Tenant Paid Rent but Still Owes Late Fee

[James P.]

Good afternoon everyone,

The Tenant in my home decided to have his father mail me the check for the last months rent. I mentioned to him that after his parents paid the first months rent and security deposit I would only accept money from him. I have a NTQ which I had a marshal deliver to his door on 6/12.

Additionally, his father did not include the late fee in the check dated 6/12 which rent was due by the 10th.  The check just arrived today 6/15

My question is, should I email my tenant advising that I received the rent from his father and per our agreement at the start of the lease that he needs to write me the check himself and include the $50 late fee, *5% late fee? OR just deposit it and ignore the late fee? (my lawyer advised a no contact)

ALSO if he does not include the late fee, do I still have grounds for eviction as I do not want to accept partial payment?

Finally since he paid/trying to pay can I continue with the eviction process?

I will hopefully be in touch with my lawyer soon but wanted some advise.

Thank you everyone, I appreciate your continued help! :)

[Nathan Gesner]

A lot of Landlords and Property Managers will apply the rent to other charges before applying it to rent. That way you still have an unpaid rent balance and can evict for non-payment of rent. For example, your tenant's payment of $500 would be applied to the $50 late fee charge first, then $450 towards rent, leaving $50 in unpaid rent.

The problem is that you never know if the court is going to back you because it's really a peanut-shuffling game.

In your case, I would send the tenant a written notice reminding them of the policy and the outstanding balance. Keep it short and to the point. Then wait to see what they do. Odds are, they will be late with rent again next month and you'll be heading towards eviction.