Andrea1974
Member
What is the name of your state? California
My Landlord returned my rent payment, which was paid BEFORE the due date, with a VOID marked through the U.S. Postal Service Money Order. He returned it in the mail with a statement that said I had OVERPAID- with no notification of adjustment of the rent, so I had no warning. I took it to the Post Office, along with the stub/receipt from purchase, and they said it could be 60-90 days before I get a refund - IF he didn't already cash it. I asked how this was possible that he could have already cashed it, and they said that some banks write VOID on them after they are cashed, so they can't be certain he didn't just return this after already cashing it!!!! They also said it could be Money Order Fraud, where he prints a copy of the Money Order and then just marks "VOID" on it so I think that it hasn't been cashed (when in reality, it might have been in fact cashed). When I asked the Post Office, they said they did not believe this was legal for him to do. They stated the only persons authorized to void a money order is the issuing bank/Post Office in this case. Is this illegal? Furthermore, he sent me a 3 day notice to pay or quit my lease paper just 3 days after this incident. In the paper he demanded "the correct adjusted amount." Of course, if he wasn't being a jerk he could have just cashed the former money order and wrote a check for the remainder, which he could have refunded OR he could have just returned the whole money order, unharmed, which would have allowed me to receive a refund quickly (since I kept ALL the receipts and have all the records). Instead, he has attempted to evict me using this insane method. Is there anything I can do besides filing the missing money order report with the Post Office? Can I file a report somewhere against the landlord, since he basically is using this against me now and it wasn't even my fault? When I took it to the local police they said because the Post Office was involved it was not a local issue. Where do I go?! The FBI?
My Landlord returned my rent payment, which was paid BEFORE the due date, with a VOID marked through the U.S. Postal Service Money Order. He returned it in the mail with a statement that said I had OVERPAID- with no notification of adjustment of the rent, so I had no warning. I took it to the Post Office, along with the stub/receipt from purchase, and they said it could be 60-90 days before I get a refund - IF he didn't already cash it. I asked how this was possible that he could have already cashed it, and they said that some banks write VOID on them after they are cashed, so they can't be certain he didn't just return this after already cashing it!!!! They also said it could be Money Order Fraud, where he prints a copy of the Money Order and then just marks "VOID" on it so I think that it hasn't been cashed (when in reality, it might have been in fact cashed). When I asked the Post Office, they said they did not believe this was legal for him to do. They stated the only persons authorized to void a money order is the issuing bank/Post Office in this case. Is this illegal? Furthermore, he sent me a 3 day notice to pay or quit my lease paper just 3 days after this incident. In the paper he demanded "the correct adjusted amount." Of course, if he wasn't being a jerk he could have just cashed the former money order and wrote a check for the remainder, which he could have refunded OR he could have just returned the whole money order, unharmed, which would have allowed me to receive a refund quickly (since I kept ALL the receipts and have all the records). Instead, he has attempted to evict me using this insane method. Is there anything I can do besides filing the missing money order report with the Post Office? Can I file a report somewhere against the landlord, since he basically is using this against me now and it wasn't even my fault? When I took it to the local police they said because the Post Office was involved it was not a local issue. Where do I go?! The FBI?
