pay or quit notice Texas - include late charges?

Question

We will be sending our tenant a pay or quit notice for non payment of rent for a rental house located in Houston Texas. We are new to this. The lease stipulates charges for late fees(an initial charge and then daily). Do we include in the notice the late fee charges (as of the date of the notice)? I have seen examples of notices online but do not see any mention of late charges - just the rent itself.
Thanks

Account Closed · Answer

In the notice I've always included both the rent and accrued late fees. For me it's the amount you are willing to accept from the tenant to not evict the tenant. However, when I file for eviction in the JP courts I only specify the pro-rated rent amount that is owed when I fill out the forms. When you actually go in the court hearing you can request a judgement for the non-payment of rent, late fees, attorney fees if any, and court costs when you present your case. That's been my experience with the JP / County courts in Dallas.

Dion DePaoli · Answer

If you have a provision for late charges it doesn't hurt to state the contract language perhaps even with section reference if available.  I always try to make my correspondence as lawyer like as possible.  Which to me just translates into clear concise statements.  Ensure reference to property, tenant and contract terms along with due as of and an additional daily fee if applicable.  You may want to include both the remedies for contract breach and deadlines as well as the tenant obligations for partial and full payment situations.

For instance if they pay the rent in full but do not pay the late fees, do late fees still accrue?  What happens if they do not pay the late fees.

I tend to scope out the letter as much as a stern landlord as much as a kick in the butt to the tenant to make sure they know all the rules too so we are all on the same page.

Account Closed · Answer

Sorry to hear about not getting any late or legal fees. From my (limited) experience my impression is that the rules vary from courts to courts and from judge to judge. In one case where I had to file an eviction I tried to loop in late fees in the case filing and the county clerk asked me to only include the rent that was outstanding and actually went through the exercise of calculating the pro-rated amount of non-payment of rent to the dollar. I would say that YMMV in terms of what amount you can claim in a FE&D claim for non-payment of rent. It seems that some courts allow you to include late fees and some don't in your case filing, but it doesn't hurt to request for it in front of the judge, whether or not it was in the petition. In the case when I was not allowed to list late fees the clerk deferred me to go to small claims court for that amount.

In your notice to the tenant I would include late fees and other costs allowable dictated by your lease agreement. As far as filings in the county if they let you include other misc fees (late fees, attorney fees, etc.) in the petition do it so you don't get short changed as with @Dick M.

You can also call the county clerks office that your property falls under and ask them. I had to call at different times of the day since some clerks were grumpier than others. If you have time on your hands find out what days the eviction hearings are at the county and sit in on several hearings. You'll learn a lot just hearing other people go through eviction hearings. I've found that was a great way to "recruit" prospective attorney's that you've been impressed with and ask them for advice in your particular case. Great way to seek free legal advice! YMMV

Dick M. · Answer

I just went to court and didn't get late or legal fees because I didn't mention them in the complaint I filed with the court

pay or quit notice Texas - include late charges?

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