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Uncashed Rent Checks?

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kittyfelon

Junior Member
What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state? PA

I am writing this for a friend who doesn't know what to do. She and her boyfriend have lived in a townhouse for 2 years. There are 3 other townhomes in the actual building. Her boyfriend's brother lives in one, his sister lives in one, and a friend of the sister lives in another. The townhouse building is owned by a friend of his parents (the landlord). Every month, my friend and her boyfriend mail a rent check to the landlord. He has NEVER cashed these checks. My friend and her boyfriend have a separate joint checking account just for rent. Each month, they each throw in $200 (total rent is $400 a month) and send the check off. None of these checks have ever been cashed. There is now a total of about $9000 in this account. When his brother, his sister, and her friend all realized that the landlord wasn't cashing their checks years ago, they all went ahead and spent the money. (You can imagine these people will probably never move out!) My friend and her boyfriend are the only ones with money in the account in case the landlord suddenly decides to cash these checks.
Last October, her boyfriend was sent to Kosovo with the National Guard. Currently, (July) they are in the middle of a nasty breakup. He is still in Kosovo, so my friend moved out of the townhouse and found another place. Because there is still $9000 in their joint account, she took out half of this money. Her ex, who is now trying to make her life very difficult, says he is going to call the landlord and tell him that he needs to cash all these checks because he simply doesn't want my friend to have any money. He claims he will get a lawyer and sue her for the $4500. What this guy doesn't realize, is that not only will he lose the $4500 in the account, but his brother and sister and her friend, who have all long spent their rent money, will be screwed as well.
Although the RIGHT thing here is to contact this landlord (which my friend says is impossible...he's very old and doesn't even have a real address...she just mails the checks to a PO box each month) and tell him to cash these checks, this money is really all she has to start all over again with.
Now, WHY on earth this landlord hasn't ever cashed the rent checks from ANYONE in the buildling is a mystery. Maybe he's doing them all a favor because they are all relatively young and starting out. Maybe he's loaded and doesn't need the money. Who knows. But for whatever reason, he's never cashed them.
My question is, are these checks void by now? Isn't there a period of time that people have to cash a check until it is no good? Does my friend have ANY rights to half of this money now that she's moved out? It may make sense for her to just leave the money in the account and move on, but then her ex gets half of her rent money if the landlord never surfaces, and that's pretty unfair. None of the other tenants would even be able to come up with the rent money if forced to.
What's the deal here?
 


south

Senior Member
The check is a promise to pay a debt, spending the rent money is in essence spending money that does not belong to you..

There may just be a simple accounting error with cashing the checks but what is for certain is that rent is owed, the check was a promise to pay and if the checks bounce when submitted it is a crime.

It is illegal to issue a bad check even if the check was good at the time, if the check casher finds the check bounces he can give you 10 days to make good or report the crime to the city attorney who will pursue the debt and the crime.

This will leave you with being forced to pay, a criminal record, possible jail term, and screw your credit up for a long time.
Bad Check Writers Program PA

kittyfelon said:
What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state? PA

I am writing this for a friend who doesn't know what to do. She and her boyfriend have lived in a townhouse for 2 years. There are 3 other townhomes in the actual building. Her boyfriend's brother lives in one, his sister lives in one, and a friend of the sister lives in another. The townhouse building is owned by a friend of his parents (the landlord). Every month, my friend and her boyfriend mail a rent check to the landlord. He has NEVER cashed these checks. My friend and her boyfriend have a separate joint checking account just for rent. Each month, they each throw in $200 (total rent is $400 a month) and send the check off. None of these checks have ever been cashed. There is now a total of about $9000 in this account. When his brother, his sister, and her friend all realized that the landlord wasn't cashing their checks years ago, they all went ahead and spent the money. (You can imagine these people will probably never move out!) My friend and her boyfriend are the only ones with money in the account in case the landlord suddenly decides to cash these checks.
Last October, her boyfriend was sent to Kosovo with the National Guard. Currently, (July) they are in the middle of a nasty breakup. He is still in Kosovo, so my friend moved out of the townhouse and found another place. Because there is still $9000 in their joint account, she took out half of this money. Her ex, who is now trying to make her life very difficult, says he is going to call the landlord and tell him that he needs to cash all these checks because he simply doesn't want my friend to have any money. He claims he will get a lawyer and sue her for the $4500. What this guy doesn't realize, is that not only will he lose the $4500 in the account, but his brother and sister and her friend, who have all long spent their rent money, will be screwed as well.
Although the RIGHT thing here is to contact this landlord (which my friend says is impossible...he's very old and doesn't even have a real address...she just mails the checks to a PO box each month) and tell him to cash these checks, this money is really all she has to start all over again with.
Now, WHY on earth this landlord hasn't ever cashed the rent checks from ANYONE in the buildling is a mystery. Maybe he's doing them all a favor because they are all relatively young and starting out. Maybe he's loaded and doesn't need the money. Who knows. But for whatever reason, he's never cashed them.
My question is, are these checks void by now? Isn't there a period of time that people have to cash a check until it is no good? Does my friend have ANY rights to half of this money now that she's moved out? It may make sense for her to just leave the money in the account and move on, but then her ex gets half of her rent money if the landlord never surfaces, and that's pretty unfair. None of the other tenants would even be able to come up with the rent money if forced to.
What's the deal here?
 

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