Best way to mail rent checks (deposit, fee, legal, grace period)
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I really, really dislike the idea of mailing rent checks, but since my landlords don't live nearby and are too old to understand things like PayPal and direct bank transfer, I don't have a lot of choice.
Since there is quite an insane penalty for late rent with no grace period, what is the best method for covering my butt? Certified mail with return receipt?
In Australia, we pay our rent etc with bank transfers. Easy to set up, you can schedule them and forget them...plus it's more or less free.
what? most places i've toured and the few i've rented from have used checks. they're leery of bank transfers and automatic withdrawals due to the risk of fraud.
First thing you do is read your state law if they have any requirenmst as to a certain way mail is sent that is considered acceptable in court. if so, use that method only as all other may not be acceptable.
If there is no specific way mentioned or its open to reasonable proof. You can send it certifed mail with areturn receipt at a cost of about $5.75. OR, you can go to the post offcie, grab a bunch of the USPA Priority Mail Flat Rate Small Envelopes or Gift Card Envelopes and use them. Create an account online with the USPS under their Click-N-Ship. Each month you go online, print and pay for the shipping label and it cost $4.90. Or you can just take it to the post office, wait on line, fill out a envelope there, and pay $5.15. You will be able to track the delivery of the letter online and in most states, delivery recipr by the USPS is considered delivered. For a small extra fee you can have them get a signature confirmation but since their notice of it being delivered is good enough for most courts, no need to pay extra. (the beauty of the priorty mail gift card or small envelope is they fit in the mailbox or mail slots and can be confirmed as delivered by the USPS even if the person isn;t home)
Thats probably due to the fact that Certified mail when writen intot he laws awas a system designed for legal notices. But today, there are so mamny other options that if the law only requires you show proof of delivery, why not choose the simplest way. You can also buy those envelopes pre-paid on line at the USPS postal store and all you ned to do is fill out the address and hand to any postal worker or drop at the post office. You can track the delivery online and all you need to do is print out the confirmation. An interesting thing is the PMC for my place doen;t use Certifed or Registered mail for notices unless requird by law. They have found that many people may refuse a Certifed/Registred letter, but will always accept that Priorty Mail cause they may think its their Amazon order or their Free Gift for entering something, or a Rebate check, or just about anything.
I really, really dislike the idea of mailing rent checks, but since my landlords don't live nearby and are too old to understand things like PayPal and direct bank transfer, I don't have a lot of choice.
Since there is quite an insane penalty for late rent with no grace period, what is the best method for covering my butt? Certified mail with return receipt?
Bill pay but you have to make sure you set it up to be sent on time since you never can be sure when they will arrive since USPS is involved and the bank...Before Obama's bank remodeling law bill pay was always on time, now never!
Bill pay doesn't cost you any money for enveloppes and stamps.
We always go by the stamp on the enveloppe to determine if we charge late fee or not...
Yeah, I pay my current landlords with PayPal and love it, but my new landlords are not interested in any form of web/direct deposit. Only want checks by mail. Zzz.
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An interesting thing is the PMC for my place doen;t use Certifed or Registered mail for notices unless requird by law. They have found that many people may refuse a Certifed/Registred letter, but will always accept that Priorty Mail cause they may think its their Amazon order or their Free Gift for entering something, or a Rebate check, or just about anything.
In court though, does it matter that they never went to pick it up as long as you can prove the delivery attempt was made?
Yeah, I pay my current landlords with PayPal and love it, but my new landlords are not interested in any form of web/direct deposit. Only want checks by mail. Zzz.
In court though, does it matter that they never went to pick it up as long as you can prove the delivery attempt was made?
Exactly. It does not matter if they refused to accept. What matters is that you mailed it properly.
However I remember when millions of checks were mailed to pay bills every day and the world still twirled.
Does your LL have a bank that is in your town? Simply make a deposit into their account.
We still have a drop box and make collections... quite a few pay by cash or money order and the rest by personal check...
I wouldn't know what to do if I could simply go online to view account balances showing rents paid...
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