Late Rent Fees in Tennessee: Legal Limits, Grace Periods, and What a Landlord Can Charge

In Tennessee, late rent fees are unusually well-defined compared to many states. Under the Tennessee Uniform Residential Landlord and Tenant Act (URLTA), a late fee generally cannot exceed 10% of the amount of rent past due, and it cannot be charged until the rent is at least 5 days late. Those rules come from Tenn. Code Ann. § 66-28-201(d), in the form the legislature rewrote it in 2011 (2011 Tenn. Pub. Ch. 272, sec. 4). The catch is coverage: the URLTA applies only in the larger counties, and that list is now frozen. Two other traps decide real cases, and both sit in the statute — a lease can waive your written eviction notice, and HUD-regulated public housing can fall outside the chapter entirely.

Which Tennessee counties are actually covered?

This is answerable, not a mystery. Tenn. Code Ann. § 66-28-102(a) applies the URLTA to counties with a population of more than 75,000 according to the 2010 federal census (2012 Tenn. Pub. Ch. 847). In 2021 the legislature deleted the words "or any subsequent federal census" (2021 Tenn. Pub. Ch. 182, sec. 2), which freezes the covered-county list at the 2010 numbers.

• The list cannot grow. A county that crossed 75,000 in the 2020 census does not become a URLTA county. Population growth after 2010 is legally irrelevant.
• The counties above 75,000 in the 2010 census are Anderson, Blount, Bradley, Davidson, Hamilton, Knox, Madison, Maury, Montgomery, Rutherford, Sevier, Shelby, Sullivan, Sumner, Washington, Williamson, and Wilson — the same list the state publishes in its renters' rights booklet for URLTA counties. Be careful with older handouts: some still circulate a list built on the pre-2012 threshold of 68,000 and add counties such as Greene and Putnam, which were under 75,000 in 2010.
• Everywhere else, the URLTA does not apply. Those tenancies run under Tenn. Code Ann. § 66-7-101 et seq. and the lease, and there is no 10% cap and no statutory 5-day grace period. A court would look instead at ordinary contract principles, such as whether the fee is a reasonable estimate of the landlord's costs rather than a punishment.
• Since 2021, covered counties also cannot pass their own landlord-tenant rules; the chapter preempts the field (2021 Pub. Ch. 182, sec. 1).

Does Tennessee cap late fees?

Yes. For rentals covered by the URLTA, Tennessee uses a hard percentage cap rather than a vague "reasonableness" standard. The statutory words are broad on purpose: "Any charge or fee, however described, which is charged by the landlord for the late payment of rent, shall not exceed ten percent (10%) of the amount of rent past due."

• A late fee may not be more than 10% of the rent that is past due, not 10% of the entire monthly rent if only part is unpaid.
• Daily fees do not escape the cap. "However described" means the label does not matter: a per-day charge, an "administrative fee," or a stacking penalty is still a charge for the late payment of rent. A lease clause that runs the total past 10% of the past-due rent is unenforceable as to the excess, not permitted.
• If the lease prints a fee higher than the cap for a covered property, the lawful amount is what the statute allows, not what the lease says.

One real exclusion. The chapter "shall not apply to any occupancy in a public housing unit or other housing unit that is subject to regulation by the department of housing and urban development and owned by a governmental entity or non-profit corporation to the extent such regulation conflicts with state law" (§ 66-28-102(d), 2011 Pub. Ch. 272, sec. 1). If you are in public or HUD-regulated housing, your fee rules may come from your federally approved lease rather than the 10% cap. Tennessee's old special fee subsection for public housing, § 66-28-201(e), was repealed in 2013, so any handout still quoting a "$10 or 10%, after 10 days" public-housing rule is out of date.

Is a grace period required before a late fee?

Yes, for URLTA rentals. There is a five-day grace period beginning the day the rent was due, and the statute says the due date itself counts as one of the five days.

• Count it the way the statute does. If rent is due on the 1st, days one through five are the 1st through the 5th, and a late fee cannot be charged before the 6th.
• Sunday and legal holidays — not Saturday. If the last day of the grace period falls on a Sunday or a legal holiday (as defined in § 15-1-101), no late fee may be imposed if you pay on the next business day. The word "Saturday" appeared in the older version of this statute, and the 2011 rewrite removed it. If your fifth day is a Saturday, do not assume Monday is safe.
• A lease cannot shorten this grace period for a covered rental, even if it says rent is "late" the day after it is due. And a lease waiver of eviction notice (below) expressly does not cut into the grace period.

