Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Re: Can a landlord refuse to accept a rental payment because of non payment of a

If the lease or rental agreement calls for the late charge of Y, and the charge is not unlawful because excessive, then the late charge is part of your obligation and failure to tender it along with the normal rent is a default just as actionable as failure to tender any payment.

Therefore, you can still be served with a three-day notice, so in net effect there would be very little net difference between the landlord's accepting part payment and refusing part payment.

For this reason, I would recommend paying the full amount rather than questioning the legality of the refusal to accept part payment. The only way to keep yourself out of the same kind of trouble is to make full payment.

As an aside, I believe the landlord is entitled to insist on full payment all at once on or before the due date, and therefore can decline partial payments, even if the partial payment is the full regular rent minus only the late charge. Many landlords will accept partial payments of rent, but they are not obligated to do so.

Re: Can a landlord refuse to accept a rental payment because of non payment of a

Howdy:

To expand on the previous answer, contractual obligations (like late fees) are typically deducted from payments first. So, even though you paid $500, and expected it all to be rent, the first $50 would go to the late fee. This would leave you $50 short on the rent. And, that's an amount you can be evicted over.

Pay the late fee.

rkr