Is the late fee for property fees legal? How is it calculated?

Citizens who own multiple properties may have had this experience, because they have not lived in the community for a long time and are busy with their work, and may not be able to pay the property management fee on time. If you are not careful, you will be urged to pay the property management fee, and at the same time you will have to pay different amounts of late fees.

The standards of property management fees are varied and inconsistent. Many owners are more reflected in the formulation process. How many owners should pay late fees has no say, and the property company has the final say. What's more, in some communities, the original property management contract did not stipulate to pay the property management fee, but the property management suddenly asked the owner to pay it without the consent of the owner.

Bian Xiao reminded that if the late payment fee is too high and obviously unfair, it can be regarded as the overlord clause of applying to the court to terminate the contract. As a penalty, the total amount of late payment fee cannot exceed the principal, and the late payment fee cannot be collected at will.

Sign a supplementary agreement without prior agreement

In legal practice, if there is no agreement on the proportion of overdue payment of property management fees, in case of litigation, the interest rate of bank loans of the People's Bank of China for the same period is generally used as the standard for overdue payment.

If there is no agreement between the two parties in advance, they must sign a supplementary agreement through consultation before they can get it. For the community where the industry committee has been established, the industry committee can organize the owners' meeting, and after a resolution is made, it will be passed by the semi-owners, and then a supplementary agreement will be signed with the property management on behalf of all the owners, before the new standard of property management fees will take effect.

Can I apply for cancellation if the standard is unreasonable?

If some owners are dissatisfied with the property management service, think that the shrinking of the property management service violates the stipulations of the property service contract, and refuse to pay the property management fee or the late payment fee, they need to do a good job of obtaining evidence. At the same time, in the process of trial, we should also bear the burden of proof for breach of property management services. On the other hand, it is unreasonable for the former owner to bear the property management fee owed by him, so he can't be charged a late fee.

According to the contract law, late fees should be unpaid liquidated damages. Generally speaking, the liquidated damages cannot exceed the principal. In the previous property service contract, the standard for overdue payment of property management fees was set too high, which was obviously unfair, and it was suspected of "overlord clause", which could be used as a revocable clause and the owner applied for revocation.

Is it appropriate to pay a late fee of 2% to 5% every day?

According to the current property management policies and regulations, there are no specific provisions on whether property enterprises can collect late fees and the proportion standard of late fees. The property management fee is generally stipulated in the property management contract, which has a certain nature of punishment and deterrence to prevent large-scale owners from not paying the property management fee. The specific standard of late payment fee shall be determined by both the owner and the property management through consultation. At present, in actual operation, it is generally between 2% and 5% per day.

As long as it is not malicious not to pay the management fee, it is best for both parties to negotiate whether to recover the late payment fee. Many owners can't pay the property management fee in time because they don't live in the community for a long time, travel and other reasons. In this special case, many property management companies will not ask for payment, and it is not suitable for recovery.

(The above answers were published on 2015-11-04. Please refer to the actual purchase policy. )

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