Can a landlord deduct past late fees from my rent deposit which were never charged at the time they occurred?

I rented a house for 6+ years. From time to time my rent went in several days late. My landlord never charged me, nor told me he was charging me, but now I have moved out, he is deducting accumulated fees from my deposit (I now supposedly owe him!). This seems outrageous and unfair.|||I agree, especially since they never told you the first time you were late that they would do this. if they had charged you the first time assumedly you never would've been late again, and could've avoided all the other late fees that are now emerging out of nowhere.





Assuming they sent you a written description of all the fees you will have to sue them in small claims court to get the $$$. Just go ahead and file in small claims court though, I think you have a very strong case.|||Google your state's landlord/tenant and consumer laws. There may be a requirement that a landlord must provide you notice of the accrued late fee. Six years is a long time, so check if there is a statute of limitations on charging late fees.





Also, be careful about admitting that you are late. If you admit that your past payments were late, then you may undermine your ability to dispute the charges.





You are probably liable for late fees charged within the last year -- if not all the late fees. In hindsight, you should have at least offer to pay the late fees as they occurred -- landlords should be responsible for financing your short fall.|||If you have a lease and it states what late fees are and they weren't paid he can now deduct them from your deposit. If your lease doesn't state anything about late fees he's not entitled to collect them now.Depending on how much money your loosing it might be worth it for you to sue in landlord/tenant court.