Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in California

Your late fee may be unreasonable

A rental agreement cannot include a pre-determined late fee. the exception to this rule is when it would be difficult to figure out the actual cost to the landlord caused by the late rent payment. even then, the pre-determined late fee should not be more than a reasonable estimate of costs that the landlord will face as a result of the late payment. A late fee that is so high that it amounts to a penalty is not legally valid (http://www.dca.ca.gov/publications/landlordbook/living-in.shtml#latefees)

So it depends on what your reasonable costs you incur are. Going to court in an unlawful detainer and eviction process you may look unreasonable; you may lose... You may want to talk with apartment owners association to see what may be reasonable here

If the tenant does not pay on the due date next month, you might the very next day serve upon the tenant a 3-day notice to pay or quit for the rent due, only. (Prepare it in advance.) If the tenant does not catch up by day 4, then don't accept rent and file an unlawful detainer. As Mr. Green suggests, seeking your late payment penalty at that time might be more trouble than it's worth.

I agree with Mr. Cohen and Mr. Green and write just to clarify. You cannot evict for non-payment of fees, especially if they are too high to be legal (I'm not sure I agree with Mr. Green that yours are, depending on what your daily interest is on your mortgage on the property, and what late fees you are charged on the loan - he is right that the late fee you charge must be a good faith ballpark estimate of your losses/expenses of late payment). So if your tenant is current on the rent, you cannot evict. Mr. Cohen is correct, too, however, that once the rent is past due, you do not have to wait any longer to issue a 3-day notice to pay rent or quit (rent ONLY, you cannot include any other charges, such as late fees). If the rent is not paid in the 3 days, you are under no obligation to accept the rent and may proceed with the eviction lawsuit.