How Much Can a Landlord Charge for a Late Fee? Limits and Grace Periods by State

It depends on your state. Seventeen states and D.C. set a specific limit, usually a percentage of the rent (5% is the most common), a flat dollar amount, or a "greater of" or "lesser of" formula. Most of the rest set no number, but a late fee still has to be in the lease, and courts can strike a fee that works as a penalty rather than a reasonable estimate of what late payment costs you. Many states also set a grace period before any fee can be charged, from two days in Texas to 30 days in Massachusetts.

This guide covers the cap in every state, the grace periods, the rules that apply even where there's no cap, how to write a late fee clause, and how to collect.

Late fee limits and grace periods by state

Generated from the MakeLease state-law dataset (51 jurisdictions, statutes last checked 2026-10-30). Researched and cited by MakeLease · not yet attorney-reviewed. City and county rules can be stricter.

Two notes on reading the table. "No state cap" means the statute sets no amount, not that any fee is fine; see the section on reasonableness below. And the New Jersey grace period applies only to certain tenants: seniors receiving Social Security or equivalent government pensions, and tenants receiving SSDI, SSI or Work First New Jersey benefits, whose rent is due on the 1st get five business days. Other New Jersey tenants have no statutory grace period (N.J.S.A. 2A:42-6.1 to -6.3).

How the caps work

State caps come in a few shapes:

• A percentage of rent. Delaware, D.C., Maryland, Nevada and New Mexico cap the fee at 5%; Maine at 4%; Hawaii and Minnesota at 8%; Tennessee (in URLTA counties) at 10% of the past-due rent.
• The greater of a percentage or a dollar amount. Colorado: the greater of $50 or 5% of the past-due rent (C.R.S. § 38-12-105). North Carolina: the greater of $15 or 5% of monthly rent (N.C. Gen. Stat. § 42-46). Utah: the greater of 10% of the rent or $75 (Utah Code § 57-22-4).
• The lesser of a percentage or a dollar amount. New York: the lesser of $50 or 5% of monthly rent (N.Y. Real Prop. Law § 238-a). Connecticut: the lesser of $5 per day up to $50, or 5% of the late rent (Conn. Gen. Stat. § 47a-15a). Virginia: the lesser of 10% of the periodic rent or 10% of the remaining balance owed (Va. Code § 55.1-1204).
• Tiers by rent amount. Iowa: up to $12 a day and $60 a month when rent is $700 or less, or $20 a day and $100 a month above that (Iowa Code § 562A.9).
• A safe harbor. Texas presumes a fee is reasonable up to 12% of rent in buildings of four or fewer units, or 10% in larger buildings; a higher fee is allowed only if it doesn't exceed your actual uncertain damages, and initial plus daily fees count together as one fee (Tex. Prop. Code § 92.019).
• A choice of methods. Oregon lets the written agreement specify a reasonable flat fee once per period, a daily fee of up to 6% of that flat fee, or 5% of the rent for each five-day period late, all starting on day 5 (ORS 90.260).

Once per late payment

Several caps limit you to one fee per late payment: Colorado, Connecticut, D.C. and North Carolina among them. Daily fees that keep growing are either capped (Iowa, Connecticut) or counted as part of the one fee (Texas).

Subsidized tenants

Where a housing agency pays part of the rent, some states calculate the fee only on the tenant's share. Minnesota, North Carolina, Connecticut and D.C. all do this.

Grace periods

A grace period is the time after the due date before you can charge a fee. Where a state sets one:

Washington goes further: for leases entered into or renewed on or after July 27, 2025, a lease may not require the tenant to agree to late fees for rent paid within five days of the due date, and knowingly using a banned clause can cost actual damages and up to two months' rent in statutory damages (RCW 59.18.230).

Your lease can give a longer grace period than the statute. It can't give a shorter one.

States with no cap: keep it reasonable

No cap doesn't mean no limit. Courts in several states treat a late fee as liquidated damages: enforceable only as a reasonable estimate of your costs from late payment, and void if it's really a penalty.

