Q: When my husband and I bought our West Village townhouse 32 years ago, we inherited a rent-stabilized tenant in one of the apartments. She paid rent on time until a few years ago when her son, who’s been living with her for 10 years, assumed control of her finances. Now the rent consistently arrives after the 15th of the month. The tenant is in her late 80s, but owns several homes and travels frequently. September’s rent, for example, arrived on the 29th, with a note saying, “We didn’t have the money for September’s rent because we were vacationing in Europe for the past two and a half months.” Can we charge late fees?

A: You can charge a late fee if the original lease contains language providing for one. So check the lease. But you can only collect the fee if the tenant agrees to pay it, and if she doesn’t you would have to take her to housing court. Few judges would be pleased to see a landlord suing a woman in her late 80s for paying her rent a few weeks late.

“Most tenants will not willfully agree to pay a late fee, and the court will not order it without a trial,” said Bradley S. Silverbush, a lawyer who represents landlords with the Manhattan law firm Rosenberg & Estis. “So, does anyone want to go through all of that time and expense just to recover late fees? Probably not.”