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Anyway, fast forward to September 2016. I had paid my rent as I always do, on time, directly at the management agency office, since they were right down the road. This particular agency for some odd reason would only accept either a wire transfer or a certified check in person for payment of rent, an inconvenience, but whatever, I dealt with it. So, I made my payment after hours in their drop box slot like I’d done many times before, and thought nothing of it (they never send out statements or receipts).
?
This is the only place I see where they might find fault with your action, assuming "in person" means you hand it to someone else. However, they have a drop box slot (I'm assuming for the rent checks specifically?) so they don't have a lot of ground to stand on. The fact that they didn't notify you for 15 days AND are charging you for a (ridiculous) late fee when it clearly isn't your fault is insane.
Allow me to expand on some things here: Yes, I should have clarified that the surveillance footage was at the check cashing place, not the property management office. However, not only did I pay my rent on time, I paid it early. The check was drawn up on August 28th, and put in the after hours drop box the same day. Check was fished out and cashed on August 30th. Pretty strong evidence that it was in their drop box at the time and even more shocking, the front desk lady actually admitted to me that this type of thing happened to them before.
Why the homeowner/landlord never contacted me, I have no idea, as he did have both mine and my wife’s contact info, I suspect it was because he might have been used to the management company ignoring him for weeks at a time.. As I said before, there was not one iota of communication between myself and the property management company, until I found an eviction notice taped to the door.
Both the police and Wells Fargo are convinced I have a case to sue them for gross negligence.
Also, apparently I’m not the only one it’s happened to, 2 other people had their checks stolen as well and I heard a rumor that this property management agency is being investigated by the Nevada attorney general.
I’ll update this thread if/when I know more. If they actually follow through with a civil judgement, I’m going to countersue them for negligence, and demand they pay me the $1280 I had to fork out, plus the late fee and force them to remove anything on my credit report, not to mention I should be entitled to monetary compensation for damage to my credit rating. I’ve never had anything but a stellar rental history and I will not let them ruin my credit.
It’s completly baffling to me why they refuse to take any responsibility.
Funny thing, shortly after this went down they sent out an email saying they will no longer accept checks dropped off after hours.
Allow me to expand on some things here: Yes, I should have clarified that the surveillance footage was at the check cashing place, not the property management office. However, not only did I pay my rent on time, I paid it early. The check was drawn up on August 28th, and put in the after hours drop box the same day. Check was fished out and cashed on August 30th. Pretty strong evidence that it was in their drop box at the time and even more shocking, the front desk lady actually admitted to me that this type of thing happened to them before.
Why the homeowner/landlord never contacted me, I have no idea, as he did have both mine and my wife’s contact info, I suspect it was because he might have been used to the management company ignoring him for weeks at a time.. As I said before, there was not one iota of communication between myself and the property management company, until I found an eviction notice taped to the door.
Both the police and Wells Fargo are convinced I have a case to sue them for gross negligence.
Also, apparently I’m not the only one it’s happened to, 2 other people had their checks stolen as well and I heard a rumor that this property management agency is being investigated by the Nevada attorney general.
I’ll update this thread if/when I know more. If they actually follow through with a civil judgement, I’m going to countersue them for negligence, and demand they pay me the $1280 I had to fork out, plus the late fee and force them to remove anything on my credit report, not to mention I should be entitled to monetary compensation for damage to my credit rating. I’ve never had anything but a stellar rental history and I will not let them ruin my credit.
It’s completly baffling to me why they refuse to take any responsibility.
Funny thing, shortly after this went down they sent out an email saying they will no longer accept checks dropped off after hours.
No judge will award you that. The point of lawsuits is to make the parties whole and giving you a rent refund plus making them pay you additional charges for nothing is a HUGE stretch. You can counter sue for legal expenses if they bring the case plus any costs you incurred, doesn't seem like Wells Fargo charged you anything, but going beyond that is leagues above what a civil court will award.
As for the credit concerns, you shouldn't have anything on your report until after you lose in court. If they have already reported info to the credit companies then report it to the credit agencies as incorrect info and they will take care of it. You can get free reports once a year from them and places like credit karma monitor for free.
The rent was paid. How is it his fault that the check was stolen from the property managements premises?
Maybe the property management company should look into better security measures. If they accept this type of payment, as the OP did, when something happens after it’s out of his hands, it should be on them. Period.
So if I walk in, hand them a check, and they lose it, I’m supposed to be responsible for late fees?
Right?!?!?
Way back when I was a renter (about 10 years ago), the property management company that managed my rental did not have the option to set up automatic rent payments nor did they offer the option to pay online. I could send a check through the mail at my own risk, or I could deliver the rent check in person at the property management office (about 12 miles from my rental).
