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I have been living at a place for more than 4 years. I finally decided to move and when I did, they sent me a letter saying that I owe partial rent from 3 years ago! I believe I received a discount for re-signing the rent ahead of time. But I don't have anything to prove it (its was 3 years ago! for crying out loud! whenever I miss a couple dollars they get back to me the next day, but now they want to charge me the partial rent!). The bank I used to use went out of business so I don't have any records of the check.
1. Can they charge me the partial rent from 3 years ago? (legally?)
2. Who do I have to contact (housing dept?) to figure out this mess?
Can they charge me the partial rent from 3 years ago?
If you mean $x per month x 36 months that they never did anything about before now... then probably not.
Ask nicely and politely for more detail but prepare to take a "tell them to pound sand" attitude.
When they continued to accept $Y per month from you over that period of time **without saying or doing anything about the difference** they have accepted that paid amount as being correct or at least "acceptable" to them.
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Who do I have to contact (housing dept?) to figure out this mess?
Start by contacting whoever is in charge of the "they" you refer to above.
You may end up in front of a judge though if the amount is high enough.
I paid $1600 per month. Never Late, never missed a penny (except 1 time before I was leaving, I forgot to add the 1 extra day I stayed). That partial payment that they are claiming is $200. So when I renewed the rent I paid $1400 for one month (promotion applied). And now they are saying that I missed $200 and that they have to deduct it from my security deposit. Is this possible? It's been 3 years!!! BTW I live in California.
I contacted the manager and they sent me a list with a whole bunch of numbers and dates. No details. They keep telling me to show them a reason why I was only due $1400 for that month. Do I have to go to court to settle this matter? This is not about the money but the way they are treating me. I am willing to go to court to make sure they never do this to someone else.
Just to clarify, when you got that special discount, was that on the current lease or was that from a past lease? So since the lease where that discount was on, have you signed new leases since that time?
A LL can recoup past rental shortfalls but there's more to it than just saying you owe this and that.
It was for the new lease I signed. It was a one time promotion. ex: re-sign your lease and get $200 off first month rent. After the promotion I signed at least 2 more for the same apartment. All they gave me is, seriously, a list of all the dates I paid rent and the amount of rent. Nothing else.
Grab a copy or do a online search for (insert your state) landlord tenant code,a nd read it to see if your situation is specifically mentioned. As a general rule in most states, (some states its under contract law or business laws) when a lrease has been fullfilled and has expired, the LL by giving a new lease is accepting that the lease has been fuillfilled to all terms and if anything is out of whack, they would need to carry that over into the new lease as a specific item or act on it as they would damages or if you were leaving the property. So if they are required to refund security deposits within 60 days or provide an itimized list, that time period may also apply to amount owed under the old lease. May get a bit complicated for you since they can act as they are until they are told they can't.
Do you know any other long term tenants in the building who may have benefited from the same promotion? They may have some proof, or at least be able to back you up in court.
Does your lease make any reference to the amount due for that month, or say you paid in full? Do you have a receipt that says $0 remaining due for that month? Do you have any promotional documentation backing up your claim? Do you have any old emails from them discussing this arrangement?
If you can answer yes to any of these, you can probably win in court. If you can't, they will possibly win. It becomes a "he said/she said" debate, and the judge will have to go by the documentation. If the lease from that time says you owe $1600, and they have a copy of your check for that month showing you only paid $1400, they may win.
However, as PacificFlights said, it is possible that because they signed a new lease with you since that time, without ever addressing this supposed shortage, the judge may take that to mean that they lost the opportunity to do anything about it.
You'd probably have to actually present that one to a judge in court to find out exactly how that one would turn out.
Its a pretty big apt complex so I don't know anyone. Its a big apt managing company..
I do not have any docuements nor email because it was a verbal agreement. I'm pretty sure the list of numbers they gave me says 0 after all the months instead of -$200. I shall check again.
And I asked them to provide a copy of the check to see if I really did pay $1400 (due to the fact that the bank i used is no longer in business). However, they keep telling me that I need to figure out to obtain a copy of the check (which means they don't have a copy of the check either).
Do you think they will cave if I tell them, by law when I renew a lease that means I have no outstanding amounts due?
Geez.. seriously.. this is how I get treated for staying a place for too long.. wow.. I mean.. wow...
And I asked them to provide a copy of the check to see if I really did pay $1400 (due to the fact that the bank i used is no longer in business). However, they keep telling me that I need to figure out to obtain a copy of the check (which means they don't have a copy of the check either).
You have to provide payment proof. They say you didn;t pay, their books say you didn;t pay, and I;m sure there probably something else showing the shortfall. It's not their job to keep copies of your check, you are suposed to keep them.
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Originally Posted by jl1089
Do you think they will cave if I tell them, by law when I renew a lease that means I have no outstanding amounts due?
Is that what your state law say's? If you don;t know, don't bluff cause they may be holding better cards.
You need to first find out exactly what your state laws say about this, until you have that information, its all just wild eye scenerios.
Once you know what the law says, you can act according to the protection the law gives you.
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