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In every apt. that I have rented within NYC, I have always had to pay the rent using a physical check as there was no online option available given by the management company or landlord. (I do know that it is possible use one's personal online banking to issue such a check as well.) A few years the building I live was sold to a new owner using a new managment company and still no online payment option. But now there is a new manager at the management company and finally they will be offering within the next month or two an online rental payment service. So I was wondering by what means do others pay their rent in NYC? Physical checks, cash, online payment using credit/debit cards/direct withdrawal from one's account or what?
A good number of LL's in NYC, even those with large numbers of apartments under management still only accept and or prefer paper checks.
There reasons vary but most say you can pay with online bill pay or whatever, but if rent does not arrive when due they'll will charge late fee (if allowed), and you are still liable for that month's payment. So if things go beyond one month or whatever a three day notice and other legal action may commence.
Problems come from how many online payment systems (even from banks) work. Unless they directly deposit funds into LL's account, all they do is simply cut and mail a check. Something you can do yourself.
Meanwhile the funds for the online payment are debited from your account at once, even if LL or whoever says they haven't received payment. If this happens your only recourse is to cut them another check (providing you have the funds) and place a stop payment on the online payment check.
This sounds easy but banks vary in how they handle stop payments for online banking, and this includes any fees charged.
I've paid it all kinds of ways - cash, check, electronically....most often check for buildings though. I lived in an apartment with 2 other girls and the landlord lived in the apartment downstairs (small building). He was a saint and accepted separate checks from the 3 of us as long as we gave them to him together and they added up to the full rent.
My fave was my previous landlord (well, his son technically, who lived in FL and managed the property for his elderly dad who lived there). I paid him using Chase QuickPay....took a second and I had an electronic trail.
Current landlord (house was sold a little over a year ago) prefers cash....he and his family live downstairs, so I just text him, we meet up and I hand it over, but I'm a fiend about documenting, so I printed out receipts that he fills out for me, and I staple the withdrawal receipt to them. I'm not concerned about whether or not he's reporting the rental income, but I do want to have the trail in case I ever need to prove that I've paid my rent.
If all goes to plan, I'll be buying by the end of the year. Mortgage will obviously be paid electronically, and the buildings I'm looking at are large enough that I'm hoping there's an electronic option for maintenance as well.
Online, online, online... so I don't have to get in line and wait on line.
Fortunately the online portal doesn't charge any "convenience fees", (at least not yet), so I have the rent amount debit from my Checking account the 1st of each month. Literally set it and forget it.
Anyone who has the option to pay online with no fees and chooses not to.
Online, online, online... so I don't have to get in line and wait on line.
Fortunately the online portal doesn't charge any "convenience fees", (at least not yet), so I have the rent amount debit from my Checking account the 1st of each month. Literally set it and forget it.
Anyone who has the option to pay online with no fees and chooses not to.
Pretty sure the fees are only with credit cards, at least with Clickpay.
In my old apt- my landlord lived on floor below me so i left the check for him on the 1st every month in the foyer.
When i was applying through the housing lottery and needed the 1 year of rent receipts i went to capital one website and printed every check image which included my landlords signature when he cashed the check. It was perfect.
Now that I live in one of the modern building in fort greene - they offer click pay but I simply go downstairs to the management office on the 1st and hand them a check and they give me a written receipt which i staple to the clickpay billing statement they send me in the mail LOL. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I should add that i have a separate checking account that's solely used for paying rent. Each month i transfer the rent money there and write the check so i never have to worry about when the money will be withdrawn. I have noticed my management company cashes it pretty quickly - a day or 2 after the 1st whereas my prior landlord would sometimes cash it 3 weeks after. Either way I am good.
In my old apt- my landlord lived on floor below me so i left the check for him on the 1st every month in the foyer.
When i was applying through the housing lottery and needed the 1 year of rent receipts i went to capital one website and printed every check image which included my landlords signature when he cashed the check. It was perfect.
Now that I live in one of the modern building in fort greene - they offer click pay but I simply go downstairs to the management office on the 1st and hand them a check and they give me a written receipt which i staple to the clickpay billing statement they send me in the mail LOL. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I should add that i have a separate checking account that's solely used for paying rent. Each month i transfer the rent money there and write the check so i never have to worry about when the money will be withdrawn. I have noticed my management company cashes it pretty quickly - a day or 2 after the 1st whereas my prior landlord would sometimes cash it 3 weeks after. Either way I am good.
So much time wasted and resources micromanaging this process.....
Wouldn't it be better if you set up a rule in your bank to auto transfer the rent amount to the checking account every month, then set up auto pay through click pay and get the rent statements through estatments? Set it up once and you reclaim that that time wasted to invest elsewhere.
This basically give you the paper trail without you having to go to your mailbox to get the rent statement, manually transferring money to checking, writing a check, dropping it off, waiting for them to give you a receipt, staple that receipt to the rent statement, then hoarding that receipt and statment somewhere with all the other statements
So much time wasted and resources micromanaging this process.....
Wouldn't it be better if you set up a rule in your bank to auto transfer the rent amount to the checking account every month, then set up auto pay through click pay and get the rent statements through estatments? Set it up once and you reclaim that that time wasted to invest elsewhere.
This basically give you the paper trail without you having to go to your mailbox to get the rent statement, manually transferring money to checking, writing a check, dropping it off, waiting for them to give you a receipt, staple that receipt to the rent statement, then hoarding that receipt and statment somewhere with all the other statements
This guy sounds like an elderly lady who I knew. She was absolutely frightened to use any sort of online banking or anything. I used to tell her... Eileen, this is way things are going and there's no getting around it. She always hoped for a meltdown, where so many people would suffer from identity theft or other things that we'd go back to the simple way of life. LOL
In 2018 it is absolutely foolish to use checks if you are given the electronic payment option. ClickPay e-mails you your receipt when you pay, so you don't need to walk over to the management's office for that. Please. I have a folder in my e-mail box specifically for that. When it comes into my mailbox, I move it over to that folder and that's it. Such a waste of paper too... ClickPay also shows you all payments that you've made in the system.
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