Q. I told the landlord that I would be paying the rent late (on the 20th of the month). Now he is charging me $500. For his lawyers fees for evictioning me. I made the rent payment when I told him I would and have not been late before or after this one time. But he still says I owe him the $500. Is this legal? I would think that it is not since it was not even 30 days late. Thanks
Answer
New Jersey has very specific laws.
If you are even one day late with the rent, the landlord can file for eviction based upon non-payment. A grace period is the period before you are charged a late fee and has nothing to do with the day your rent is due. If you rent is due on the 1st and they don't have it by midnite, they can file the summons & complaint at 9:00 am on the 2nd. There is no "30 days" or whatever in New Jersey. Filing for non-payment requires no prior notice unless your landlord put it in your lease that they would give you notice.
If you don't have a lease, your landlord cannot charge you late fees or legal fees.
If you live in a rent controlled unit, most towns have limits on the late fee that can be charged. Other than that, the late fee is subject to a reasonableness test that varies from county to county. Usually it runs around 10%.
If you do have a lease that lists late fees and attorney fees as "additional rent" you will have the fees taken out of your deposit if you don't pay.
But the really good news is that in New Jersey, landlords are limited to "reasonable" actual attorney fees ... and $500 is laughable since you didn't even make it to the court appearance stage.
The filing fee on a non-payment case in New Jersey is anywhere from $27 to $32, depending on what county you are in. To do the actual paperwork involved in filing a non-payment complaint, the going rate for an attorney in New Jersey is anywhere from $75 to $200. The complaint would have been statutorily dismissed when you paid the rent, so there would be no court appearance fee.
Look at the summons & complaint you received. It should have the name of the attorney or firm that prepared and filed it. If you didn't get a summons & complaint then your landlord is lying about having filed because there is no way to stop the process once it is started. If he tries to tell you that he or they called the court and "told them not to serve you because you paid" then he is lying. You would have been served anyway, and the notice of dismissal would have been sent to the court separately.
If you were served a summons & complaint but it wasn't prepared by AND signed by an attorney, then your landlord is lying. Make sure an attorney signed it, and that your landlord just didn't do it himself and insert the name of a lawyer or firm.
Your landlord had every right to file (assuming he actually did), but he can't pull numbers out of his butt. If he filed himself, the most he can charge you is the actual filing fee of $27 to $32. He can't charge for his time, gas, etc. It's strictly actual cost.
If he tries to take an imaginary fee of $500 out of your deposit, you can sue him in small claims under the consumer fraud statute. That means he will have to pay you $1,000 (double what he owes you) for trying to cheat you.
How many units are in your building? Is it owner occupied? Were you notified of the location of your deposit in writing within 30 days of giving it to him? I'm asking because there may be a way to protect yourself from him trying to deduct anything from your deposit depending on your answer. Post the answer to those questions as additional info, and I will update my answer to tell you if you can do this or not.
New Jersey has very specific laws.
If you are even one day late with the rent, the landlord can file for eviction based upon non-payment. A grace period is the period before you are charged a late fee and has nothing to do with the day your rent is due. If you rent is due on the 1st and they don't have it by midnite, they can file the summons & complaint at 9:00 am on the 2nd. There is no "30 days" or whatever in New Jersey. Filing for non-payment requires no prior notice unless your landlord put it in your lease that they would give you notice.
If you don't have a lease, your landlord cannot charge you late fees or legal fees.
If you live in a rent controlled unit, most towns have limits on the late fee that can be charged. Other than that, the late fee is subject to a reasonableness test that varies from county to county. Usually it runs around 10%.
If you do have a lease that lists late fees and attorney fees as "additional rent" you will have the fees taken out of your deposit if you don't pay.
But the really good news is that in New Jersey, landlords are limited to "reasonable" actual attorney fees ... and $500 is laughable since you didn't even make it to the court appearance stage.
The filing fee on a non-payment case in New Jersey is anywhere from $27 to $32, depending on what county you are in. To do the actual paperwork involved in filing a non-payment complaint, the going rate for an attorney in New Jersey is anywhere from $75 to $200. The complaint would have been statutorily dismissed when you paid the rent, so there would be no court appearance fee.