• California has no numeric cap, but a residential late fee is enforceable only if it's a reasonable estimate of the landlord's actual costs from late payment that would be hard to calculate (Cal. Civ. Code § 1671).
• Oklahoma's Supreme Court held that a $5-per-day charge on top of a $20 late fee was a void penalty absent proof of the landlord's actual costs (Sun Ridge Investors, Ltd. v. Parker, 1998 OK 22).
• Ohio courts strike or reduce fees that are unreasonable penalties or unconscionable (Ohio Rev. Code § 5321.14).
• Arizona sets no number, but the fee must be reasonable and in a written rental agreement (A.R.S. § 33-1368(B)).
• Illinois has no statewide cap, but Chicago and suburban Cook County set their own.

A fee in the range of the common state caps (about 5% of rent, or a modest flat fee) is easier to defend than one far above them. Keep a short note of why you chose your number: your time chasing the payment, bank fees, the cost of covering your own bills late.

Rules that apply almost everywhere

• Put it in the lease. Nearly every state's rule, cap or not, starts with the fee being in the rental agreement. Several (Arizona, Connecticut, D.C., Minnesota, Oregon, Texas, Virginia) specifically require it in writing. Maine requires written notice at the start of the tenancy that the fee may apply.
• Charge late fees only on rent. Colorado's 2026 junk-fee law bans late fees on non-rent charges, and New Mexico calculates fees on rent alone. North Carolina bars late fees on unpaid water and sewer charges.
• Don't charge a fee for a refused payment. In Oregon since 2026, refusing an allowed payment method bars late fees for that nonpayment.
• Bounced checks are separate. New York caps a bounced-check fee at the greater of $20 or your actual costs, and only if the lease provides for it.

How to write a late fee clause

Late Charge. Rent is due on the [1st] day of each month. If Landlord does not receive the full rent by [11:59 p.m. on the 5th day of the month / the end of any grace period required by law, if longer], Tenant will pay a one-time late charge of $[amount], which the parties agree is a reasonable estimate of Landlord's costs from late payment. The late charge applies only to unpaid rent and will not exceed the maximum allowed by law.

Set the dollar amount within your state's cap, and the grace period at or above your state's minimum. The lease agreement generator includes a late fee clause you can set when you build the lease, and late fee laws by state has each state's rule.

Collecting a late fee

1. Remind on the first late day with a friendly message. Many late payments are oversights.
2. Send a written late rent notice once the grace period passes, stating the rent owed and the late fee. You can fill in a late rent notice and print it. The full sequence, from the first reminder to a formal notice, is in what to do when a tenant pays rent late.
3. Apply payments carefully. Wisconsin, for example, requires applying any rent prepayment before charging a fee and bars charging a fee for not paying a late fee.
4. Know your state's nonpayment notice if rent stays unpaid. In California, a 3-day notice to pay or quit must state the exact rent owed and can't include late fees.

Our guide to rent collection strategies covers payment plans and partial payments.

Sources

Official sources cited above (checked 2026-10-27), plus the state statutes linked in the table:

• Arizona Revised Statutes § 33-1368
• California Civil Code § 1671
• Colorado Revised Statutes title 38 (§ 38-12-105)
• Connecticut General Statutes § 47a-15a
• Iowa Code § 562A.9
• New Jersey DCA, senior citizen 5-day grace period law (N.J.S.A. 2A:42-6.1 to -6.3)
• New York Real Property Law § 238-a
• North Carolina Gen. Stat. § 42-46
• Ohio Revised Code § 5321.14
• Oklahoma Supreme Court, Sun Ridge Investors, Ltd. v. Parker, 1998 OK 22
• Oregon Revised Statutes chapter 90 (ORS 90.260)
• Texas Property Code § 92.019
• Utah Code § 57-22-4
• Code of Virginia § 55.1-1204
• Revised Code of Washington § 59.18.230