My landlady is a nice, but incredibly dippy woman. Twice in the past, she has called me to say that she never got the rent, and BOTH times the rent check turned up after she searched for it. She’s doing it again, and today her assistant called me about it, saying that “Sarah still hasn’t gotten the rent.” I told her EVERYTHING about having sent it, the check number, etc. I can certainly write another check, but then the first one is floating around somewhere out there, God knows where. WHAT should I do?? The stop payment charge is $30.00. If I stop payment on the first check and write another, can I legally deduct the charge from the next month’s rent?? I know I didn’t do anything wrong here, and the assistant REMEMBERS the other times the rent check showed up once the landlady did a little searching.
There is a little bit of a General Question in here and more of a solicitation of opinions, but there is no Great Debate.
I’ll move this to IMHO for you.
[ /Moderator Mode ]
Can you not ask for a receipt when you hand her the check? I haven’t a clue about this month, but maybe in future this would help. Good luck!
You could send it certified mail. You can have it direct withdrawel (don’t recommend).
How do you usually send the checks to her?
I would just deduct the stop payment charge and explain to her what you did so there’s no confusion.
Er… can you do that legally, though? (deduct the stop payment charge, I mean.) Does it depend on the state? In Tennessee, I can’t say for sure, but landlords can pretty much get away with murder.
Does your landlord have email and does she do internet banking? How about setting up email money transfers for future payments?
Or like others suggested, can you give her the rent cheques in person and get a receipt at the same time?
If she’s as nice as you say, why not talk to her about the ‘stop payment’ charge - explain that you are certain you gave her the cheque, but you certainly don’t mind writing her another one, if it’s all right with her that you deduct the $30 stop payment fee.
Well, in the future I’m going to go to her normal place of business, write a check, and get a receipt from my little printed receipt book. It’s ridiculous and I shouldn’t have to do it, but I’ll do it. Maybe the dippy ditz will actually FIND the check, since that’s what happened the OTHER two times she told me I hadn’t sent it!! I really hate this whole kind of situation. Basically, people are no damn good, and-- (highly antisocial rant follows. When CoDependents Go Bad.)