Rent Grace Period: What is It?

If you have ever rented a home, you have probably seen the term "grace period", but do you know what it is? Some renters just ignore this term and pay their rent on the due date; others take full advantage of the grace period and pay at the latest possible time without a late fee. Why is this in your lease?

The grace period is the time between when the rent is due and when a late fee is charged. In some areas, the grace period is required by law, in others there is no requirement. The grace period is typically used to give tenants a few extra days to get their rent paid before they are charged a fee. This can help avoid disputes which arise from the "it's in the mail" claim. By giving an extra few days, if there is a delay in the mail, the rent will still be received before a late fee is charged.

So, why not just pay on the last day of the grace period? Many tenants do pay on the last day of the grace period, without penalty, but it is not recommended. The grace period is designed as a courtesy to tenants, and abusing it will not earn you any good faith with a landlord or property manager. In fact, many leases state that it is a breach to continuously pay late. This is not often enforced because of evicting followed by advertising to secure a new tenant, but it does give cause for termination of a lease. Paying rent after the due date is often a violation of your lease.

Besides violating the lease, you lose the benefit the grace period was designed for. If you have a legitimate reason you cannot pay on time. If you plan to pay on the last possible day and a problem comes up, you will have to pay a late fee. The idea behind the grace period is to help you avoid these charges, but if you abuse it, you lose the benefit. Also, since you have been paying late the whole time, your property manager won't have much sympathy for you when you are charged the late fee and will be much less likely to waive the fee for you.

Make sure you do your best to pay the rent by the due date, if you are late every once in a while, that is ok; it's what the grace period was designed for. If you can't afford to pay your rent by the due date, you may need to look for a less expensive place to live or try to work something out with your landlord.