# landlord screwing me over? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 17, 2012, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/landlord-screwing-me-over/638077 "2012-10-17T23:06:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DJG311](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f1d935/32.png) [@DJG311](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DJG311)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2012, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/landlord-screwing-me-over/638077/1 "2012-10-17T23:06:29Z")
I rent a 1 bed 1 bath apt for $600 a month(I pay all utilities) I have been giving my Landlord $800 a a month so I can be ahead on rent.Now My Landlord is saying I’m behind on rent and when I asked him for a total of what I’ve paid him so far he said its my responsibility to keep track of it not his.H:smack:e has never given me a rent receipt and when I have asked for them he says not to worry about it. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2012, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/landlord-screwing-me-over/638077/2 "2012-10-17T23:13:42Z")
Please tell me you’ve been paying by check… ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2012, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/landlord-screwing-me-over/638077/3 "2012-10-17T23:16:59Z")
Wow… that’s messed up… on your part. First mistake: overpaying rent each month, in hopes to bank some saved up rent. Second mistake: not keeping a ledger of everything you’ve paid him since you were doing it this way Sorry… but, it sounds like both you and your landlord had a very shady system setup and now you’re gonna get screwed unless you can prove otherwise. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2012, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/landlord-screwing-me-over/638077/4 "2012-10-17T23:23:49Z")
Moved from General Questions to IMHO. **samclem** , moderator ---
**Author:** ![Lanzy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/74df32/32.png) [@Lanzy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lanzy)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2012, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/landlord-screwing-me-over/638077/5 "2012-10-17T23:24:14Z")
Maybe you should bank your extra money in like, oh I dunno…a bank? ---
**Author:** ![filmyak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/94ad74/32.png) [@filmyak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filmyak)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2012, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/landlord-screwing-me-over/638077/6 "2012-10-17T23:26:44Z")
Yeah instead of giving it to the landlord, put it in a separate savings account if you want. Like [ingdirect.com](http://ingdirect.com) or something. That way you don’t spend it, and you don’t have this problem. ---
**Author:** ![Weedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/weedy/32/301_2.png) [@Weedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weedy)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2012, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/landlord-screwing-me-over/638077/7 "2012-10-17T23:29:13Z")
If he hasnt been keeping track, how does he know you are behind? ---
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2012, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/landlord-screwing-me-over/638077/8 "2012-10-17T23:29:23Z")
I have never heard of over-paying for rent on purpose. Did you discuss your plan with your landlord? It’s possible he has different rents for different unit and did not even notice you were over paying. Just marked off that you’d paid and not thought about how much you’d given him. I would thinking if someone was constantly giving me too much money for rent, I would make them stop instead of just “banking it” for them. ---
**Author:** ![Sahirrnee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sahirrnee/32/13937_2.png) [@Sahirrnee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sahirrnee)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2012, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/landlord-screwing-me-over/638077/9 "2012-10-18T00:09:13Z")
I want to know where you get an apartment for $600/month. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2012, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/landlord-screwing-me-over/638077/10 "2012-10-18T01:31:17Z")
> [@sahirrnee](#): > > I want to know where you get an apartment for $600/month. One bedroom in this general price range: Various places in the San Joaquin Valley, as long as not too terribly close to the S. F. Bay Area or Sacramento. Check out apartment rentals on Craigslist for the Redding, CA area, for example. ---
**Author:** ![Athena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/35a633/32.png) [@Athena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Athena)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2012, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/landlord-screwing-me-over/638077/11 "2012-10-18T02:57:42Z")
> [@sahirrnee](#): > > I want to know where you get an apartment for $600/month. Dozens of them in my area. $600/month is more than enough to get you a 1-bedroom apartment in one of the very nicest apartment complexes in town, with a pool, a gym, and includes heat and cable TV. And we’re in the nice, college/touristy town. If you’re willing to go 15 or 20 miles away, 1-bedrooms are in the $200/$300 range. Hell, you can buy a place for $20-$30K. Hehe, for fun, I just looked up property prices 20 miles from me. Cheapest home available - probably a dump, but still - is $15.9K. With 20% down and a 30 year mortgage, the monthly payment is $60. Maybe I should move… ---
**Author:** ![Dogzilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@Dogzilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogzilla)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2012, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/landlord-screwing-me-over/638077/12 "2012-10-18T14:39:36Z")
I would never trust a landlord to keep track of excess payments. Especially if it’s an individual as opposed to a property management company that has, you know, acceptable accounting practices. Individuals? Dude. If you weren’t getting receipts, why would you continue to overpay? I don’t really understand why one would do that in the first place, but I think you’re SOL. Unless you can get your cancelled checks back from the bank. ---
