do late fees expire when it comes to rent?

Question

We incurred a late fee in Sept.'09 but the property management didn't informed us until last month. We have a new property management & they say we got this late fee back in Sept. & we owe them the late fee plus interest. 
We were never informed of this late fee to begin with plus we have to pay with money orders & the money order is dated the 31st of Aug. Not to mention between Aug. 2009 & Jan. 2010 we overpaid $8 extra  a month making it a total of $48 extra which would technically cover almost the whole thing. 
But we didn't respond to the first letter they sent last month so now they are trying to charge us an additional late rent fee on top of the original plus the interest.  It is adding up to $95 which the original late fee was only $35. They are charging  $20 in interest and they raised the late fees to $40 without informing me & that's where the additional $4o comes in.
I don't know how to fight this. They said I should have got receipts when I turned in my rent but our managers office is only open 3 hours a day & we usually just drop it off in the drop off slot, plus the previous property management (the one charging the late fee) told us that the money orders were our receipt & wouldn't print one out for us when we did turn it in there.
I have written a letter of intent & made copies of all my receipts but is it enough? Can they still charge me the new late fee & interest?

Kini · Accepted Answer

The money orders are your receipts that you paid. You are supposed to be aware of the late fees you owe when you know you havent paid on time. It is probably in the lease so you are expected to know this. You should have responded to their letter. Why did you overpay $8 per month? They can raise the late fees but they have to advise you of them. Whatever you owe them, just tack it on to the rent with an explanation of why the amount is different from what they are asking. Late fees do not expire. They add up.

Anonymous · Answer

No, if you have a copy of your M.O. dated Aug. 31st., they can't charge you a late fee for Sept., especially since it's a new manager. How is he going to prove it was paid late when you have the receipt for the money order, even if you did give it to them late.

And if you overpaid $48 start hounding them for that, or tell them it is coming out of next months rent, and get something in writing.

Make them sorry they bothered you over this trivial matter and annoy the heck out of them :-)

chatsplas · Answer

READ your lease carefully, particularly clause on late fees
Put it in writing to manager
They should NOT be so stringently enforcing something done by last manager because they have no one "in the know" about circumstances
Having a dated MO is good, but NOT absolute proof of timely payment as you could have held it in pocket for weeks
Send polite, businesslike letter to manager
State that you paid former mgr on time, you have MO date to prove it, that you were never informed of any late fees, and that you do not owe any late fees and respectfully decline to pay them
In a separate paragraph, request a refund of the overpayment, with interest
They cannot change terms of lease, of penalties, in midst of lease, so carefullly read lease penalty clauses first

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do late fees expire when it comes to rent?

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