The first day is the day after the rent was due.
Maximum ordinary late fee for rent due in monthly installments.
Maximum ordinary late fee for rent due in weekly installments.
A late fee may be imposed only one time for each late rental payment.
Start with the five-calendar-day trigger
G.S. 42-46(a) says the ordinary residential late fee is chargeable only when a rental payment is five calendar days or more late. The statute also clarifies that the first day is the day after the rent was due. Preserve the lease due date and payment confirmation before checking the amount.
Monthly rent uses the greater of $15 or 5% of monthly rent
For rent due in monthly installments, the statute allows a late fee no greater than fifteen dollars or five percent of monthly rent, whichever is greater. This is not a “lower of” rule, so calculate both numbers before comparing the posted amount.
Weekly rent uses a separate greater-of formula
For rent due in weekly installments, the ceiling is four dollars or five percent of weekly rent, whichever is greater. Do not reuse the monthly $15 benchmark for a weekly tenancy.
One late payment cannot generate repeated ordinary late fees
Subsection (b) says a late fee may be imposed only one time for each late rental payment. It also says a late fee for a specific late rental payment may not be deducted from a later rental payment in a way that causes the later payment to become delinquent. Compare the ledger sequence when fees appear to roll forward.
Water or sewer nonpayment is a separate statutory issue
Subsection (d) says a lessor may not impose the subsection (a) rent late fee because the tenant failed to pay water or sewer services provided under G.S. 62-110(g). A landlord-billed water/sewer late-payment issue therefore should be reviewed under the utility billing framework rather than automatically treated as a rent late fee.
Do not combine eviction-related fees with the ordinary rent late fee
G.S. 42-46 also contains separate provisions for complaint-filing, court-appearance and second-trial fees in qualifying summary-ejectment situations. Those are separate statutory categories with their own conditions. Keep each ledger line separate rather than adding them into the ordinary subsection (a) late-fee formula.
Documents to compare
- Written rental agreement and late-fee clause.
- Rent due date and payment confirmation.
- Monthly or weekly tenancy/payment schedule.
- Resident ledger showing the late-fee date and amount.
- Prior payment showing whether a late fee was rolled into a later rent payment.
- Water/sewer statement if the disputed line arose from utility nonpayment.
- Any separate eviction-court fee notice if additional G.S. 42-46 charges appear.