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My LL has recently asked me to pay rent by mail. He lives directly across the street from our unit. For the past two years he has either come on the first to pick it up or I would deliver it to him on the 2nd. I feel my LL's recent request to have rent mailed is to actively "avoid" receiving it in order to terminate my lease and raise the rent in a newly surging market. Call me paranoid but I truly feel like this is a possibility. The landlord has already done something similar to another tenant and I have 6 months left on a lease with rent that is currently only 50% of current market value. He has since raised rent on the other tenants unit.
I briefly spoke with an attorney who mentioned something about a "Mailbox Law" stating that if a LL should request that the rent be mailed, once it is placed in the mailbox, it is as if rent is paid to LL in person. Has anyone ever heard of this? Would this "Mailbox Law" apply if I mailed it directly from the Post Office so I could get a receipt that it was sent?
I am also worried that even if they receive the envelope, and I have confirmation that they received it, they will say there was nothing in there (what LL did to other tenant). I also asked the attorney about this and this is what she advised:
She said that standard practice would be to take two pictures.
- One with the envelope addressed with postage with the check right above it.
- The other; you placing it in the mailbox.
I asked if I should just take a video of the entire process and she discouraged video because judges see it as time consuming. Is this true?
What about bill pay? Usually when I pay a bill using bill pay, the money is deducted from my account the date it is set to be paid. It will obviously arrive in the mail at a later date so I'll need to ensure enough time for delivery. I'm hesitant about this because the money gets deducted right away so if the LL comes back and says they didn't receive it I will have to fight with my bank to credit my account, allowing the LL time to legally terminate my lease, Also, there is no receipt confirmation.
Does anyone have any experience with this? Any and all advice is greatly appreciated.
NOTE: My lease does ask for rent to be mailed although the LL has ALWAYS, for two years, picked it up on the first or if he didn't come for whatever reason, I would deliver it to him on the 2nd.
I plan to follow the advice of the counsel I received. Just trying to gain as many different perspectives as possible, maybe from people that have been through similar experiences.
There is No Better advice than a Lawyer in your area. WE Are NOT Lawyers. So what advice you receive here would be Useless! You don't even give a location! So advice would be Worse than useless!
I'm not aware of any 'mailbox law' however that may be the case in your jurisdiction. Why don't you just mail it certified mail, return receipt requested?
There is No Better advice than a Lawyer in your area. WE Are NOT Lawyers. So what advice you receive here would be Useless! You don't even give a location! So advice would be Worse than useless!
As KonaKat stated, I too have never heard of a "Mailbox Law", other than from this attorney. I also had to pay $150 dollars for this advice. I have done exhaustive research with no luck. Forgive me for seeking advice here before I shell out more money to a lawyer who may give me a completely different answer.
You shouldn't speak for everyone here, Katie. Just because you are not a lawyer, that doesn't mean that others here are not. Also, I'm not seeking legal advice. I'm hoping someone has maybe dealt with this situation before and might have some advice as to what they may have done.
I'm in Colorado. I apologize for not including that in my OP.
You can also probably get some information from the court in your area that handles evictions. This "mailbox law" should be mentioned in the pamphlets they usually have for the public.
While this mailbox law definition refers to the acceptance of an offer, I do not see where rent or LL/tenant issues are included.
The mail box rule is a judge made legal doctrine of contract law that finds the acceptance of an offer is made as of the time the acceptance is placed in a mail box, as long as mailing an accepting reply is a reasonable form of acceptance. The acceptance is effective at the time of sending. However, the mail box rule does not apply to revocations of an acceptance, which are only effective when received.
In order for the mailbox rule to apply, the acceptance must be dispatched within the time in which the offer must be accepted, and will not apply if the offer requires acceptance by personal delivery on or before the specified date. The mailbox rule is sometimes also applied in situations involving payment of insurance premiums.
The mailbox rule states that an incarcerated pro se litigant's filing requirement is met when the pro se litigant delivers a document to prison authorities for mailing. [Faurot v. Barton, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3818 (E.D. Cal. Jan. 4, 2008)]
The mailbox rule states that papers filed by a prisoner are deemed filed on the date they are given to prison authorities for mailing. [Salazar v. Hegerty, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 111071 (E.D. Wis. July 17, 2008)]
You can also probably get some information from the court in your area that handles evictions. This "mailbox law" should be mentioned in the pamphlets they usually have for the public.
While this mailbox law definition refers to the acceptance of an offer, I do not see where rent or LL/tenant issues are included.
The mail box rule is a judge made legal doctrine of contract law that finds the acceptance of an offer is made as of the time the acceptance is placed in a mail box, as long as mailing an accepting reply is a reasonable form of acceptance. The acceptance is effective at the time of sending. However, the mail box rule does not apply to revocations of an acceptance, which are only effective when received.
In order for the mailbox rule to apply, the acceptance must be dispatched within the time in which the offer must be accepted, and will not apply if the offer requires acceptance by personal delivery on or before the specified date. The mailbox rule is sometimes also applied in situations involving payment of insurance premiums.
The mailbox rule states that an incarcerated pro se litigant's filing requirement is met when the pro se litigant delivers a document to prison authorities for mailing. [Faurot v. Barton, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3818 (E.D. Cal. Jan. 4, 2008)]
The mailbox rule states that papers filed by a prisoner are deemed filed on the date they are given to prison authorities for mailing. [Salazar v. Hegerty, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 111071 (E.D. Wis. July 17, 2008)]
The mailbox rule is also known as dispatch rule.
Bolded - is exactly where my questions come from. He presented me with a print out with this information however I did not see where the correlation to my situation was. Thank you for your advice, Kona!
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