The Arboretum & HSL properties are in the habit of refusing payment when there is a disagreement over whether rent is late or not. This creates a situation where they believe they can continue to accrue late fees on top of late fees when the tenant has already attempted to at least pay the principal rental amount in questions and thus at the very least stop any further accrual until the late payment issue can be resolved.

This intimidation tactic and process of in effect, charging a late fee upon a late fee, may very well have a good chance of being found a fraudulent practice when questioned in court (i.e. illegal under Arizona Revised Statutes section 44-1211, Fraudulent conveyance or other transaction with intent to defraud others or defeat creditors; classification). The additional late fees of $25 a day in addition to the initial late payment fee of $50 could easily create a situation where HSL properties thinks the resident owes thousands of dollars in late fees on one $500 rental payment that may or may not have been late. The charging of excessive late fees has frequently been found to be a fraudulent practice in American courts.

I seriously doubt these late fee practices would stand up in court and encourage any residents affected by this situation to seek legal action or, at the very least, not be intimidated and feel free to tell HSL Properties to try their luck in court and serve papers in an attempt to collect these late fees on late fees.

Many courts have ruled that late fees must have some basis in actual damages suffered by the landlord due to late payment. Do not be intimidated by HSL's tactics, they have very little chance of getting a judgement for thousands of dollars because of a $500 rent payment that was late for a few days.

User Responses
From: merijane04	Date: 12/06/2007
You might want want to try to read your lease contract. A landord cannot accept a partial payment towards rent. If your rent is late, the late fee is then a portion of your rent, if they took your payment with out the late fee it would then be considered a partial payment. As for the late fees standing up in court, it happens every month. You would be surprised how many people are actually evicted every month from apartment communities.

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