Kentucky Late Rent Fee Rules

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.