Rent mailed and was lost. Landlord wants started evection. Legal?

[daybyday22001]

What is the name of your state? Califonria.
Ok my landlord wants the rent mailed to her every month. Well my January rent was mailed to her, I have copy of money order stub to prove it. Well she did not notify me until the first week of Feburary that she never received my payment. She demanded payment right away or evection would be started. I requested some time to attempt to locate the status of my missing money order but she refused and continued to demand payment of rent with late fees now. She refused to believe that mail is ever lost and contiued to verbally abuse me. I did of course pay Feburary rent while I started investigating the lost money order. She then served me with a 3 day pay rent or quit notice for January rent. She never given receipts becuase she says our stubs are the receipts. She refused to look at any documentation. Well on the forth day of the 3 day notice she went to file evection papers on me. I obtained the refund for the lost money order from the bank and was paying her the rent in full with her bogus late fee. She then informed me that I had to pay her legal filing fees or still be eveicted even. Was this legal?

 

[FarmerJ]

Your LLs late fee is not bogus, Just because you claim to mail something theres no proof that it is paid. Your money order stub is just that A STUB nothing more. Your LL was more than patient with you to let this go into feb and YES you can be required to pay the filing fees back to the LL, From now on send your rent to your LL certified mail so your LL has to sign for it. Post offices machines do some bizzare things to peoples mail. Few months back I had to have a pay check re issued to me when it didnt come. It took a vacation with out me, It finally came in mail postarked with a Los Angeles Ca cancelation. My employer mails pay checks in a town 24 miles from my home in Minnesota. Your LL could have started the eviction proccess sooner. Pay the late fee and the filing fees and consider asking your LL to open up at his/her bank a rent deposit account, where all you have to do is go to that bank with your cash and pay the rent to that account, the LL can easily see via internet or tele-banking when the rent is paid.

 

[BL]

Your LLs late fee is not bogus, Just because you claim to mail something theres no proof that it is paid. Your money order stub is just that A STUB nothing more. Your LL was more than patient with you to let this go into feb and YES you can be required to pay the filing fees back to the LL, From now on send your rent to your LL certified mail so your LL has to sign for it. Post offices machines do some bizzare things to peoples mail. Few months back I had to have a pay check re issued to me when it didnt come. It took a vacation with out me, It finally came in mail postarked with a Los Angeles Ca cancelation. My employer mails pay checks in a town 24 miles from my home in Minnesota. Your LL could have started the eviction proccess sooner. Pay the late fee and the filing fees and consider asking your LL to open up at his/her bank a rent deposit account, where all you have to do is go to that bank with your cash and pay the rent to that account, the LL can easily see via internet or tele-banking when the rent is paid.

Farmer I disagree on this one .

I'm in another state , where the LL requires payments mailed , and there's a late fee applied after the 5th of the month.

1 ) Let's address the rent by mail issue .

First the LL request rent by mail . He automatically risk lost mail at some point or another .

Perhaps the renter has no checking account to send checks , therefor having a canceled check for proof .

Since the renter brought up ( rent receipts ) , perhaps their state law requires the LL to issues receipts when rent is pd. by money order as mine does .
( My ll told me the same thing , my M/O stubs are my receipts - and to cover my butt I request the he issued receipts BY LAW ). To this day he hasn't .

Let him take me to court and let him explain his non compliance .

BTW , the recipient of a Certified mail has 18 days to claim it before it's sent back , so that method would not be timely .

2 ) The LL deserves no late fee or court fee . The LL required payment by mail ( the poster did not say in what form ).

3 ) The rent apparently has now been paid , I doubt the LL will still win an eviction .

He requested rent by mail , He will not issue rent receipts ( " The M/O stub is your receipt " ) , the lost M/O amount was refunded and rent is current .

BTW I have All my M/O " stubs " , and all my request for rent receipts to be issued to me .

 

[tranquility]

First the LL request rent by mail . He automatically risk lost mail at some point or another .

Please call my credit card and mortgage companies, they are under an entirely different impression.

 

[johnd]

I do not know how your lease reads, but mine reads "received on the first day of the month" else incur fees and interest. As a landlord, I care not when you mail your payment, purchase a money order, or draft a check...I care only about receipt of payment. So unless you have some screwy lease that includes verbiage such as "rent must be mailed by the first day of the month", your rent is late.

 

[Cvillecpm]

This is one of those "life lessons" you should only have to learn ONCE,

Establish your own bank account, send your landlord your personal check USPS DELIVERY CONFIRMATION RECEIPT and track delivery online....don't get cute with Certified mail or anything she would have to sign for....just USPS delivery confirmation.

Otherwise, ask her for deposit tickets so you can deposit your check DIRECTLY into her bank account at a branch of her bank and then send her a copy of the bank deposit receipt AND keep one for yourself.