Section 8 late fees in ComiCalifornia

[Donald Candella]

Does section 8 allow late fees to be charged on the tenants portion of the rent. Example section 8 pays $2,000.00 and the tenant portion is $800.00, is it within my rights to charge the tenant 10% ($80.00) in addition to their obligation of $800.00 for being late? Can I collect any additional fees for every day past due?

Lets say they are 17 days late when they finally cough up the rent, I would like to charge them 10% plus $10.00 a day for every day late they are which would equal $170.00 plus $80.00 plus the rent of $800.00 equalling a total of $1050.00.

I have not run into this problem, but my father always had problems with section 8 tenants and I want to be within my legal rights if I have problems.

[Greg M.]

Unless the law has recently changed, late fees are allowed for S8 tenants. Keep in mind, in CA, late fees have to be based on the actual loss you suffered from the late payment. Given that it would be near impossible to quantify actual losses, it is best to keep the late fee reasonable.

Your calculation of 10% + $10/day would probably not be considered reasonable. That would work out to ~$400 for a month, or 50% of the tenants cost of rent. Much better to be reasonable, especially since you will be defending your policies in front of a judge if it goes that far. Consider a short grace period, much smaller initial late fee, and an additional day fee that doesn't start on the 1st of the month, but the day after the initial late fee was imposed. 

FYI, you can't evict S8 for non-payment of late fees, so even if you charge them, the tenant can just not pay and you'd have to non-renew. And if the tenant didn't have the rent money, why do you think they will suddenly have it plus late fees?