Look at the summons & complaint you received. It should have the name of the attorney or firm that prepared and filed it. If you didn't get a summons & complaint then your landlord is lying about having filed because there is no way to stop the process once it is started. If he tries to tell you that he or they called the court and "told them not to serve you because you paid" then he is lying. You would have been served anyway, and the notice of dismissal would have been sent to the court separately.
If you were served a summons & complaint but it wasn't prepared by AND signed by an attorney, then your landlord is lying. Make sure an attorney signed it, and that your landlord just didn't do it himself and insert the name of a lawyer or firm.
Your landlord had every right to file (assuming he actually did), but he can't pull numbers out of his butt. If he filed himself, the most he can charge you is the actual filing fee of $27 to $32. He can't charge for his time, gas, etc. It's strictly actual cost.
If he tries to take an imaginary fee of $500 out of your deposit, you can sue him in small claims under the consumer fraud statute. That means he will have to pay you $1,000 (double what he owes you) for trying to cheat you.
How many units are in your building? Is it owner occupied? Were you notified of the location of your deposit in writing within 30 days of giving it to him? I'm asking because there may be a way to protect yourself from him trying to deduct anything from your deposit depending on your answer. Post the answer to those questions as additional info, and I will update my answer to tell you if you can do this or not.
Edison NJ police detective is charged with shoplifting from local supermarket?
Sanju
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2009/04/edison_police_detective_charge.html
Edison police detective is charged with shoplifting from local supermarket
by Tom Haydon/The Star-Ledger
Wednesday April 01, 2009, 8:15 PM
An Edison police detective with 22 years on the force faces a charge of shoplifting from a township supermarket, but his lawyer called the allegation baseless.
David Yanvary, 54, is accused of taking $42 worth of items from a store on March 17, Edison Police Director Bryan Collier confirmed today.
Chris Faytok/The Star-LedgerEdison police officer David Yanvary walks out of police headquarters in Edison today. Yanvary, a 22 year veteran on the force, is accused of shoplifting at a local supermarket. 4:12:34 PM
"This department has drawn a line in the sand. Misconduct of any kind will not be tolerated. The tax-paying public and the men and woman of this police department deserve no less," Collier said.
He declined to comment further on the charges.
Yanvary, who worked for the township nearly eight years before joining the police force for a total of more than 29 years of service, has filed for retirement.
Timothy Smith, a South Orange lawyer representing Yanvary, said his client filed for retirement more than a week ago.
"He wasn't serve with the charge until late yesterday. It's totally unrelated. One has nothing to do with the other," Smith said. He called shoplifting charge "baseless" and said "we're very confident he will be totally vindicated," Smith said.
He claimed the charge was filed by a vindictive supermarket manager. Yanvary had receipts for the merchandise, Smith said.
When Mayor June Choi took office in 2006, he called for stronger leadership, accountability and discipline to the force, which suffered a string of embarrassing incidents involving its officers in the past.
Last year, in a shake-up of the department, Choi tapped Collier, a former federal drug enforcement agent, to be township police director.
Answer
So what is your question? This news article is from April 1 - April Fools Day! But I don't think it's a joke...actually it's a shameful way for a police officer to go out. I hope he really does have receipts and is found innocent of the charges - after all, it took a couple weeks for the grocery store manager to come forward with the charges.
By the way, in my area (Ohio), the Olmsted Township Police Chief had to resign from his job last Friday after getting caught in a park with another man and is facing sex charges. And the Olmsted Falls high school band director was sentenced to 3 1/2 years in prison today for having sex with one of his students. Both of these are worse than possible shoplifting. But why wouldn't a police officer have enough money to pay for his groceries?
So what is your question? This news article is from April 1 - April Fools Day! But I don't think it's a joke...actually it's a shameful way for a police officer to go out. I hope he really does have receipts and is found innocent of the charges - after all, it took a couple weeks for the grocery store manager to come forward with the charges.
By the way, in my area (Ohio), the Olmsted Township Police Chief had to resign from his job last Friday after getting caught in a park with another man and is facing sex charges. And the Olmsted Falls high school band director was sentenced to 3 1/2 years in prison today for having sex with one of his students. Both of these are worse than possible shoplifting. But why wouldn't a police officer have enough money to pay for his groceries?
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