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20/20 hindsight doesn't help the current situation though :P
Again... the current situation is NOT your fault. In any sense.
And no matter how much landlords want to make everything that happens
seem to be only the tenants responsibility... even real problems are rarely one sided like that.
You did your part.
Now you're going to do even more than your part with that certified letter.
Your LL is the problem.
Just contact your landlord to work it out. I make no promises but I'd say most landlords would offer to waive a first time infraction. And I would never expect late fees to accrue without notifying you first.
But perhaps in the future you'll make it a habit to check? Even the small local credit unions let you check your balance online.
That's kind of ridiculous.
Its my responsibility to get the LL his rent on time. It isn't my responsibility to manage her business. I once had a disorganized LL. ALl it meant was that I started to send the checks certified mail. LL got pissy when I had to write new checks and deducted the cancel check fee, but her disorganization wasn't going to be my problem.
When he cashes the check is his responsibility. Obviously, if at 30 days I note that the check hasn't cleared, I'm going to send the landlord a note, but it doesn't give the LL carte blanche to let predatory fees pile up.
The landlord should have notified you, definitely. And then when the 10th came and went with no payment, I'm surprised they didn't issue a 3 day notice to vacate. Now it is the 19th and they still haven't served you an eviction notice. To me, that is either an irresponsible landlord, or one who is predatory and hopes you won't pay so that late fees add up.
I also would not necessarily notice that a rent check hadn't cleared. I keep enough in my account that there is NO chance any check I write would bounce, so I just keep a general eye on the transactions once or twice a month to make sure there is nothing hinky. But I'm mostly looking for things that SHOULDN'T be there, not things that should be, but aren't.
On the other hand, as a landlord, if a tenant pays every month on time or early and then suddenly no rent is paid, I'd be concerned they had died or moved out without telling me, or something, and I'd be going by the house if I couldn't reach them on the phone. I actually had one of those this month. Great tenant, but had no rent, and he didn't return my calls, house was clearly still occupied, so I called his emergency contact to see what was going on, turned out he was in the hospital.
When you do talk to the landlord, you should make sure they have your correct phone number. Usually when i can't get hold of a tenant, it is because they have changed their number and not told me, or because they gave me the wrong one in the first place and I never needed to call them before this. So then we go and knock on the door and post a 3 day notice immediately. So yes, back to either irresponsible or predatory landlord.
Its my responsibility to get the LL his rent on time. It isn't my responsibility to manage her business. I once had a disorganized LL. ALl it meant was that I started to send the checks certified mail. LL got pissy when I had to write new checks and deducted the cancel check fee, but her disorganization wasn't going to be my problem.
When he cashes the check is his responsibility. Obviously, if at 30 days I note that the check hasn't cleared, I'm going to send the landlord a note, but it doesn't give the LL carte blanche to let predatory fees pile up.
I was simply suggesting that now that you know the landlord handles situations this way you'll want to be vigilant in the future to protect yourself from it happening again.
The late fees are written into the lease, yes? The landlord doesn't get your check, he charges a late fee. That's usually how it works. In a perfect world the landlord would call and say "hey, I didn't get your check this month, what happened?" but he's not required to. All he knows is that you didn't pay him. I do think he's in the wrong for letting the fees pile up as long as they did (a 3-day "pay or quit" would have actually cost you a LOT less) and I hope you can resolve the situation, and then move forward from this with an eye towards protecting yourself
Edit: Oh sorry, I wasn't paying attention and was thinking I was replying to the OP whose landlord didn't actually *receive* the check, where you seem to be talking about a landlord who did get it and just didn't cash it(?) in which case the late fees would be straight-up illegal. I don't actually know your personal situation, so I can't really comment on it any further, but it sounds like it's a different situation than the discussion at hand
On March 25, I put my rent check in the mail. I took a picture of it beforehand for personal records. But, I sent it through normal mail (no tracking number or anything).
A picture? How is that proof of anything?
I always mailed my rent checks as signature required and delivery confirmation so I'd actually have proof that it was received.
The only notice your landlord is required to give you when the rent check doesn't arrive is the pay or quit notice that is step one in the eviction process.
It would be easy for you to check every month to make sure the rent check cleared the bank. Or set up an automatic payment.
I do call my tenants if the rent is late, but I don't have very many tenants. If I had 100 tenants and had to make 100 phone calls, I wouldn't do it because it is the tenant's responsibility and the phone call is nothing more than a courtesy.
Incidentily, if I have to make too many calls about late rent, the tenant is asked to leave and play his late rent drama with a different landlord.
I bank with a small local credit union - they don't have those fancy phone apps that notify you of every single transaction. I check once a month when I pay bills, which I feel is a fairly normal practice.
Do they at least offer online banking, or a 24-hour account access line?
I use my bank's access line practically on a daily basis, always right around the time I pay any of my bills, just to make sure they cleared out of my account (I do on-line bill pay for everything that is not rent). I check it every day starting the day after I hand in my check to my landlord (he lives downstairs from me so the check literally changes hands between us) until the system reads it off as having cleared. The longest he's ever taken to cash/deposit it is 2 weeks, and if it ever got to 3 weeks I would definitely go downstairs and ask him about it.
I was simply suggesting that now that you know the landlord handles situations this way you'll want to be vigilant in the future to protect yourself from it happening again.
The late fees are written into the lease, yes? The landlord doesn't get your check, he charges a late fee. That's usually how it works. In a perfect world the landlord would call and say "hey, I didn't get your check this month, what happened?" but he's not required to. All he knows is that you didn't pay him. I do think he's in the wrong for letting the fees pile up as long as they did (a 3-day "pay or quit" would have actually cost you a LOT less) and I hope you can resolve the situation, and then move forward from this with an eye towards protecting yourself
Edit: Oh sorry, I wasn't paying attention and was thinking I was replying to the OP whose landlord didn't actually *receive* the check, where you seem to be talking about a landlord who did get it and just didn't cash it(?) in which case the late fees would be straight-up illegal. I don't actually know your personal situation, so I can't really comment on it any further, but it sounds like it's a different situation than the discussion at hand
We assume that the LL didn't receive it. That may or may not be the case. It may well be at the bottom of her desk/mailbox. Sending certified mail gives you a record that it is sent. That way, if the LL can't find it, its on her.
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