Dear Fellow Landlords,

I just placed a new tenant into my freshly rehabbed 2 bedroom apartment which is part of a 4plex. As I'm new, I feel like I screened her thoroughly and she came back good on all the checks I made following Brandon's screening guide. She moved in on September 1 and since we are based in FL, hurricane Irma came through just a few days later causing us to loose power and I believe she left town for a week. She just sent me a message today stating that, since she was not working for a week, she cannot pay Octobers rent in full. She would like to pay half on time, and the remainder on the 6th. 

I'm in two minds about this. Everything I hear and read states I should continue to charge a late fee no matter what. My late fee is only $5/day after the 3rd so we are only talking $10 in late fees. My lease also states that "if tenant is late paying on two or more occasions, landlord and landlords option may terminate the lease". 

This is what I feel would be an appropriate response:

"Dear ####, thank you for informing us of this situation in a timely manner, it is appreciated. Hurricane Irma was a very bad situation for many of us in the SW FL region, we are all very thankful it was not as bad as it could of been. However, as I'm sure you can appreciate, here at ABC Properties, we also have overheads to pay for and none of our accounts are allowing late payment, we therefore take late rent payment seriously and as stated within section 1 of your lease agreement will need to charge you a late fee of $5/day until rent is paid in full. Please also note that should rent be received late on more that two occasions within a 12 month period, ABC Properties have the discretion to terminate the lease. Regards, Management"

Too harsh? Would welcome thoughts?

Thank you!

Matt