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

The term action in personam is used mostly in legal proceedings because Roman law heavily influenced our judicial system. Many terms used in law have their roots in Roman law, not only this ...

Older property is bought usually by a governmental agency to be modernized and improved. In many cases, the deteriorating property is torn down and a new structure built. An example is ...

A landowner may not divert or redirect a natural occurring waterway from his or her property causing damages to another property. Waterway is normally construed to mean streams and rivers ...

Detailed financial accounting of all the credits and debits for the buyer and seller upon consummation of a real estate sale. ...

Reduction in taxes payable to the IRS or local government. A tax credit is more beneficial to the taxpayer than an itemized deduction because it reduces taxes on a dollar-for-dollar basis. ...

person's behavior partly genetic and partly learned through experience over time. Some people have good personal traits while others have poor ones. ...

Value of a company's or person's name and reputation, As a result, the business will have a competitive edge, and generate better-than-typical future earnings. ...

Horizontal supports for the ceiling of a structure. ...

The definition of the price-to-rent ratio is very important for real estate investors. This ratio is a measurement for the affordability of a particular rental property and tells investors ...

Popular Real Estate Questions