Late fees

[Daniel Albano]

Is there a time period in which a landlord is required to claim late fees? My landlord is telling me I need to pay late fees from four or five months ago. She lives in San Mateo and I live in Sacramento. I'm required to send the rent check every month by the fifth. She is claiming I didn't do this several months ago.

[Christopher Phillips]

No. If they have a record of late payments, they can ask for them whenever. Most property managers have an accounting system that shows all the late payments. Sometimes it's not worth send them out one at a time, so they wait until later in the year to send out a statement of tardiness.