What fees work well in your lease

[Lewis A.]

Most of us charge fees/penalties in our leases. The normal late fees, application fees etc. Can you mention what other fees have worked well for you please?

Some ideas to start the conversation.

We email our tenants all notices and they agree to that method of communication in their lease. If they do not acknowledge a notice in a set period of time the notice is attached to their door, we are exploring adding a penalty fee for this in the lease to compensate administrative costs.

We very rarely pay utilities on behalf of a tenant, when we do, we charge that amount to their invoice at no additional cost. We are thinking of adding a 10% charge to those utility bills.

We have considered court fees for a while. We go to court ourselves and are considering adding a penalty/fee for this as it requires preparation and a large part of our day.

I know this can all be dependent on state but I would like to know what has worked well for you please.

[Nathan Gesner]

Quote from @Lewis A.:

Too many to list, but here are some common ones:

1. Lockout fee. If I have to bring them a key, I'm charging for the trip. If it's after office hours, I'm charging double (still less than a locksmith).

2. Notice fee. If I have to post a notice on their door, they will be charged. This could be for lease violations, but also if I can't reach them to schedule an inspection or maintenance.

3. Utilities. If I have to handle utilities for them, there is a markup. If utilities are in the Tenant's name but then revert out of their name, I charge a fee for every utility bill I have to process until they get it back in their name.

4. Tenant-caused maintenance. If they cause the problem, they pay for it.

5. Lock change. If they request a lock change, I charge them.

6. Lease change. If they make any changes to the lease, such as adding or removing a roommate, then I charge them a fee for the contract adjustment.

7. Pet rent and/or deposit

8. Trip charge. If Tenant misses an appointment, or if they cause a trip that was unnecessary, they will pay me for my time.

9. Eviction. If I start the eviction process, Tenant is charged for any expenses along the way. If they want to pay so that I stop the eviction, they pay me a fee depending on how far along I am.

There are many more!