My landlady is charging me a late fee for a check that was delivered to a wrong address, any suggestions on how to contest this?

What state/country do you live in?

Difficult to prove you put it in the mail on the 2nd. You may be out of luck. Not nice.

Do a search for tenants rights for your area.

I’m in CA and the envelope was postmarked on the 3rd, I know b/c she showed it to me.

Take her to small claims court when she takes it out of your security deposit. You’ll win. (Make her write down her rationale before you have her served.) Whatever she’ll be holding will NOT be worth her time to go and sit in court all morning. Don’t be intimidated. She’s just trying to bully you.

If you follow @susanc‘s advice, be prepared to move. Your landlady may terminate the lease and move to evict you. I would follow her advice. But you should know what the consequences may be.

Also see if there is a landlord/tennant arbitration board in your jurisdiction. That would be a cheaper route to go than small claims.

When does your lease say the rent must be in the mail or in her hands?

I doubt you have any legal recourse. IANAL, but I’m willing to bet the lease states that you are responsible for giving her the rent. The fact that the delivery method you chose screwed up is still therefore your fault.

Try this website.
http://www.caltenantlaw.com/Rights.htm

It’s my understanding that a security deposit cannot legally be used for any other purpose.

Unfortunately it is doubtful the landlord will give you a copy of the envelope, which is the proof that you acted in accordance with the terms of the lease. In the future I suggest you deliver your check by hand and demand a receipt or use another receipted delivery method.

i think you’re in a tough spot because when you move out, your landlady can be nitpicky about things that she charges against your security. she can be cool, or she can be really fussy. if she is fussy, which is not too hard to do, the money she charges to you will add up quickly. this is broken, that is broken, there were holes in the walls from nails, damages that were there when you moved in she can say you did. what proof do you have that you didn’t? so if i were you i would pay the fee this time and get the rent in a few days early next time. probably what happened to your envelope this time is you put it in the mailbox after the last pickup, so of course it sat there until the next day, first pickup. as far as mailman delivering to wrong address, hand deliver it next time and you should be ok. that may be a pain in the ass but you want to prevent the landlady busting your chops.

If you can, check the postmark to be sure it was dated before the deadline. That might give you some ground with your landlord.

This depends a lot on your local laws, but GENERALLY landlords hate to put time and effort into actual court cases, so you should just not pay it. It sounds to me (with the limited knowledge I’ve been given here) that you didn’t necesarily violate anything legally, which means they can’t legally make you pay.