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[Guest inoubliable]

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[Guest inoubliable]

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[Parrothead]

No, he can't charge a late fee for a late fee. It doesn't work like that. What a maroon.

 

You need to get a copy of the lease if you don't have one and a copy of your state's tenant/landlord laws so you know what you are entitled to.

 

In the future if the rent is going to be late, just send the check late with the fee already included because apparently the maroon doesn't have a clue.

 

You will have to put a stop check on the first check you wrote. Go to the bank to do this. While you are there get a cashier's check for the full amount you owe him for January then take it to him or mail it. Unfortunately since you complicated this by telling him not to deposit the first check and adding a second check into the mix it is your responsibility to fix it.

[Julie in CA]

Why don't you go to the bank today, get cash for the whole amount plus the late fee, and drop it off to him today? I'd also put a stop on the previous checks if they haven't cleared the bank yet, and make sure to get a receipt showing paid in full.

[Guest inoubliable]

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[Reflections]

I would move. Biggest hassle IMO to move - but this landlord is awful. I'd be worried about a fight at the end when you move about first and last and the security deposit. :grouphug:

[gingersmom]

I think your landlord must be related to the crazy guy I rented a house from. He used to walk around the house trying to look in the windows!! Thank goodness I had a big barking German shepherd.

 

 

[MiniBlondes]

Honestly, we lived somewhere once where the guy was always asking for money early. Turned out he was on drugs. Get out, fast.

[Parrothead]

I've found another house for rent. $200 cheaper than this one. DH wants to call the number tonight. We've been here 2.5 years too long.

I'd say so.

 

If nothing else, this guy has money problems. He is liable to sell the house out from under you at any moment. Or if there is a mortgage on it, he is more likely than most to let it go to default.

[Swimtaxi234]

For future reference since it looks like you are now wanting to move, you can have your rent sent via electronic transfer every month (no checks involved) Plus you could transfer funds immediately if something like a late fee, etc. comes up again.

[Parrothead]

I would move. Biggest hassle IMO to move - but this landlord is awful. I'd be worried about a fight at the end when you move about first and last and the security deposit. :grouphug:

Yeah, I wouldn't even count on getting the security deposit back. That has been spent and probably nothing available to replace it. You'd have to take him to court to get it back.

[Guest inoubliable]

 

[Guest inoubliable]

 

[Reflections]

Now is not too soon to start packing, I'd say. Be sure to document as much as you can - I've know some landlords to get nasty when the renters move suddenly.

[Parrothead]

 

DH and I area afraid of that. He had a guy come by last summer to look around and take pictures because he was refinancing it. This is a guy who was born with a silver spoon, works for his daddy in his real estate office, owns a few other companies on his own, and lives in a palatial down-town home. I can't imagine what his finances are like. At the very least, I'm betting they are complicated. And if things got too...complicated...my guess is that this place would be the first to jettison. Right out from under us.

Kinda makes one wonder why his right hand man wasn't coming around asking about the rent checks.

[Guest inoubliable]

 

[Kirch]

I hope you can move soon!! Until then, follow your lease *to the letter* (no more favors or dropping the check off different places) and cover your rear with proof in case you need it.

[melissad2]

Move...ASAP.

[SproutMamaK]

Thank you for making me feel like an excellent landlord. I felt bad that we hadn't yet got around to repairing a small tear in the carpet underneath where our tenant currently has her couch... By comparison I feel positively awesome right now, lol.

[Unicorn.]

Umm, yeah. Past time to move. Way past time.

[Happy]

 

Security deposit? Bwahahahah. Yeah. I've already figured that we won't see that again.

 

This guy is a nutter. The lever on the faucet in the kitchen broke over six months ago. He's been "sending someone right over" for all that time to fix it. The door to my little uns' room had no doorknob until we put one on finally after being here for a year and waiting on him to do it. The sewer backed up into the house and we had raw sewage in the washing machine. We had to call his secretary to shame him into calling us back and taking care of it. There is no heat in the kitchen. The wires are there. Hot and sticking up from the floor (well, not anymore. DH got ticked, capped them, and shoved them down into the floor.) He's been "sending someone right over" to install that last baseboard heater since we moved in. When we moved in, the oven didn't work and neither did the washer or dryer. Three weeks and a shame by my uncle at their church to get them. He gave us a $50 break on the rent and told us that we shouldn't complain since our kids could have eaten mac-n-cheese that whole time off of the stove top. Earthquake in Virginia in 2011?? Oh yeah. Damage. Walls buckling under windows, ceiling plaster broken and hanging, floor disconnected from wall in one bedroom, giant cracks going the whole way across walls in the other bedroom. He can't be bothered to even come by and check it out. Giant ancient tree out back. Hangs over the house. It's clearly been a concern in the past because at one time someone used a metal cable to attach part of it to the trunk. That snapped in a freak snowstorm in 2011. He's still not fixed that. We sleep downstairs when any bad storm rolls through.

