Not properly notified of late rent 4 months in a row...now fees!

[Haylee Limbean]

I live in Oregon. I received a letter from my apartment manager with a bill for 4 consecutive month's worth of late rent fees, totaling over $300. I had no idea my checks were being received late, and have chalked it up to a very laggy mail system (it shouldn't take over a week to deliver an envelope less than 10 miles away). If I had been notified of the 1st late rent offence, I would have began mailing my checks much sooner or delivering them in person and nipped the whole problem in the bud right away. However, I was completely unaware of any issue, and receiving a bill 4 months later looks very seedy to me.

I've been in regular contact with the apartment manager about this and he even admitted that they "need to work on a better communication procedure for things like this", but that it's ultimately not their fault because the checks late, bottom line.

I tried to play hard ball by paying 1 one of the fees (because I only received 1 letter of notification from them), but they still won't take the other 3 fees off my account.

Any advice is much appreciated!

[Deanna McCormick]

What day did  you mail the checks ?? If they are postmarked prior to the 1st you should usually not receive a late fee. I would look on your bank statement and see what date the checks cleared.

We never charged a late fee if the payment was postmarked prior to the 1st.

Double check mailing address make sure zip code is on letter.

Check with Oregon state landlord law about what the maximum landlord can charge for late fee's In Minnesota it can not exceed 8% of the rent amount.. Just google Oregon landlord tenant laws and you should find it.