a while but I cannot carry everyone's problems on my shoulders. Other than her paying the rent late each month, she seems to be a good tenant.
Any suggestions?
A. As we have said before, we cannot give advice as to landlord-tenant problems in other states as far as law is concerned. However, in your situation, while you do not want your rent to be late, you have to consider the trouble of re-renting the property to someone else as opposed to renting the property to a person who pays but pays late.
Sometimes it is better to have a late payment than no payment at all. If the property is easily re-rented, we would suggest that you cut your losses as soon as you can and evict the tenant and re-rent.
If you may lose a couple of month's rent before being able to obtain a new tenant, you might consider leaving things the way they are, continue to badger your tenant but work with her to catch up. MEMO: Albert Teich Jr. and William Mazel are real estate lawyers based in
Norfolk. Send comments and questions to them at Real Estate Weekly, 150
W. Brambleton Ave., Norfolk, Va. 23510.
by CNB