A late fee is a rule you attach to a lease or an invoice. It says: after a number of days past the due date, add a set amount (or a percentage), once or repeatedly, until the invoice is paid. DigitalTenant adds the fee for you when the time comes.
Before you start
Decide three things:
- How many days after the due date the fee starts.
- How often it is charged (once, or every day, week, month and so on).
- How much it is, in dollars or as a percentage.
Option A: Set late fees on a lease (best for rent)
In the lease form, go to the Lease Info step. Below the rent fields:
- Set Late Fees to Yes. The three fields next to it unlock.
- Fill in all three fields:
- When to Charge Late Fees?: the number of days after the due date. A whole number, 0 or more.
- Frequency: Once, Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Quarterly or Yearly.
- Late Fee Amount: in $ or %. It must be more than 0, and a percentage cannot be above 100.
Setting Late Fees back to No clears the three fields.
Invoices the lease creates for you use this rule. If you create an invoice by hand for the same unit, the form copies the lease rule into its Late Fees section, and you can still change it there.
Option B: Set late fees on an invoice
In the create or edit invoice form, find the Late Fees section:
- Set Apply Late Fees to Yes.
- Fill in:
- Charge Late Fee On (Day #): days after the due date. A whole number, 365 or fewer.
- Frequency: Per Occurrence (charged once), Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Quarterly or Yearly. Anything other than Per Occurrence repeats while the invoice stays unpaid.
- Amount: in $ or %. A percentage is worked out on the invoice total. It must be more than 0, and a percentage cannot be above 100.
"Once" on a lease and "Per Occurrence" on an invoice mean the same thing.
On a recurring invoice, the rule is copied to every invoice it creates. To change it, click Edit and choose All invoices in this series or Next invoice only.
How the fee is worked out
- Grace period: nothing is charged until the due date plus the number of days you set. If you set 0 days, it starts from the due date.
- Per Occurrence: one fee, charged once.
- Daily, Weekly, Monthly and so on: the fee is added again each period until the invoice is paid. There is no maximum, so it keeps growing until payment is received.
- Percentage fees are worked out on the invoice total, before late fees.
- Once the invoice is paid, the fee stops.
Where to see late fees
On the invoice page
The Late Fee card shows a status:
| Status | What it means |
|---|---|
| Not configured | This invoice has no late fee rule. |
| Configured • not charged | There is a rule, but nothing has been charged yet. It tells you when the fee will start. |
| Fee applied | A fee has been added and the invoice is unpaid. |
| Fee applied • paid | A fee was added and the invoice is now paid. |
| Cancelled | The invoice was cancelled, so there is no fee. |
The card also shows the fee type, amount, grace period, frequency, the amount charged to date, and a How this fee was calculated breakdown. Use it when you or your tenant want to know why the fee is a certain amount.
In your lists
The Late Fees column appears on Receivables, on the Recurring Invoice tab, and on the Unpaid Payments tab of the Finance Dashboard (Accounting, then the Finance Dashboard card).
In the Late Fee Report
Go to Documentation → Reports, then Late Fee Report. You will see Total Fees, Unpaid, Paid, Total Charged and Total Collected. You can filter by status, dates, portfolios, properties, tenants and fee type, and export to Excel or PDF, or print.
Change or remove a late fee
- Unpaid invoice: click Edit, change the Late Fees section or set Apply Late Fees to No, then click Save Changes. Check the Late Fee card afterwards to see the result.
- Future rent: change it on the recurring template with Edit then All invoices in this series. After any change to a lease or template, open the template's Overview tab and check the late fee in the Schedule section.
- Paid invoice: paid invoices cannot be edited. A late fee paid online can only be returned with a refund. Contact our support team and we'll help you with it.
Good to know
- Check percentage fees on invoices you create by hand. A lease set to 5% may show $5.00 in the invoice form. Switch the type to % before you send. Invoices the lease creates by itself are not affected.
- Tenant paid late but no fee was added? Check the Late Fee card. The tenant may have paid before the grace period ended, or the invoice may have no rule.
- Fee keeps growing? The frequency is set to repeat. Edit the invoice and choose Per Occurrence if you only wanted one fee.
- Fee is much bigger than expected? The $ and % may be swapped. Edit the amount type.
- The lease has a late fee but the invoice does not? The invoice may have been made before the lease rule was set, or the fee was turned off on the invoice. Edit the invoice or the recurring series and add it.
- Check the Late Fee Report each month to keep track of what has been charged and collected.
Need help?
Email us at support@digitaltenant.com, or use the Help button in the bottom-right corner of your dashboard.