Why late fees cannot be waived

Late fees that are added to your rental account can be extremely frustrating. Specifically, if the reason for the late fee is due to your bank reversing your payment due to non-sufficient funds (NSF) and you believe that you had enough funds in your account to cover your rent payment in full. Or, even worse perhaps, maybe you just simply entered the payment information incorrectly when making your payment online. We certainly understand how a simple and unintentional error entering information into the online payment portal can happen and how that would be incredibly frustrating to then have late fees added to your account because the payment you thought you made never actually went through, etc. Or, perhaps, you have always paid your rent on-time in the past and this one time you simply didn't get your payment in on-time. 

Our view on enforcing the late fee policy in your lease is pretty straight forward. Rent is due on the first of each month and if the balance is not paid in full by the end of the 5th day, all fees stated in your lease which are related to being late will post to your account on the 6th day of the month. Because we give our residents a 5-day grace period and they have the ability to pay either online 24/7 or even at Walmart during hours when QwestPM is closed. We view this as a black and white policy with no subjectivity at all. It is completely clear cut. Your payment is either made before the end of the 5th day of the month, and you are on-time. Or, your account is delinquent and late fees post to your account on the 6th if payment in full was not made by the 5th. You are either on-time or late, there is no in-between. 

So, when we are asked, "Why can't you waive your late fee just this one time? I've always been on-time in the past! This was not my fault....(enter any number of reasons here)." 

That might even be somewhat true. It may not be 100% your fault. But, unfortunately, we are still unable to waive late fees. And, here is why:

Tenant's are protected and landlords are held accountable by Fair Housing Laws. Fair Housing Laws are in place for many reasons, but most importantly to protect tenants and/or prospective tenants from being discriminated againts unfairly. At QwestPM we absolutely believe that ALL of our residents should be treated the same no matter what. We believe that everyone should have that basic expectation that QwestPM will hold all residents to the same standards and accountabilities as the next resident. Treating all tenants the same is not just QwestPM's standard, but Fair Housing Laws legally require that landlords treat all tenants the same as well.  

Due to Fair Housing requirements, potential liability, and our belief in a general sense of fairness to all, we need to treat all of our residents the same and not give some residents preferential treatment. We believe that ALL of our residents (and any reasonable person) can understand that it wouldn't be right to charge one resident a late fee and waive a late fee for another resident. Fair Housing could potentially audit QwestPM to make sure that we are in fact enforcing our late fee policy equally over all of our residents as well. 

So, while we sympathize with the many real and at times legitimate reasons why the rent payment may have been made late. It is our belief and our policy that it is always best that QwestPM treats all residents the same. Further, Fair Housing legally will not allow QwestPM to waive your late fees if the late fee policy in your lease determines that late fees should be assessed.   

Respectfully,

Qwest Property Management, LLC