[RPPTL LandTen] Late Fee Question

[Manuel Farach]

Cary,
I haven’t seen a case that says what the judge told you; I’m interested in seeing that case when/if you find it
Manny


________________________________

[cid:image84e42a.GIF at 492ea519.49ac8ff2]

Manuel Farach / Of Counsel - Board Certified in Real Estate Law and Business Litigation by The Florida Bar

Richman Greer P.A.
One Clearlake Centre
Suite 1504
250 Australian Avenue South
West Palm Beach, Florida 33401
Office: 561.803.3500
Fax: 561.820.1608
Direct: 561.803.3501
Email: MFarach at richmangreer.com
V-card<http://richmangreer.com/uploads/vcards/VcardFarach.vcf>

www.RichmanGreer.com<http://www.RichmanGreer.com>

U.S. Treasury Regulation Circular 230 requires us to advise you that written communications issued by us are not intended to be and cannot be relied upon to avoid penalties that may be imposed by the Internal Revenue Service.

Incoming emails are filtered which may delay receipt. This email is personal to the named recipient(s) and may be privileged and confidential. If you are not the intended recipient, you received this in error. If so, any review, dissemination, or copying of this email is prohibited. Please immediately notify us by email and delete the original message.


________________________________

From: landten-bounces at lists.flabarrpptl.org [mailto:landten-bounces at lists.flabarrpptl.org] On Behalf Of Cary Sabol
Sent: Monday, June 29, 2015 2:37 PM
To: RPPTL Landlord Tenant Committee
Subject: [RPPTL LandTen] Late Fee Question

Hi All,

I recently had a Judge say to me that there is case law which states something to the effect of when a lease provides for a late fee to be incurred on a certain date, that is a de facto extension for the rent due date and therefore, rent is not actually "late" until after that late fee period has passed.  And as such, a 3 day notice cannot be served until after the late fee period has passed.

By way of example.  Lease says rent is due on the 1st.  Lease says a Late Fee of $50.00 will be incurred if not paid by the 5th.  Landlord serves 3 day notice on the 3rd since rent was not received by the 1st and proceeds with eviction for nonpayment.

Question is:  Is there case law in Florida that would indicate the 3 day notice is defective because the rent isn't technically "late" until after the Late Fee period has passed?

I have done the research but have not found anything stating this.  Seems counter-intuitive to me because rent is due on the 1st per the Lease and the Late Fee period is just an additional penalty.  And what if you take that argument to the logical extension and say, well the Lease does not provide for any late fee date at all, so rent is therefore, never late.

Anybody have any case law or comments on this issue?

Cary
Law Offices of Cary P. Sabol
P.O. Box 15981 | West Palm Beach | Florida | 33416
Phone: (561) 281-2744
________________________________
IRS Circular 230 Notice: Pursuant to recently enacted U.S. Treasury Department Regulations, we are now required to advise you that, unless otherwise expressly indicated, any federal tax advice expressed above was neither written nor intended by the sender or this firm to be used and cannot be used by any taxpayer for the purpose of avoiding penalties that may be imposed under U.S. tax law. If any person uses or refers to any such tax advice in promoting, marketing or recommending a partnership or other entity, investment plan or arrangement to any taxpayer, then the advice should be considered to have been written to support the promotion or marketing by a person other than the sender or this firm of that transaction or matter, and such taxpayer should seek advice based on the taxpayer's particular circumstances from an independent tax advisor.

Confidentiality Notice: This electronic mail transmission is intended for the use of the individual or entity to which it is addressed and may contain confidential information belonging to the sender which is protected by the attorney-client privilege. If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any disclosure, copying, distribution, or the taking of any action in reliance on the contents of this information is strictly prohibited. If you have received this transmission in error, please notify the sender immediately by e-mail and delete the original message. Thank you for your cooperation.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.fsr.com/pipermail/landten/attachments/20150629/0930d0ae/attachment-0001.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image84e42a.GIF
Type: image/gif
Size: 4791 bytes
Desc: image84e42a.GIF
URL: <http://mailman.fsr.com/pipermail/landten/attachments/20150629/0930d0ae/image84e42a-0001.GIF>