Thanks for letting me know about the gold thing. I am not originally from the US and had always thought that it was still backed by gold.
I work for the Federal government in the procurement arena. The government, in an effort to become more efficient (ha!) and to save taxpayers’ money (ha! ha!) is requiring those who do business with it to accept payment electronically (through EFT) or to accept the Visa card (yes, Visa – the government has a contract with NationsBank to provide Visa cards to its purchasing agents).
The government isn’t saying that cash isn’t valid. What it is saying is that if you want to do business with it, you must agree to accept the payment vehicle it wishes to use. Presumably any contract between individuals could include the same provision.
My understanding is that the government is required to take any form of American currency as payment. So if you want to pay off a ten thousand dollar tax debt with a million pennies, I believe you could.
However, all business transactions between private citizens and/or businesses are conducted at mutual agreement. So if I run a store and refuse to accept dimes because I think Franklin Roosevelt was the Antichrist, that’s my choice.
But this policy would have to be made prior to the transaction. If you’re buying a six-pack of Pepsi, I can tell you “no dimes or no sale”. But if you pulled up outside my store and filled up your gas tank, you would be doing so under the impression that I accepted any form of currency, so I would be forced to accept dimes or allow you to go without paying. (In fact, some gas stations post signs saying they will not accept any bill larger than a twenty.)
So to get back to the original post, the landlord can insist on having his security deposit paid by money order. He could also have it put into the lease that all rent payments be paid by money order. If you feel his policies are unacceptable, you can decide not to move in. But if the lease just specifies a particular amount of money, then you can pay it by cash.