Kentucky sets no statutory cap on residential late fees and no mandatory grace period. Even in cities and counties that adopted URLTA (KRS 383.500-.715), Chapter 383 contains no late-fee provision, so a late charge is purely contractual and enforceable only if the written lease provides for it.
Kentucky has no statewide rent-control or late-fee statute, and the URLTA (KRS 383.500-.715), which applies only in adopting jurisdictions such as Louisville and Lexington, includes no provision limiting late fees, setting a grace period, or otherwise regulating late charges. A late fee is therefore a matter of contract: it is enforceable only where the written rental agreement states the amount and trigger. Because no statute caps the figure, the lease governs, though a charge that operates as an unreasonable penalty rather than a genuine estimate of the landlord's loss may be challenged in court. Nonpayment of rent itself is handled through the separate eviction-notice rules in KRS 383.660.
No specific statutory penalty. An undisclosed or contractually unsupported late fee is generally unenforceable, and a court may refuse to enforce a charge that functions as an unreasonable penalty.
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