Rent Ledger
When your payments and the landlord’s charges have gotten confusing, it pays to start listing the rents
due and paid, so that you have something to compare. Omit late charges by the landlord, which are illegal
under Civil Code 1671 and 3302 [see below], but list every payment since the month before your
different began. See the example: only one entry per line, charged OR paid. Compare this with the one
your landlord supplies, and the judge will see where the landlord goofed, and over-charged the rent.
Date
Charge/Payment Description
Due
Paid
Balance Due
09/01/20
September Rent/Security Deposit -
$2,700.00
$2,700.00
$0.00
10/01/20
October Rent -
$1,350.00
$1,350.00
$0.00
11/01/20
November Rent-
$1,350.00
$1,350.00
12/01/20
Decemeber Rent and November late fee -
$1,485.00
$2,835.00
01/01/21
January Rent and December late fee -
$1,485.00
$4,320.00
02/01/21
February rent and January late fee -
$1,485.00
$5,805.00
03/01/21
March Rent and February late fee -
$1,485.00
$7,290.00
04/01/21
April Rent and March late fee -
$1,485.00
$8,775.00
05/01/21
May Rent and April late fee -
$1,485.00
$10,260.00
06/01/21
June Rent and May late fee -
$1,485.00
$11,745.00
07/01/21
July Rent and June late fee -
$1,485.00
$13,230.00
$1,485.00
$14,715.00
$1,485.00
$16,200.00
08/01/21
09/01/21
August Rent and July late fee
September rent and August late fee
Civil Code 1671 prohibits any type of “liquidated damages” in a residential rental agreement, including late fees, unless it’s
impossible or impracticable to calculate the loss from late payment. Landlords will strain to claim all sorts of reasons to justify the late
fee from emotional distress at the late payment to billable time for writing out notices or calling. These are not legitimate justifications
for the late payment, because there is no actual charge for them. Actually, Civil Code 3302 sets the loss as interest at 10% [1/3650th
per day], so the landlord doesn’t have to guess - all they could charge is interest, and not a flat percentage or dollar amount. If the 3day notice asks for too much because of late fees or landlord misappropriations, you win. In most situations, there is NO loss, because
the property management company charges a flat percentage of the rents collected, so late rent is not deducted. The interest lost for a
few days [i.e., the landlord uses savings to cover the unpaid rent] is not worth the effort to write a notice or try to collect. For years,
landlords could collect late fees, but when the law changed, hardly any landlords or judges found out about it, and many still think it’s
legal.