Tennessee: Late Rent Fee Limits

Requirements one by one

Five days, with the due date counted

Tenn. Code § 66-28-201(d) starts the grace period on the day rent is due and
expressly includes that day in the count. If rent is due on the first, the five
days are the first through the fifth, and a late-payment fee may begin after that
period.

There is a narrow calendar extension. If the fifth day is a Sunday or a legal
holiday, the landlord may not impose a late-payment charge when the tenant pays
on the next business day. The current text does not give the same extension
merely because the fifth day is a Saturday.

Ten percent of the rent actually past due

The same subsection reaches "any charge or fee, however described" and says it
"shall not exceed ten percent" of the rent past due. The base is therefore the
unpaid rent, not automatically the full monthly rent. For example, if $400 of
rent remains unpaid after the grace period, the statutory ceiling is $40.

Section 66-28-201(d) does not separately prescribe a one-time fee, a daily fee,
or a written assessment notice. Whatever structure the agreement uses remains
subject to the grace period and the 10% ceiling in a covered county.

The county line matters

The late-fee rule is part of the Uniform Residential Landlord and Tenant Act.
Tenn. Code § 66-28-102(a), as amended by 2012 Public Chapter 847, uses a county
population threshold of more than 75,000 under the 2010 or a later federal
census. The Tennessee Department of Health's current housing page confirms that
coverage line.

That means § 66-28-201(d)'s 10% cap and five-day grace do not govern an ordinary
tenancy in a county outside the Act. The lease and other applicable law must be
checked instead; do not apply the URLTA numbers statewide without first checking
the county.

What trips people up

Day one is the rent due date. The statute does not begin counting on the next
day. A form that gives five additional full days changes the statutory count.

Saturday is not named in the current extension. The statute protects the
next-business-day payment when day five is a Sunday or legal holiday. An older
version named Saturday, but the current text does not.

Some public housing follows the Act only where federal rules allow it. Under
§ 66-28-102(d), HUD-regulated housing owned by a governmental or nonprofit entity
is outside the chapter to the extent federal regulation conflicts with state
law, but the chapter still applies where those regulations defer to state law.

Common questions

Rent was due Monday. When can the fee start? Count Monday as day one. The
five-day period ordinarily runs through Friday, so the fee may be charged after
that period if rent remains unpaid.

Is the cap 10% of the full month's rent? It is 10% of the "amount of rent
past due." A partial payment can therefore change the calculation base.

Does every Tennessee county use this cap? No. Section 66-28-201(d) is part
of an Act limited to counties over 75,000 people under the applicable federal
census.

Statutes and sources

• Tenn. Code § 66-28-201(d), enacted in 2011 Tenn. Pub. Acts ch. 272, § 4 —
  five-day grace calculation, Sunday/legal-holiday extension, and 10% cap.

  (d) There shall be a five-day grace period beginning the day the rent was due
  to the day a fee for the late payment of rent may be charged. The date the
  rent was due shall be included in the calculation of the five-day grace
  period. If the last day of the five-day grace period occurs on a Sunday or
  legal holiday, as defined in § 15-1-101, the landlord shall not impose any
  charge or fee for the late payment of rent, provided that the rent is paid on
  the next business day. 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.

Official source: https://publications.tnsosfiles.com/acts/107/pub/pc0272.pdf
(accessed 2026-07-20)

• Tenn. Code § 66-28-102(a), amended by 2012 Tenn. Pub. Acts ch. 847, § 1 —
  current county-population threshold.

  SECTION 1. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 66-28-102(a), is amended by
  deleting the language "sixty-eight thousand (68,000), according to the 1970
  federal census or any subsequent federal census" and substituting instead the
  language "seventy-five thousand (75,000) according to the 2010 federal census
  or any subsequent federal census".

Official source: https://publications.tnsosfiles.com/acts/107/pub/pc0847.pdf
(accessed 2026-07-20)

• Tenn. Code § 66-28-102(d), enacted in 2011 Tenn. Pub. Acts ch. 272, § 1 —
  HUD-regulated public-housing conflict rule.

  (d) This 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, but shall
  apply to the extent that any such regulations defer to the application of
  state law.

Official source: https://publications.tnsosfiles.com/acts/107/pub/pc0272.pdf
(accessed 2026-07-20)