 

There's way more to it. It's an older home (1940s) that has not been taken care of AT ALL. Broken windows that WE taped up after we moved in because he hadn't fixed them by the time the first winter rolled around. Ceiling fans that were unusable until WE fixed them. A fireplace and wood stove that we cannot use because his insurance won't let us (according to him anyway). He's skeevy and the house is crap. We were in a tight spot when we rented it and we'd love to get out of it. There just aren't a lot of choices here.

 

 

 

 

You know how landlords want references before accepting a tenant's application? Too bad there isn't a good place for landlord references...this guy is one to avoid.

 

Document, document, document--take photos of all the neglected repairs and print out emails you've sent him asking for work to be done, plus his replies...

[Guest inoubliable]

 

[besroma]

Checking back to see if everything turned out "okay." :D

[QueenCat]

I'm confused as to why the first check wasn't "good". My bank will not cut a check or send an electronic transfer if the funds are not there. And then they deduct the funds immediately. In the future, you might not want to send something that won't clear. He really didn't have to wait to deposit it, and then you would have ended up with fees for bounced checks.

[Guest inoubliable]

 

[elfgivas]

i wonder what would happen if you took all the pictures, wrote up a log of the times you've called and asked for repairs etc.... and took it to his daddy..... ? you could ask his daddy for your security deposit back, too.

 

i'd only do it after i had found a place to move to, however....

 

:grouphug:

ann

[Guest inoubliable]

 

 

[Unicorn.]

So, did you call about the $200 cheaper house yet?

[Durriyyah]

Thank you for making me feel like an excellent landlord. I felt bad that we hadn't yet got around to repairing a small tear in the carpet underneath where our tenant currently has her couch... By comparison I feel positively awesome right now, lol.

 

Hehe, I was thinking the same thing. I feel bad I haven't replaced the ceiling fan in one of the bedrooms of our rental yet, but it's winter so I'm just letting the bank account recover from re-carpeting their place a few months ago. :)

 

He sounds like a whacko... duck and run!

[TranquilMind]

*big sigh*

 

I left a voicemail for my landlord at the beginning of the month asking him to hold the rent check for a week (making it 2 days past the grace period) and letting him know that I would be sending a separate check for the late fee to arrive within the week. He never called back so I emailed him and said the exact same thing. He emailed back and said that it would be fine, not a problem. So I have my bank send out the second check and figure it dealt with.

 

Today he emails me and wants to know where the check is.

 

:confused1: I don't know. Your sock drawer? Glove compartment? Wallet?

 

He says he must have misunderstood because he thought I was sending an entirely different check - one for the original amount PLUS the late fee - instead of two checks. I correct him and point him to the original email and ask if having two checks was a problem. To which he responds, "I never got the late fee check". So which is it? You want a check for the full amount, or you're missing the late fee check???

 

He doesn't respond.

 

So I call him.

 

And he launches into a thing about not having the second check, and he's not sure if he shredded the first check, and when can he expect the money. What the actual.....grrr. I told him that I can have the bank send him another check but that it would take a few days. And suddenly he has to go so he can go check his mail and see if the checks are laying around. And if he doesn't have them, "we might have a problem".

 

Which. Is. It?

 

Do you have the d*mn checks or not??

 

My landlord...I have no idea how he's a successful realtor in my town other than it's his daddy's business, KWIM?

 

 

Why would he shred a check? I don't get that. As a landlord, you take the checks and deposit them. He apparently misunderstood what you were saying you were going to do, and honestly, I found your description here a little confusing as well.

 

At any rate, the rent has not been paid, it appears and that is the first detail. If he deposited the check, he should have a record. If he didn't get it, he should have a record.

[TranquilMind]

No idea! LOL. He's not answering phone call or email. I haven't checked my account yet... let me do that. Newp! Money still there. No idea if he found the checks or not.

 

 

So did he send the check through and it didn't clear? Or did he never deposit the check? If he sent it through and it bounced, there will be other fees on top of the late fees, I'm sure you know.

[TranquilMind]

Thank you for making me feel like an excellent landlord. I felt bad that we hadn't yet got around to repairing a small tear in the carpet underneath where our tenant currently has her couch... By comparison I feel positively awesome right now, lol.

 

Ha ha.

 

Yes, another awesome landlord here. My tenants even tell me that I'm awesome - well, some of them. Others just like to complain, but if pushed, they would say that I do respond to everything quickly and that their house is amazing.

 

The biggest complainers are the ones who called me to come at 2 a.m. CHRISTMAS MORNING. Their heat was out. I reset the thermostat and it kicked on. They could have tried this first. :o

[Guest inoubliable]

 

[Guest inoubliable]

 

[TranquilMind]

 

No, no. He didn't send it through. He and I agreed before he deposited the check to wait a little less than a week to deposit it so that I'd have time to replace some funds I had to use for medical care. He was fine with that, honestly. Said he'd just hold on to the check and then deposit it that next Thursday. I went ahead and had my bank send out a second check for just the late fee, as we agreed. So he should have two checks (one for the rent, one for the late fee) to deposit on the day that we agreed upon.