I chose the second option. Every month when I dropped off the rent, I got a receipt. I kept all of the receipts. Nothing major happened. I renewed my lease for a second year. One month in, I get a call from them asking me when I'm going to pay my rent and that they've assessed me with a late fee.
Me: I already paid it.
Them: We have no record of that.
Me: Well, as it happens, I do. You gave me a receipt.
Them: Can you send it to us in the mail?
Me: (laughing...as if I'd send them my only evidence that I was right and they were wrong) No, but I can bring it to you and let you look at it.
So I drive down there with the receipt. I wouldn't hand it to them but I showed it to them front and back.
After I showed them the receipt, their routine changed from "you never paid us" to "write us a new check." I refused and told them to go ahead and deposit the one I already gave them. They wanted me to cancel it so I told them they'd have to reimburse me for the expense of canceling the check. They refused, so I told them again they were welcome to deposit the check that they already acknowledged that I gave to them. I also reminded them that I would not be paying the late fee since the receipt proved that I handed the check to them on the first of the month and it wasn't my problem that they lost it or were delinquent with their deposits.
As I turned to walk out, they said "We could evict you, you know." I laughed and invited them to try it.
A couple of days later I get another call from them. They found the check under a stack of papers on someone's desk. No apology for the hassle they'd put me through and the threats they made. I again reminded them that I would not be paying the late fee they tried to charge me, so don't even try.
Next month rolls around and I make the trek again to hand them my rent check for the exact amount due. I waited a few minutes for a receipt...asked a couple of people after the receptionist had waddled off to make a Xerox of the check (which served as part of the receipt). They played dumb. After a few more minutes they figured out that I wasn't going to leave without one, and that I'd been reminding other people who came in to drop off their rent checks that they should demand a receipt so there was a bit of a line backing up of people clutching rent checks in their hands, refusing to hand them over without a receipt....so they went ahead and gave me one.
Didn't have any issues after that. Got my full deposit back too.
If my mortgage payment is one day late and Mailed 10 days prior to the due date I still was hit with a late fee...
I then started sending return receipt and hit with a late fee but had proof it was signed/delivered on the due date.
In my world I do reach out to my tenants... had as near a perfect tenant for 5 years and then no rent... tenant said mailed as always but I didn't have it... not sure where the letter went but it did show up looking like trash and forward written on it 3 weeks later.
My tenant had put a stop payment and paid me... I waived the late fee because the tenant had a stellar history with me...
Things do happen... opened a magazine once and 32,000 check was inside... called the leasing company and said what do you want me to do just because this is how I operate.
before wasting money in court on a claim you may lose and end up paying the PMC's attorney fees, start with the most basic of basics.
What does your lease specifically says about paying rent? Does it say it must be paid, tendered or received (the words used are very important) by a certain date? Does it state the method of payment? Does it say how and where to make payment?
before anyone can tell you if you have good cause for an action, they need to actually read your lease. Did the police or bank do that; or did they just say those words to get you to leave them alone by sending you off on some wild goose chase away from them?
Allow me to expand on some things here: Yes, I should have clarified that the surveillance footage was at the check cashing place, not the property management office.s.
It was more than obvious when you said: Police detective did some investigating, and got Check City’s surveillance footage and found out that apparently, People who didn't understand that may have a reading comprehension problem.
Although the drop box should have also had a surveillance system, but that's on them to leave it so vulnerable.
before wasting money in court on a claim you may lose and end up paying the PMC's attorney fees, start with the most basic of basics.
What does your lease specifically says about paying rent? Does it say it must be paid, tendered or received (the words used are very important) by a certain date? Does it state the method of payment? Does it say how and where to make payment?
before anyone can tell you if you have good cause for an action, they need to actually read your lease. Did the police or bank do that; or did they just say those words to get you to leave them alone by sending you off on some wild goose chase away from them?
Regardless of what it says the company did not take measures to secure the box so he can sue to get his $600 back and filing fees. When there are special circumstances like this it trumps what's written in the lease.
before wasting money in court on a claim you may lose and end up paying the PMC's attorney fees, start with the most basic of basics.
What does your lease specifically says about paying rent? Does it say it must be paid, tendered or received (the words used are very important) by a certain date? Does it state the method of payment? Does it say how and where to make payment?
before anyone can tell you if you have good cause for an action, they need to actually read your lease. Did the police or bank do that; or did they just say those words to get you to leave them alone by sending you off on some wild goose chase away from them?
The company has a drop box to accept payment. Going to be tough for them to turnaround and say the OP shouldn’t have used it to make his payment. Actually, it will be impossible. If that is their defense, they should just drop it now
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