I built a free rent late-fee lookup tool for all 50 states, here’s what I learned

Hey everyone

I’ve been working on a small educational project called RentLateFee.com, a free lookup tool that helps renters and landlords instantly check legal rent late-fee limits, grace periods, and rules for all 50 U.S. states (plus D.C.).

The idea came from personal frustration, I realized how inconsistent late-fee laws are across the U.S., and how few people actually know what’s legal in their state. So I built this as a simple, public reference using open data from state housing sources.

What I learned along the way:

• Aggregating law data is harder than coding the tool itself, clarity is rare even in public databases.

• People really appreciate plain-English summaries over legal jargon.

• Simplicity wins: no logins, no popups, just information.

It’s still early, but I’d love feedback from other builders:

• What would make it more useful or trustworthy?

• Should I add features like PDF exports or email summaries?

This is an educational-only tool, no legal advice, no ads, just something I wish existed when I was renting.

Thanks in advance for any thoughts or UX feedback 🙏