Housing & Tenant · Rent Late Fees
Rent Late Fee Limit in Tennessee
The most a landlord can charge you for paying rent late in Tennessee, the grace period you may be owed, and what to do about an unfair fee, cited to the statute.
The cap and the grace period in Tennessee
The most a late fee can be, when it can be charged, and whether it has to be in your lease.
| Maximum late fee | Where the Act applies, the fee cannot exceed 10 percent of the rent past due, measured against the shortfall rather than the whole rent. The cap catches any charge or fee, however described, so relabeling it an administrative or processing fee does not escape it. But the Act binds only in counties over 75,000 by the 2010 census. In a smaller county there is no cap at all, only the lease and general contract law. |
| Grace period | Where the Act applies, there is a five-day grace period, and the due date counts as day one. If the last day of the grace period is a Sunday or a legal holiday, no fee applies if rent is paid the next business day. Note the asymmetry: Sunday is named, Saturday is not. |
| Must be written in the lease | A late fee is enforceable only if your lease provides for it. Check the lease first. |
| Local ordinance | The county line, drawn against the 2010 census, governs the whole page, and it is frozen, so a county that grew past 75,000 after 2010 is still outside the Act. Preemption runs both ways under 66-28-102(e), so no Tennessee locality can set its own late-fee cap. |
| How it is enforced | Where the Act applies, the cap and grace period are firm limits, and a lease clause setting a bigger fee or shorter grace period is unenforceable. No priced penalty for overcharging appears in the section read, so an over-cap fee is disputed as exceeding the statute. In an uncovered county none of this applies and the lease governs. |
| Statute | Tenn. Code Ann. §66-28-201(d), with §66-28-102(a) (county coverage) |
What you can do right now
Concrete, neutral steps if a Tennessee late fee looks too high or came with no grace period. This is legal information, not legal advice.
- First, check your county
Tennessee is a county question. The Act, including the 10 percent cap and five-day grace period, binds only in counties over 75,000 by the 2010 census. In a smaller county there is no cap, so confirm where you live first.
- Apply the 10 percent to the past-due rent
Where the Act applies, the fee cannot exceed 10 percent of the rent past due, not the whole rent. If you paid part of the month, the fee is measured against the shortfall.
- Watch the grace-period counting
The due date counts as day one of the five-day grace period. If day five is a Sunday or legal holiday, no fee applies if you pay the next business day, though a Saturday gets no such relief.
- Get local help
A local Tennessee legal aid office can confirm whether your county is covered and check the fee. Search for legal aid in your area.
This is general legal information, not legal advice. Read your own lease and check for a local ordinance, since either can change the fee that applies to your home.
What Tennessee renters get wrong
Tennessee is the only state in this topic where the answer to what is the maximum late fee is a county question. Cross a county line and a renter goes from a five-day grace period and a ten percent ceiling to no rule at all, because the Uniform Residential Landlord and Tenant Act binds only in counties that had more than seventy-five thousand people in the 2010 census under T.C.A. 66-28-102. The population figure is frozen at 2010, so growth since then has not brought a single extra county inside. Where the Act does apply it is drafted with unusual care. The due date counts as day one of the grace period, a grace period ending on a Sunday or a legal holiday buys the renter until the next business day, and the ten percent ceiling catches any charge however described, which stops a landlord renaming the fee to escape it. The cap is measured against the past-due rent rather than the whole rent. Where the Act does not apply, none of that exists, which is why this page is held as cited until a qualifying-county list is compiled.
Common questions
Does the Tennessee late fee law apply in my county?
Only if your county had more than 75,000 people by the 2010 federal census under T.C.A. 66-28-102. The figure is frozen at 2010, so a county that grew past 75,000 later is still outside the Act, and there the lease governs with no cap.
Why does the law still use the 2010 census in Tennessee?
Because the statute fixes coverage to the 2010 federal census and the legislature has not moved the date. So county population growth since 2010 does not change coverage, which is an unusual feature worth checking before relying on the cap.
Does the grace period end on a Sunday in Tennessee?
If day five of the five-day grace period is a Sunday or a legal holiday, no fee applies if you pay the next business day. Note the asymmetry: the statute names Sunday and holidays but not Saturday, so a Saturday deadline gets no relief.
Is the 10 percent of my whole rent or just what I still owe in Tennessee?
Of the rent past due. Where the Act applies, the cap is 10 percent of the amount past due, not the full monthly rent, so a renter who paid part of the month is measured against the shortfall.
Not legal advicePlainStatute provides plain-language summaries of public law for general information only. This is not legal advice. Statutes change; always confirm current requirements with the official source linked above before acting.