When is rent due? Due dates, grace periods and late fees

Your lease sets the due date

In many states, rent is payable without demand or notice at the time and place you and the renter agree. Alaska, Kansas and Nebraska all say so in their landlord and tenant acts (AS 34.03.020(c); K.S.A. 58-2545(c); Neb. Rev. Stat. § 76-1414(3)). The lease, not a reminder, sets the deadline. Put the due date, where and how to pay, any grace period and the late fee in the lease itself.

When the lease does not say

• Alaska: rent is payable at the start of any term of one month or less, and otherwise in equal monthly installments on the same date each month as the tenancy began (AS 34.03.020(c)).
• Kansas: unless you agree otherwise, rent is payable at the start of each rental period of one month or less, and otherwise in equal monthly installments at the start of each month (K.S.A. 58-2545(c)).
• Virginia: only where no written lease is offered is rent due on the 1st and late if not paid by the 5th (Va. Code § 55.1-1204(C)).
• South Dakota: with no agreement or usage to the contrary, rent for lodgings is due monthly at the end of each month (SDCL § 43-32-12).

Defaults this different are one more reason to put the date in writing.

Grace periods: set by some states, not others

A grace period is time after the due date before a late fee may be charged. Some states set one:

• Texas: rent must stay unpaid two full days after the due date, so for rent due on the 1st a fee can apply from the 4th (Tex. Prop. Code § 92.019).
• Nevada: in tenancies longer than week to week, no late fee until at least 3 calendar days after rent is due (NRS 118A.210(1), (4)).
• New York: no late fee unless rent is unpaid within five days of the due date (N.Y. Real Prop. Law § 238-a(2)).
• North Carolina: a fee only for rent five calendar days or more late (N.C. Gen. Stat. § 42-46(a)).
• Colorado: a fee only once rent is at least seven calendar days late (C.R.S. § 38-12-105(1)).
• Connecticut: nine days after the due date, or four days for weekly rent (Conn. Gen. Stat. § 47a-15a).
• Maine: rent is late only if not paid within 15 days after it is due (14 M.R.S. § 6028).
• Massachusetts: no interest or penalty for late rent until 30 days after it was due (Mass. G.L. c. 186, § 15B(1)(c)).

Florida and California set no grace period, so any grace period there comes from your lease (Fla. Stat. § 83.46(1); Cal. Civ. Code § 1671(c)(2), (d)).

Late fee limits

• New York: $50 or 5 percent of the monthly rent, whichever is less (N.Y. Real Prop. Law § 238-a(2)).
• Colorado: the greater of $50 or 5 percent of the past-due rent, disclosed in the rental agreement (C.R.S. § 38-12-105(1)).
• Minnesota: no more than 8 percent of the overdue rent, under a written agreement that says when the fee applies (Minn. Stat. § 504B.177).
• Utah: the greater of 10 percent of the rent or $75 (Utah Code § 57-22-4(5)).
• Virginia: 10 percent of the periodic rent or of the remaining balance, whichever is less, and only if the written lease provides for it (Va. Code § 55.1-1204(E)).

Weekends and holidays

Unless your state addresses it, the lease decides what happens when the due date falls on a weekend or holiday. A few states do address it:

• Idaho: if rent falls due on a Sunday or legal holiday, the tenant may pay on the next business day with the same effect (Idaho Code § 73-110; Idaho Code § 73-108).
• Delaware: the five-day period before a late charge does not count Saturdays, Sundays or legal holidays, and a period that ends on one of those days runs to the next day that is not (25 Del. C. § 5112).
• New Jersey: the grace period for certain benefit recipients is counted in business days, which exclude weekends and state or federal holidays (N.J.S.A. 2A:42-6.1).

When income arrives after the due date

• Washington: a tenant whose main income is a regular monthly government payment that arrives after the due date may ask in writing to move the due date by up to five days, and you must agree (RCW 59.18.170(3)).
• New Jersey: when rent is due on the 1st, seniors receiving Social Security old age, railroad retirement or another government pension in its place, and people receiving Social Security disability, Supplemental Security Income or Work First New Jersey benefits, get five business days of grace with no late fee (N.J.S.A. 2A:42-6.1).
• Hawaii: a tenant on public assistance whose lease makes rent due on or before the third day after the check usually arrives may set a new due date once, by paying prorated rent for the gap (HRS § 521-21(b)).

Elsewhere, the CFPB lists changing a due date to line up with payday as one option renters can raise with a landlord. Put any change in a signed lease addendum.

What to write in the lease

• The due date and the time of day a payment counts as received.
• Where and how to pay, including any method with no extra fee.
• The grace period, if any, and the late fee amount and when it is charged.
• What happens when the due date falls on a weekend or holiday.

How Rentari helps

Online rent collection in Rentari supports autopay, so renters can pay on the due date without having to remember it, and each payment gets a receipt. Offline payments you record show in the same ledger.

Sources and further reading

• AS 34.03.020: rent payment terms (Alaska)
• Va. Code § 55.1-1204: rent terms and late charges (Virginia)
• Tex. Prop. Code § 92.019: late fees (Texas)
• N.Y. Real Prop. Law § 238-a: fees and late charges (New York)
• Idaho Code § 73-110: acts due on a holiday (Idaho)
• 25 Del. C. § 5112: computation of time (Delaware)
• RCW 59.18.170: rent due date change (Washington)
• N.J.S.A. 2A:42-6.1: grace period for benefit recipients (New Jersey)
• CFPB: Start a conversation about rent repayment

Common questions