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Old 02-05-2015, 11:11 PM
 
Location: Silicon Valley
18,813 posts, read 32,505,733 times
Reputation: 38576

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Yeah, she's a real piece of work. Well, $5.05 is a heck of a lot cheaper than $120!

You know what? I think you should keep receipts of all the delivery confirmation postage, too. "When" you sue her, include that cost as well. You may even get punitive damages if the judge thinks she was running a scam. There was another poster in the San Jose forum who just won a case against his landlord and the judge did award him punitive damages of $1,000!

It's seriously time someone took this scam artist to court.

Just FYI, if she doesn't follow the rules to a tee when you move out, she can't keep a dime of your security deposit. There also cannot be any non-refundable fees. The law in CA is designed so that a tenant can get their FULL deposits back, and landlords have no wiggle room with regard to the law. If they don't follow the rules, they lose any right to the deposit.

Most of the info can be found here on what they need to do regarding notifying you of your right to pre-move-out inspection, etc. I always tell people - don't give them any heads-up. Let them screw up, then you will likely win all of your deposit and court costs and maybe even punitive damages in court.

California Tenants - California Department of Consumer Affairs

So, you can sue her for keeping any of your deposit that she shouldn't have, the late fees she wasn't entitled to, your court fees and punitive damages. And I'd throw in that postage for delivery confirmation just for fun.
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Old 02-06-2015, 03:08 AM
 
Location: State of Transition
102,211 posts, read 107,904,670 times
Reputation: 116159
Quote:
Originally Posted by tprice7111 View Post
Yes, there is a 7 month contract. She refused to do a year contract. Said she plan to raise the rent once the lease expires. The contract states 6% late fee if received after the 5th of the month. The post office here is quite fast, so I'm not sure how she can claim not to have received it by the 5th.
Well, hopefully, you mail it in time to arrive by the 1st, or a day or two earlier, right? And you never know about the mail. A B&B owner I knew in Berkeley said once when he mailed a letter to a house 3 blocks away, it took a week to arrive. So you can't take anything for granted. But now that you're going to use registered mail, you should send it around the 23rd of the month for arrival near the 1st. And keep all the receipts, the proofs of delivery, of course, in your rental file.

That's lousy that she plans to raise the rent every 7 months! Is that even legal? You need to start looking for a better place to live, a place with more stable rent. Where are you, SF? East Bay? This woman has become very greedy, now that she has rental income.
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Old 02-06-2015, 10:06 AM
 
28,115 posts, read 63,672,505 times
Reputation: 23268
The bright side is you are not locked into a multi-year lease.

I live in Oakland the mail is notoriously bad... tested it by having my brother mail identical letters... one to my home in Oakland and one to work in San Leandro... Oakland is closer to where he lives.

Mail to work ALWAYS arrives 1 or 2 days sooner... once, he sent me a envelope of receipts and it was 7 days from Pleasant Hill to Oakland...

Anyway... what about personally delivering since the owner lives nearby...

I have a mortgage on one property and for 12 years I hand carry the mortgage to the retirement home on or before the first... the mortgage holder needs the mortgage money to pay for the retirement home.

Maybe you should look to rent in a Rent Control area... many places have rent control in the Bay Area.

Does you Landlord accept postmarks... the reason I ask is one of the local utilities doesn't... the only thing that counts is receipt...

For two properties I manage the rent is collected onsite... many don't have checking accounts and personal collection keeps everyone current...

A few tenants will drop bring rent to my home... which is not encouraged... but is OK. They get paid on Thursday and Thursday night they drop off the rent money order...

If you pay by check... you already have the banking information... when I was renting the owner was hospitalized for several months... I simply made out deposit receipts and dropped them off at Bank of America... she was most grateful... later, she sold me the house and carried the mortgage because I was never late.
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Old 02-06-2015, 10:29 AM
 
Location: Pleasanton, CA
2,406 posts, read 6,040,074 times
Reputation: 4251
I realize that the rental market is very tight right now, but I think you really need to get out of that place once your lease expires. I've been very fortunate in that my last landlord and current one are actually very reasonable.

My previous landlord was a little cheap and dragged his feet on repairs at times, but he charged us a great rate and only raised our rent $100 once in the entire 5 years we lived there. Our current landlord is also very reasonable. Just a week ago, she authorized her handy man to replace a faulty ceiling fan (with a really nice upgraded one) along with a brand new toilet in one of the bathrooms. Then she authorized for him to order new windows for our master bedroom since the current single pane windows have bad seals. No drama whatsoever.

My point is just that there ARE plenty of good landlords out there, and I couldn't imagine dealing with the BS you're dealing with from yours.
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Old 02-06-2015, 11:35 AM
 
Location: State of Transition
102,211 posts, read 107,904,670 times
Reputation: 116159
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ultrarunner View Post
The bright side is you are not locked into a multi-year lease.

