North Carolina Late Fee Calculator
Your late fee
$62.50
At the legal limit
Paid 12 days late, after the 4-day grace period.
The lease asks for $62.50, exactly the most N.C. Gen. Stat. § 42-46(a) permits on these figures.
- Days past due
- 12 days
- Grace period ends
- October 2, 2026
- Earliest fee date
- October 3, 2026
- Lease late fee
- 5% of $1,250.00 = $62.50
- Legal maximum
- $62.50
- Rent + late fee
- $1,312.50
Limit set by North Carolina (the larger of $15 and 5% of the monthly rent): $62.50
max($15.00, 5% × $1,250.00 monthly rent) = $62.50
North Carolina, earliest legal fee date: October 3, 2026
Next step: turn these figures into a late rent notice for the tenant.
North Carolina rent late fee law
North Carolina, G.S. 42-46(a): the parties may agree to a late fee that applies only when a payment is at least five calendar days late, day one being the day after the due date. For monthly rent the cap is the higher of $15 and 5% of the rent; for weekly rent it is the higher of $4 and 5%.
(a) Late Fee. - In all residential rental agreements in which a definite time for the payment of the rent is fixed, the parties may agree to a late fee not inconsistent with the provisions of this subsection, to be chargeable only if any rental payment is five calendar days or more late, with the first day being the day after the rent was due. If the rent: (1) Is due in monthly installments, a landlord may charge a late fee not to exceed fifteen dollars ($15.00) or five percent (5%) of the monthly rent, whichever is greater. (2) Is due in weekly installments, a landlord may charge a late fee not to exceed four dollars ($4.00) or five percent (5%) of the weekly rent, whichever is greater.
Late rent notice builder
Before you send it: this builds a reminder letter about overdue rent and a late charge. It is not an eviction notice. A notice to pay rent or quit is a separate document, and North Carolina has its own rules for it. Nothing on this page is legal advice.
[Your name or company]
Date: October 10, 2026
To: [Tenant name]
[Rental property address]
Re: Overdue rent for [Rental property address]
Dear [Tenant name],
This letter is a reminder that the rent of $1,250.00 for [Rental property address] was due on September 28, 2026. As of October 10, 2026, $1,250.00 of it is still unpaid (12 days past due).
Your lease provides for a late charge, which comes to $62.50.
Amount now due
- Unpaid rent
- $1,250.00
- Late charge
- $62.50
- Total
- $1,312.50
Please pay $1,312.50 at your earliest opportunity.
If this letter crossed with your payment, please disregard it.
Regards,
[Your name or company]
How to use the North Carolina rent late fee calculator
- Enter the monthly rent and the rent that is overdue.
- Enter the date the rent was due and the date it was paid, or today if it is still unpaid.
- Choose how the lease sets the late fee (percent of rent, flat amount or dollars per day) and type the figure from the lease.
- Enter the grace days written in the lease.
- Read the late fee, the earliest fee date and the most N.C. Gen. Stat. § 42-46(a) allows, then copy the figures or print a late rent notice.
Work out interest on an overdue B2B invoice under North Carolina law. The legal default rate — what applies when the contract is silent — is 8%, and the statute is quoted verbatim below. All math runs locally in your browser.
Legal rate; on contract claims the awarded amount bears interest from the date of breach.
Late fee breakdown
- Interest owed
- —
- Daily rate
- —
- Total (invoice + interest)
- —
Still unpaid? Generate a formal demand letter — it computes the interest and cites North Carolina's statute (N.C.G.S. §§ 24-1, 24-5, 24-1.1, 24-9) for you.
Worked example: North Carolina invoice interest at 8%
Interest at North Carolina's statutory default of 8% a year, worked out with the same formula as the calculator above: amount × (8% ÷ 365) × days. If your contract states its own rate, enter that rate in the calculator instead.
| Invoice amount | 30 days late | 60 days late | 90 days late |
|---|---|---|---|
| $1,000.00 | $6.58 | $13.15 | $19.73 |
| $5,000.00 | $32.88 | $65.75 | $98.63 |
| $10,000.00 | $65.75 | $131.51 | $197.26 |
What North Carolina law says about invoice interest
§ 24-1: [...] the legal rate of interest shall be eight percent (8%) per annum [...] and no more. § 24-9(b): [...] any borrower in an exempt loan transaction may agree to pay, and any lender [...] may charge and collect [...] interest at any rate [...]. A claim or defense of usury is prohibited in an exempt loan transaction.
Quoted verbatim from the linked official source — not our paraphrase. How we source and re-check every row is documented in the data methodology.
