[RPPTL LandTen] Late Fee Question

Mon Jun 29 16:41:06 PDT 2015

Thanks for your input Leonard and I agree with you.  However, that's not quite the issue I am looking for.  As for the example, it assumes that no late fees were requested in the 3 day notice.
CaryLaw Offices of Cary P. SabolP.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.
      From: Leonard Cabral <LensLaw at Lenslaw.com>
 To: Cary Sabol <sabollawoffice at yahoo.com>; RPPTL Landlord Tenant Committee <landten at lists.flabarrpptl.org> 
 Sent: Monday, June 29, 2015 7:37 PM
 Subject: RE: [RPPTL LandTen] Late Fee Question

#yiv6915667837 #yiv6915667837 -- _filtered #yiv6915667837 {font-family:Helvetica;panose-1:2 11 6 4 2 2 2 2 2 4;} _filtered #yiv6915667837 {panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;} _filtered #yiv6915667837 {font-family:Calibri;panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;} _filtered #yiv6915667837 {font-family:Tahoma;panose-1:2 11 6 4 3 5 4 4 2 4;} _filtered #yiv6915667837 {panose-1:2 5 6 4 5 5 5 2 2 4;}#yiv6915667837 #yiv6915667837 p.yiv6915667837MsoNormal, #yiv6915667837 li.yiv6915667837MsoNormal, #yiv6915667837 div.yiv6915667837MsoNormal {margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;font-size:12.0pt;}#yiv6915667837 a:link, #yiv6915667837 span.yiv6915667837MsoHyperlink {color:blue;text-decoration:underline;}#yiv6915667837 a:visited, #yiv6915667837 span.yiv6915667837MsoHyperlinkFollowed {color:purple;text-decoration:underline;}#yiv6915667837 span.yiv6915667837EmailStyle18 {color:#1F497D;letter-spacing:0pt;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;text-decoration:none none;}#yiv6915667837 .yiv6915667837MsoChpDefault {font-size:10.0pt;} _filtered #yiv6915667837 {margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in;}#yiv6915667837 div.yiv6915667837WordSection1 {}#yiv6915667837 Using your 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.  If the landlord included the $50 in the notice the notice is defective because the late fee was not yet due.  In other words the landlord was demanding money in the 3 day notice on the third of the month that could not be charged until the 5th day of the month.  In my opinion that is a good counterclaim for a FCCPA violation. Leonard P. Cabral Leonardcabral at lenslaw.com             

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/ad43a353/attachment.html>