What legal action can I pursue, if any, for my landlord charging unnecessary late fees?

Location: Michigan

Hi everyone! I'm posting here because I've had regular issues with my apartment complex and recently its escalated to regularly being charged late fees despite paying on time, and am unsure of where to go from here. For context, I live in Michigan and have lived in this complex for nearly 3 years.

The first two years I had very few issues, if any. However, in this last year, the tide has shifted significantly. It began in November when I received an eviction notice posted to my door with no idea as to what had happened. I checked in with the office who said that I hadn't paid rent for 3 months and that they had sent multiple notices. I have autopay switched on and always confirm that the payment is being subtracted from my main account (which it was) and received no notices, paper, email, or otherwise. I spoke to the office directly and asked why or how my autopay had been tampered with considering I hadn't changed the settings myself and they claimed that at lease renewal, it turns off (this has not been the case the last 2 times I've renewed my lease). I tried to explain to them that there was no reason why the payments shouldn't have gone through, considering I keep 3-4x the rent in the account at all times and they chalked it up to a system error. When I asked how it could be that the amount was leaving my account then being returned they shrugged and I got no resolution.

Since then, I've been documenting vigilantly. Last month, I paid my rent the day before it was due, checked my portal to confirm the payment had gone through on both the 1st and 2nd of the month, and even called the front office on the 3rd to confirm that the payment had processed. A staff member confirmed that it went through and to be safe, I paid the rent amount again (leaving a full month's worth of credit in my account) in case there were any issues. It's now the 13th of the month and I received an email yesterday where they claimed to have emailed me multiple times (they did not) claiming that my rent was past due and added an additional $300 worth of fees onto my total. I emailed them with screenshot evidence of the phone call being made, the portal showing my account balance as zero on both the first and second of the month, and the overpayment. They essentially said tough luck and are refusing to do anything about it.

To add insult to injury, the dryer in my building was out for nearly a month, but I have no record of that because they marked my maintence request as "completed" well before that was the case. They've also entered my apartment without notice three times, twice to make repairs and once for a reason unknown to me. However, the clause on entry in my complex states they don't have to provide a notice before entry, but must provide one after and I received nothing written or emailed.

So my questions are as follows:

  • What legal advice can I take if any?
  • Is there any way to combat the late fees and how that reflects on my payment history?
  • Is there literally anything I can do?

Any help is appreciated. Thank you so much in advance.

Posted Aug 13, 2026, 4:08 PM UTC

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