**Author:** ![Kaio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c68b51/32.png) [@Kaio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kaio)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2012, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/landlord-screwing-me-over/638077/13 "2012-10-18T14:59:34Z")
> [@Dogzilla](#): > > Unless you can get your cancelled checks back from the bank. Most banks do that for free – mine scan the checks and post them to my online account ledger. If I need copies I just need to download them and print. If you need them to print them, there would probably be a fee, but not a very large one. Although it’s still not clear that the OP _did_ pay by check. I don’t bother asking for a receipt from my management company because I know I can get the cancelled check online. The only reason I’d want a receipt is if I was paying cash – which I wouldn’t do in the first place, and sure as hell not without getting a receipt. I wouldn’t leave the landlord’s office without one. If that’s the case, expensive lesson learned – don’t give anyone money without a paper trail. I’ve needed that paper trail on occasion – about a year ago my landlord called me up mid-month demanding my rent check. A few minutes later I called him back and told him that not only did I send it, but it cleared the bank, endorsed by him, the day after I sent it. (He also claimed he’d already sent me a letter asking where the check was, but he never sent anything certified, I never got it, so it’s a crapshoot whether or not he was telling the truth on that point.) I also don’t get overpaying rent in lieu of just saving the money in a bank. The only reason I’d ever do that is if I were, say, jetting off to Europe for three months and still wanted my apartment waiting for me when I got back. I’d still make damn sure I had the paper trail, though, and I’d likely send it certified with a letter explaining why I was overpaying. ---
**Author:** ![Taomist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@Taomist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taomist)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2012, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/landlord-screwing-me-over/638077/14 "2012-10-18T15:08:18Z")
You’re screwed. Without proof of anything, you’re screwed. End of story. ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2012, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/landlord-screwing-me-over/638077/15 "2012-10-18T15:41:27Z")
Hard facts: If you’re paying for something in cash, and fail to get a receipt, you’re somewhat begging to bevictimized. I know someone who paid a big chunk of cash on their credit card, at the bank teller. When asked, “You want your receipt?”, she declined thinking, ‘it’s the bank!’ Come to discover the payment was never applied or, ‘received’. When she complained bitterly I pointed out how she had empowered this theft entirely by not taking the receipt she’d been offered! Anyone can make a receipt. All that’s needed is a piece of paper and a pen, dates, amounts, signatures, and done. Produce it yourself and have them sign, don’t give cash to anyone who won’t sign. It’s really pretty simple. ---
**Author:** ![Rollo\_Tomasi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/58956e/32.png) [@Rollo\_Tomasi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rollo_Tomasi)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2012, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/landlord-screwing-me-over/638077/16 "2012-10-18T15:47:54Z")
Is this going to be one of those threads where the person asks for advice/opinions, they get the cold, hard truth, and they come back and yell at everyone for being so mean? ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2012, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/landlord-screwing-me-over/638077/17 "2012-10-18T16:01:35Z")
> [@Rollo\_Tomasi](#): > > Is this going to be one of those threads where the person asks for advice/opinions, they get the cold, hard truth, and they come back and yell at everyone for being so mean? No, I think it’s going to be one of those threads where the person asks for advice/opinions and then is never heard from again. ---
**Author:** ![Dublin11](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Dublin11](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dublin11)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2012, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/landlord-screwing-me-over/638077/18 "2012-10-18T16:09:25Z")
You say you’ve been giving him $800 a month and he says you haven’t. In the absence of you being able to prove you gave him any money at all, you’ll be evicted before too much longer. Them’s the breaks. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2012, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/landlord-screwing-me-over/638077/19 "2012-10-18T16:09:29Z")
We don’t let our tenants pay more than what’s due. We had one couple that just couldn’t manage their money, and they wanted to pay portions of the rent throughout the month as soon as they got paid. Slightly different than the OP “system,” but we didn’t want to have to keep track, and possibly be wrong about it. The solution was they bought money orders during the month when they had the money, and just gave them all to us when the rent was due. ---
**Author:** ![Yorikke](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yorikke/32/4335_2.png) [@Yorikke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorikke)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2012, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/landlord-screwing-me-over/638077/20 "2012-10-18T16:23:09Z")
> [@DJG311](#): > > I rent a 1 bed 1 bath apt for $600 a month(I pay all utilities) I have been giving my Landlord $800 a > a month so I can be ahead on rent.Now My Landlord is saying I’m behind on rent and when I asked him for a total of what I’ve paid him so far he said its my responsibility to keep track of it not his.H:smack:e has never given me a rent receipt and when I have asked for them he says not to worry about it. No rent receipt? If paid with cash, you are fucked. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/landlord-screwing-me-over/638077.md?page=2)