New York late fee laws for rent: the $50 or 5 percent cap
New York has one of the lowest late fee ceilings in the country. Under Real Property Law 238-a(2), a landlord may charge a late fee only when rent is still unpaid five days after its due date, and the fee cannot be more than $50 or 5 percent of the monthly rent, whichever is less. Any lease term that waives these limits is void.
What does the New York statute say about late rent?
Real Property Law 238-a is titled "Limitation on fees." Subdivision 2 deals with late rent in two ways. It sets the timing: no fee unless the rent is unpaid five days after the date it was due. And it sets the size: not more than $50 or 5 percent of the monthly rent, whichever is less. The word "less" does the work. The cap is whichever number is smaller, so it can never exceed $50, however high the rent.
When does 5 percent matter, and when does $50 win?
Five percent equals $50 when monthly rent is $1,000. Below $1,000, 5 percent is the smaller number and sets the cap. At $1,000 and above, the $50 figure is the cap.
| Monthly rent | 5 percent | Most you can charge |
|---|---|---|
| $640 | $32 | $32 |
| $900 | $45 | $45 |
| $1,000 | $50 | $50 |
| $2,600 | $130 | $50 |
Example a made-up owner of a two-family house rents the upstairs unit at $2,600 and the downstairs unit at $640. Rent for both is due on the 1st and neither is paid by the 6th. On the 7th the upstairs fee can be at most $50, not $130, and the downstairs fee can be at most $32. Together the owner may charge at most $82 for the month.
Can the fee grow, repeat or be charged daily?
The statute speaks of "a late fee" with a hard ceiling. It does not authorize a recurring per-day charge, interest on the fee, or a second fee for the same missed payment, and a daily structure would be hard to square with a flat dollar limit. The safe reading for one late payment is a single charge, once, at or below the lesser-of figure. Check with a New York attorney if your lease uses anything more elaborate, because a clause that breaks the limits is exposed.
Does it apply to co-ops, and what about bounced checks?
Section 238-a(2) lets a cooperative housing corporation (other than some state-supervised ones) charge a shareholder up to 8 percent of the monthly maintenance fee for late maintenance, if the proprietary lease or occupancy agreement provides for it, so this post's numbers are for ordinary landlords and their tenants, including tenants of a shareholder. Subdivision 2-a handles returned checks separately: a bounced rent check fee is allowed only if the lease provides for it, and it is limited to the greater of the landlord's actual costs or the amount set by General Obligations Law 5-328(3). That fee is a different charge from the late fee, so a bounced check can lead to both, each under its own rule.
What if your lease says something higher?
Subdivision 3 says a lease or contract provision that waives or limits these protections is void. A tenant does not lose the cap by signing a lease with a bigger number. The statute's own text is the best source for this, and a local attorney is the right person to ask about your specific lease.
Where do New York owners usually slip?
The most common error is copying a lease form from another state. A clause that says "10 percent of rent after the 3rd" is simply outside New York law, and because the lease cannot waive the limit, the tenant does not lose anything by signing it. The second is counting from the wrong day. The statute asks whether rent is unpaid five days after the due date, so write the due date and the first fee date as two separate lines in the lease and check them against a calendar.
A third slip is mixing charges. A bounced check fee, a late fee and a legal cost are three different items with three different rules. Record each as its own ledger line so the late fee alone can be compared to the lesser-of cap, and so the tenant sees exactly what each charge is for.
How DoorKeeping handles it in New York
DoorKeeping's New York rules carry the five-day wait and the lesser-of $50 or 5 percent cap. After you approve a late fee rule once, fees post automatically and stay within that cap, and each property keeps its own books so the fee is recorded on the right ledger. Tenants pay your own bank, matched by memo and exact cents. This is general information, not legal advice.
Sources
- New York Real Property Law 238-a, Limitation on fees (NY State Senate), read Oct 30, 2026
Questions
- What is the maximum late fee in New York?
- The lesser of $50 or 5 percent of the monthly rent. For rent of $1,000 or more, the cap is $50.
- How long is the grace period for rent in New York?
- A fee may be charged only if rent is unpaid five days after its due date.
- Can a New York lease set a higher late fee?
- No. A lease provision that waives or limits the protections in 238-a is void.