Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in New Jersey

I would suggest that you fight the landlord, tell them NO, and let them sue you. Go to Court, tell the Judge and...well, if you lose be prepared to hand them the money right there in Court.

Don't give in! No guarantees that you will win, but if it were me, I would fight them.

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I am not aware of any statute on point that requires the LL to add a day to the 'grace period", but generally, if closed they add a day to the time period. I suspect there is a 50:50 chance a judge would say you are not entitled to a grace period, and if you had paid on time, there would not have been an issue. Generally, a grace period is to allow time for the mail, bad weather, and for minor mistakes, like you forgot this month, but it is not a right, and if you always pay it on the 10th, I do not see the judge having any sympathy for you, but who knows...

The statute requires a seven day grace period but it excludes holidays. That is why most leases allow ten days. You have already had your extra day. The problem with trying to fight paying the $25 is that, in a well-drafted lease, the landlord is also entitled to the costs of collection including attorney fees as "additional rent". In my opionion, the judge has no latitude here. You owe the $25 plus any other additional rent and must pay that if you are to be allowed to stay. So, you options are: (1) pay the $25 now; (2) pay the $25 plus court costs and attorney fees later; or (3) move.

See also: http://info.corbettlaw.net/lawguru.htm

You did not indicate whether you have a written lease or not. In order for the non-payment of the late fee to be grounds for eviction, a lease must specifically state that late fees shall be considered "additional rent." If the lease does not specifically say this, then the nonpayment of the late fee is not considered the nonpayment of rent. While you still owe it, it cannot be used to evict you. The best your landlord can do is sue you for it, or attempt to withhold it from your security deposit when you leave. If the lease does provide that late fees are considered to be additional rent, then nonpayment is grounds for eviction. If your lease says that you have a 10 day grace period, then you have a 10 day grace period. Not 11 days. That's the breaks. Is your landlord being tacky for threatening to evict you? Yes. But that is irrelevant to whether you owe it. If you challenge your landlord to file an eviction complaint over this, as suggested by one of the other attorneys, you obviously run the risk of losing and having to pay the $25 to avoid eviction. But that's not all. If your landlord hires an attorney, and your lease provides that attorneys fees shall be considered additional rent, then if you lose you may find yourself having to pay the landlord's attorney's fees in addition to the $25 in order to avoid eviction. This could run from $250 to $750. Do you want to risk that over $25? In addition, your landlord will consider your March rental payment to be $25 short when he applies $25 of it to the alleged late fee. If you are found to be wrong, then you will owe a late fee for March as well. You also have to consider what your time is worth. Do you really want to take off work and spend practically the entire day in court, especially if you will lose a day's pay or lose a day off that you could spend on a vacation? Depending on the county, the judge makes the litigants mediate before any trials are held, which can take most of the morning. Most judges do not start their trials until late morning, and you may very well break for lunch and have to come back in the afternoon (depending on the county). Again, is the potential for all of this worth the $25? That is your decision.

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