Residential Lease Question

[Drey Taylor]

Hello,

I have a rental property that I recently purchased and took over from a property management company. My question is regarding the current lease with the existing tenant, which is a Texas Association of Realtors Residential Lease. The paragraph that covers "Late Charges" reads as follows:

"If Landlord does not actually receive a rent payment in the full amount at the designated place of payment by 11:59 p.m. on the 3rd day after the date on which it is due according to Paragraph 5A, Tenant will pay Landlord for each late payment:
(1) an initial late charge equal to $25.00; and

(2) additional late charges of $10.00 per day thereafter until rent and late charges are paid in full."

Paragraph 5A states that rent is due on the first day of each month. I interpret the above to mean that late charges will be assessed on the 5th day of the month, or in other words, the tenant has until 11:59 p.m. on the 4th day of the month (3 days after due date) to pay without extra charges. However, the property management company that previously managed this lease had been charging late fees beginning on the 4th day of the month. This tenant is frequently late due to his pay date so I want to make sure I am being fair and accurate on this. Seems pretty straightforward, but since an actual management company interpreted it differently I thought I would seek other opinions on the matter.

Thanks for any insight!