Does the late fee have to be in the lease?

Practically, yes. A landlord collects a late fee because the rental agreement provides for one. If your written lease says nothing about a late fee, a landlord usually cannot invent one mid-lease and demand it.

• Read your lease for the exact fee amount, the trigger date, and any grace-period language.
• The cap is a ceiling, not a floor. A lease can set a lower fee, and that lower figure controls.
• Oral promises about waiving or changing fees are hard to enforce; get any changes in writing.

The lease clause that can erase your 14-day notice

Read this part even if you skim the rest. Under § 66-28-505(a)(2), a landlord who gives written notice of a nonpayment breach must give you 14 days to pay, with termination no sooner than 30 days after you receive the notice. That is the default, and it is still current law: a 2025 bill to cut it to seven days failed in a House subcommittee.

But the default can be waived away in your lease. Section 66-28-505(b) provides that if the tenant waives the notice required by that section, "the landlord may proceed to file a detainer warrant immediately upon breach of the agreement for failure to pay rent without the landlord providing notice of such breach to the tenant." The waiver must be set out in 12-point bold font or larger in the rental agreement (2011 Pub. Ch. 272, sec. 11), and such clauses are common in Tennessee leases.

• Go look at your lease now, before you are late. If you find bold language saying you waive written notice of nonpayment, you get no 14-day warning: the first thing you may see is a detainer warrant.
• The waiver does not take away the five-day grace period. Section 66-28-505(b) says so in terms, so the landlord still cannot charge the late fee any earlier, but can sue sooner.
• Even with a waiver, the landlord must still go through court. Self-help — lockouts, utility shutoffs, removing your belongings — is unlawful, and § 66-28-504 gives you a remedy.

How late fees interact with eviction

Eviction for nonpayment runs by detainer warrant filed in the General Sessions Court for the county where the property sits. The state judiciary's own eviction training materials lay out the same scheme: the URLTA counties, the five-day grace period with "Sunday & Legal Holidays Do Not Count," a "Maximum Late Fee: 10%," the 14-day / 7-day / 3-day notices, and the waiver of notice for nonpayment.

• Disputed or excessive late fees become part of the money judgment a landlord asks for. If the fees exceed 10% of the past-due rent, say so at the hearing — the judge can cut that portion.
• Partial or late payment after a notice does not automatically stop an eviction, so respond to any detainer warrant and appear. A no-show is a default judgment.
• If you lose in General Sessions, you generally have 10 days to appeal to circuit court, and staying in possession during the appeal normally requires posting a bond. Move fast.

If you receive a detainer warrant, owe disputed fees, or believe a fee breaks the cap, a Tennessee attorney or a local legal aid office is often worth a call. Court deadlines here move in days, and a short consultation can prevent a default judgment.

The bottom line

This is general information, not legal advice. In the 17 URLTA counties the answers are concrete: a five-day grace period that counts the due date, a next-business-day excuse only for a Sunday or legal holiday, and a 10% cap on any late-payment charge however it is labeled. Outside those counties, and in HUD-regulated public housing where federal rules conflict, the chapter does not give you those protections. Read your lease for a bold-font notice waiver, check the statute for yourself in 2011 Pub. Ch. 272, and consult a Tennessee attorney before acting on a specific dispute.

Official Legal Sources for Tennessee

This page is based on Tennessee state landlord–tenant law. Laws change — verify the current text directly against the official sources below. This is general legal information, not legal advice.

• Tennessee landlord–tenant statutes (full text) — reproduced on this site from the public-domain Tennessee Code, because Tennessee publishes its official code only through a commercial service.
• Tennessee Attorney General, Division of Consumer Affairs — Consumer Laws (landlord-tenant / Uniform Residential Landlord and Tenant Act) — official state resource.

Local ordinances may apply. This page covers Tennessee state law. Your city or county may add protections — such as rent control, just-cause eviction, rental registration, or stricter housing codes — that change these rules. Check your local city or county ordinances.