Maximum late fee in North Carolina — written B2B contracts
No statutory cap
Any loan to a business entity OR for a business/commercial purpose is an 'exempt loan transaction' — any rate, usury defense barred. The floating cap hits only small consumer-type loans.
Basis: N.C.G.S. §§ 24-9, 24-1.1(a). Compare all 51 jurisdictions in the maximum late fee by state table and cap-regime map.
Rent and invoices follow different laws — consumer debt is not covered
The Invoice tab, the rate card and the statute sections on this page are about business-to-business invoices. Residential rent late fees live in North Carolina's landlord-tenant law. On the Rent tab, N.C. Gen. Stat. § 42-46(a) is checked against your lease figures and quoted in full. Consumer credit has separate, stricter rules. The distinction is explained in B2B invoice late fees vs. residential rent.
Use this data
North Carolina's row — rate, cap, citation, verbatim quote, verification date — is part of our open 51-jurisdiction dataset: CSV · JSON (CC BY 4.0, cite myinvoicetemplate.com). Set late-fee terms on your next invoice with the free invoice generator, or state them clearly using the wording guidance in the payment terms guide.
North Carolina late fee FAQ
Is there a legal limit on rent late fees in North Carolina?
North Carolina, G.S. 42-46(a): the parties may agree to a late fee that applies only when a payment is at least five calendar days late, day one being the day after the due date. For monthly rent the cap is the higher of $15 and 5% of the rent; for weekly rent it is the higher of $4 and 5%. Source: N.C. Gen. Stat. § 42-46(a), checked 2026-10-03; the Rent tab quotes it word for word.
When can a landlord charge a late fee in North Carolina?
Not before day 5 after the rent was due (N.C. Gen. Stat. § 42-46(a)). Enter the due date and the lease's grace days in the calculator to get the earliest date a fee may be charged.
How do I work out a late fee on rent in North Carolina?
Enter the monthly rent, the overdue amount, the date the rent was due and the date it was paid, then the late fee in the lease (a percent of rent, a flat amount or dollars per day) and its grace days. The calculator gives the late fee, the earliest fee date, the most N.C. Gen. Stat. § 42-46(a) allows and rent plus fee, and turns them into a late rent notice.
Can I charge late fees on overdue invoices in North Carolina?
Yes — on business-to-business invoices. If your contract or invoice states a late-fee rate, that rate governs (subject to the cap rules below). If nothing was agreed: 8%. Legal rate; on contract claims the awarded amount bears interest from the date of breach. Statute: N.C.G.S. §§ 24-1, 24-5, 24-1.1, 24-9, verified 2026-08-19. Consumer and rent debts follow separate laws.
What is the maximum late fee on a B2B invoice in North Carolina?
For a written B2B contract: No cap on an 'exempt loan' under § 24-9 — loan amount $300,000 or more, a borrower that is not a natural person, or a natural person borrowing primarily for a non-consumer purpose — and there a usury claim or defense is barred. Outside § 24-9, any rate may still be agreed in writing where principal exceeds $25,000 (§ 24-1.1(a)(2)); only principal of $25,000 or less is capped, at the greater of 16% or the six-month T-bill noncompetitive rate + 6%, announced monthly by the Commissioner of Banks (§ 24-1.1(c)). Basis: N.C.G.S. §§ 24-9, 24-1.1(a). The full cap analysis is on the Invoice (B2B) tab; this covers business-to-business deals only — consumer credit has stricter separate caps.
What interest applies if my contract doesn't mention late fees in North Carolina?
The statutory default rate of 8%. Legal rate; on contract claims the awarded amount bears interest from the date of breach. Statute: N.C.G.S. §§ 24-1, 24-5, 24-1.1, 24-9 (verbatim quote on this page, verified 2026-08-19).
Where does this data come from, and when was it verified?
Every invoice-interest figure on this page comes from our 51-jurisdiction dataset: each row researched against the controlling statute or the state's official current-rate page, independently re-checked, and stamped with its own verification date — North Carolina's row was last verified 2026-08-19. The operative legal text is quoted verbatim on this page with a link to the official source, the methodology is public, every verification pass is logged in the changelog, and the full dataset is downloadable (CC BY 4.0). For rent, the Rent tab quotes N.C. Gen. Stat. § 42-46(a) word for word, links its source and gives the date it was checked (2026-10-03).
Not legal advice. This page summarizes N.C. Gen. Stat. § 42-46(a) and North Carolina's commercial-interest statute for general information, with the verification date shown above — it tells you when we last confirmed the figures, not that they are still current today. Statutes change and courts interpret them; verify the cited statute at the official source, or ask a licensed attorney in your state, before charging a late fee or demanding interest.