 

A couple of days AFTER the agreed-upon day is when he calls me up asking me where the checks are. Now, this is where it gets weird. It was the landlord who said he'd hold on to the original check and would deposit that WITH a separate check for the late fee. I have no idea what he's confused on now, OR where he put the checks after he got them in the mail. And that's what he seems to be asking me. As if I'd know where he put them. *I* wasn't holding them for him. It's pretty clear in the email, too.

 

Hmmm. I don't know what to tell you. If you have the money in your account because he hasn't removed it, and he can't find his checks, you will need to replace them.

 

I once received a rent check six months late! It does happen. Of course, the tenant paid immediately when I indicated that no check had arrived, and I returned the check when I finally did get it.

[TranquilMind]

 

We did. We're going to look at it this weekend, but DH is unsure. It's on a 2 acre property and the owners live in a separate house on the property. That's not the concern, though. He was concerned about the hunting that happens on the property. The owners wanted to know if we had any pets and said that if we did, we'd need to keep them either in the house or chained up because they like to hunt and they sell hunting rights to a lot of people so it would be safer for us to keep our pets indoors. Um. I guess nature walks and hikes aren't going to be cool, either? *sigh* We'll go look, though.

 

If you have kids, I would not want this property. And honestly, as a landlord, I would not want to live on the property with the tenants, nor would I, as a tenant, want the landlord right there in my face all the time.

 

I believe in a business-like relationship. My tenants pay early or on time and they see me for maintenance, or the rare emergency, a few times a year. That's how we all like it.

[Guest inoubliable]

 

[Guest inoubliable]

 

[PentecostalMom]

A new place sounds like a good idea. However, if your lease states he is to provide reasonable maintenance, then you have legal recourse. It doesn't cost a whole lot to file with the local court house and keep records. They will "bank" your rent checks until all repairs are completed, and if not done it a timely fasion, the landlord gets $0. If you decide to stay for any length of time, I would make it a safe place for my dc, and having your dh cap wires and shove them in the floor (not that you dh is inadequate, but that the LL should have taken care of this and a multitude of other things you listed), and taped up windows do not sound very safe to me. BTDT.

 

ETA: We have USAA as well, but have always opened a local bank account for other needs. You can then connect your local account with USAA through USAA online and be able to transfer funds back and forth between accounts. This has been a great help to us over the years. Sometimes, you just need a local bank.

[Guest inoubliable]

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[Unicorn.]

 

We did. We're going to look at it this weekend, but DH is unsure. It's on a 2 acre property and the owners live in a separate house on the property. That's not the concern, though. He was concerned about the hunting that happens on the property. The owners wanted to know if we had any pets and said that if we did, we'd need to keep them either in the house or chained up because they like to hunt and they sell hunting rights to a lot of people so it would be safer for us to keep our pets indoors. Um. I guess nature walks and hikes aren't going to be cool, either? *sigh* We'll go look, though.

 

Yeah, we lived next door to a landlord once. Not a good situation. And how can they hunt, much less lease to hunters on only 2 acres? That's not legal even in TX! I'm sorry you're in such a stinky situation.

[TranquilMind]

 

I think the shredding thing came from something that happened in the past. There were a few times that he would come by on the 1st asking for the check, and I'd tell him to check his mail box because I mailed it out a couple of days before and we live in the same town and it should be there that day. He'd leave and come back about lunch time and say that he couldn't wait for his mailman because he needed to get it in before 2 pm and so could I just write him another check and he'd shred the other one when it came. That happened maybe two or three times before I started telling him that he'd just have to wait for the mail and that I didn't have checks in the house anymore. It was becoming a bother. The check wasn't late and I got tired of him knocking on the door several times on the first looking for his check because he couldn't wait for his mail to get delivered. FWIW, the rent has NEVER been late. NEVER. Not once.

 

I've offered to have a new check sent to him for the full amount (rent + late fee). He was the one yesterday who insisted on some time to look for the checks and that he'd get back to me if that was required. He's not contacted me, and he's not returned my call or email from earlier. I can only assume that he found them.

 

He's weird. And I think he has cash flow problems.

 

 

That's ridiculous. He should never come to you for the check at all. Your obligation is to mail the check in time to get it to his box before the first (or whenever your rent is due), and it sounds as if you meet this obligation consistently.

 

Cash flow problems would make me nervous. If he loses the house, you will be forced to move.

[TranquilMind]

 

That's what we'd prefer. A business-like relationship. I don't want to get chummy with my landlord. I just want him to deposit the checks and come fix the house when it needs it. He does NO maintenance here (in fact, for the first year we'd get a little yellow sticky note every three months on our front door. He wasn't paying the pest control company and they wanted their money. He must have finally stopped using them altogether. No one has come to spray since that first summer we moved in.) and he doesn't fix anything. Like I mentioned before, we had to have other people intercede for us so that we got working appliances and a major plumbing issue fixed.

 

I really think we just need a new place to rent.

 

 

Sounds like it is time to move.

 

I don't provide pest control in my Leases, by the way. I provide a pest-free house and it is up to the tenant to maintain that. In practice though, I did send an exterminator when one tenant saw a mouse once. I now know where to buy the bait so I can do it myself.

[Guest inoubliable]