Definition of "Penalty"

Amount to be paid by a person or business for violating a statute or legal court order. It may also be assessed for violating the provisions of a contract. Examples of penalties are a charge made by the Internal Revenue Service for underpaying corporate income taxes, penalty assessed by a municipality for failing to pay property taxes, penalty due to prepaying a mortgage, amount arising from breaking a real estate contract, and fee due from prematurely terminating a lease.

image of a real estate dictionary page

Have a question or comment?

We're here to help.

*** Your email address will remain confidential.
 

 

Popular Real Estate Terms

Stature regulating the use of credit information. Allows consumers such as prospective homeowners access to their credit files. It requires a lender to explain how loan interest is ...

Principal highway designed to divert traffic around a major urban area in order to limit congestion and expedite traffic flow. A belt highway is connected to the urban area by main highways ...

lender who charges an exorbitant interest rate, which is typically illegal because it exceeds the interest rate allowed in the state. A borrower may go to a loan shark if he cannot obtain ...

Loan that allows the borrower to pay only the interest for the first few years of the loan. ...

List of architectural design items needing to be corrected and resolved prior to finalizing a building design. ...

Listing of all of the plats of subdivided plots in a jurisdiction showing the location, boundaries, and plat owners. A plat book normally shows other improvements including roads, blocks, ...

In the business world, the definition of override means a salesperson paying a commission to a supervisor or another agent. The meaning of override refers to an arrangement for acquitting ...

Contractual clause allowing one or both parties to terminate the agreement if a specified occurrence takes places. This is a cancellation clause, which allows the agreement to become null ...

Road or highway acting as a frontage boundary. ...

Popular Real Estate Questions