I live in Oakland the mail is notoriously bad... tested it by having my brother mail identical letters... one to my home in Oakland and one to work in San Leandro... Oakland is closer to where he lives.

Mail to work ALWAYS arrives 1 or 2 days sooner... once, he sent me a envelope of receipts and it was 7 days from Pleasant Hill to Oakland...

Anyway... what about personally delivering since the owner lives nearby...

I have a mortgage on one property and for 12 years I hand carry the mortgage to the retirement home on or before the first... the mortgage holder needs the mortgage money to pay for the retirement home.

Maybe you should look to rent in a Rent Control area... many places have rent control in the Bay Area.

Does you Landlord accept postmarks... the reason I ask is one of the local utilities doesn't... the only thing that counts is receipt...

For two properties I manage the rent is collected onsite... many don't have checking accounts and personal collection keeps everyone current...

A few tenants will drop bring rent to my home... which is not encouraged... but is OK. They get paid on Thursday and Thursday night they drop off the rent money order...

If you pay by check... you already have the banking information... when I was renting the owner was hospitalized for several months... I simply made out deposit receipts and dropped them off at Bank of America... she was most grateful... later, she sold me the house and carried the mortgage because I was never late.
The OP said personally delivering the mail is out of the question, because it's a 40 minute drive round trip, and she has a child to care for at home. Between work and her child, she can't swing it. And naturally, the LL wouldn't accept postmarks, because she's running a scam. It's to her advantage to count only the day of delivery, which is harder to prove. But now that the OP will be using registered mail, we'll see how the LL reacts. I hope the OP gets back to us with that--we'll be ready with popcorn to watch the drama.

How would a tenant have the LL's bank info if they pay by check? The check gets mailed to the LL's home, not their bank.
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Old 02-06-2015, 02:59 PM
 
28,115 posts, read 63,672,505 times
Reputation: 23268
When I paid by check... the landlord endorsed the back of the check with "Deposit Only to B of A # XXXXXXX"

When she was incapacitated... I simply pulled the number off of one of my cancelled checks and used it to fill out a deposit slip and deposited it at the Bank America I used... worked like a charm.

Also... I wrote "Deposit Only" on the back of the check...

I've never used Registered Mail...

I do use Certified with proof of Delivery occasionally..

The problem I have encountered is often no one will be home to sign and most people will not go to the Post Office to pick up mail these days...

Maybe the Landlord will come to the rental... it is a service I reluctantly offer in Oakland California...


Off Topic... I once did business with Provident Funding for a mortgage... I have never been dinged for a late payment and then it happened twice... both times the payment was mailed well in advance and the second time I paid for Proof of Mailing and mailed two weeks early... still got dinged a $70 late fee.

It burned me up so much that I dumped the lender and did a refi at a lower rate and no cost with my Credit Union...
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Old 02-06-2015, 03:02 PM
 
Location: State of Transition
102,211 posts, read 107,904,670 times
Reputation: 116159
If no one is home to sign, a notice will be left for the recipient. There will still be proof of delivery attempt. The landlord wouldn't have grounds to charge a late fee if delivery had been attempted, and documented as such.
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Old 02-06-2015, 03:08 PM
 
28,115 posts, read 63,672,505 times
Reputation: 23268
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth View Post
If no one is home to sign, a notice will be left for the recipient. There will still be proof of delivery attempt. The landlord wouldn't have grounds to charge a late fee if delivery had been attempted, and documented as such.
The no one home attempted delivery will take at least 10 days from the last attempt for the letter/card to be returned... sometimes longer.

I realize not everywhere is as bad as where I live... it's just awful...

A few years ago someone was making a claim against me... the postman put the entire letter, with the proof of delivery, signature card in my mailbox... with no one home and never another word about it...

If it were me... I would make the 40 minute trip once a month with kids and infants in tow...

Then again... I do this type of thing regularly when the situation demands.
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Old 02-06-2015, 03:11 PM
 
Location: State of Transition
102,211 posts, read 107,904,670 times
Reputation: 116159
In any case, the OP should look for a better landlord. One who appreciates a good tenant, and believes in rewarding that with a break in rent increases. Any experienced landlord knows that's how to keep good tenants. OP says this is his LL's first experience with renting, so she's facing a big learning curve. She'll figure it out eventually, after she has turnover every 7 months to deal with.
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Old 02-06-2015, 03:17 PM
 
28,115 posts, read 63,672,505 times
Reputation: 23268
Professional Management is more uniform when it comes to business practices and is also State regulated... plus, one application fee is generally covers all in house rentals for 30 or 60 days...

There still are a lot of reluctant Landlords only renting waiting to sell...

At one time, I had rentals in Pleasant Hill and Pittsburg... it was too far geographically for me and as they became vacant they were sold...

The East Bay market is definitely tightening up...

I put a modest 2 bedroom on Craigslist and in 20 minutes it generated 17 replies... at another time, 17 replies would have taken two weeks...
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