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What if landlords ignore my final rent payment?

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D

Daddy of a 10yo

Guest
What is the name of your state?
Arizona

Because of this:
ARIZONA RESIDENTIAL LANDLORD AND TENANT ACT
A.R.S. Title 33, Chapter 10
and Other Pertinent Statutes
33-1313. Notice
A. A person has notice of a fact if he has actual knowledge of it, has received a notice or notification of it or from all the facts and circumstances known to him at the time in question he has reason to know that it exists. A person "knows" or "has knowledge" of a fact if he has actual knowledge of it.

B. A person "notifies" or "gives" a notice or notification to another by taking steps reasonably calculated to inform the other in ordinary course whether or not the other actually comes to know of it. A person "receives" a notice or notification when it comes to his attention, or in the case of the landlord, it is delivered in hand or mailed by registered or certified mail to the place of business of the landlord through which the rental agreement was made or at any place held out by him as the place for receipt of the communication or delivered to any individual who is designated as an agent by section 33-1322 or, in the case of the tenant, it is delivered in hand to the tenant or mailed by registered or certified mail to him at the place held out by him as the place for receipt of the communication or, in the absence of such designation, to his last known place of residence. If notice is mailed by registered or certified mail, the tenant or landlord is deemed to have received such notice on the date the notice is actually received by him or five days after the date the notice is mailed, whichever occurs first.

C. "Notice," knowledge or a notice or notification received by an organization is effective for a particular transaction from the time it is brought to the attention of the individual conducting the transaction and in any event from the time it would have been brought to his attention if the organization had exercised reasonable diligence

...I did this :
On 23 SEP 04 at appx. 1:30 PM I sent my landlord my final rent payment by Certified mail Return Recipt Requested (Cashiers check;I put the cert. mail # on the bottom of the check when I put the check in the envelope and had it photocopied) with a letter in the envelope stating that this was the final rent payment {although the check itself does not have written on it that it is the final rent payment for the month of Oct, the letter states it}. I put the cert. mail # on the bottom of the letter when I signed the letter and had it photocopied, sealed the original leter in the envelope with the check, and photocopied the front and back of the sealed envelope with the cert. letter r.r.r sticker and notice on it. I gave it to the US Postal clerk who processed it and gave me the stub which proves that I actually delivered the envelope to the Post Office clerk. When I looked at the tracking number for this envelope (and also another similar envelope a minute later which was my 30 day written notice of termination of tenancy) on the USPS.com website the message said:

We attempted to deliver your item at 12:12 pm on September 24, 2004 in TUCSON, AZ 85749 and a notice was left. It can be redelivered or picked up at the Post Office. If the item is unclaimed, it will be returned to the sender. Information, if available, is updated every evening. Please check again later

The same message for the tracking number for the letter of termination of tenancy.

Days are going by and the clock is ticking.

It looks like the landlord is trying to ignore delivery of these envelopes.
Now it is 28 SEP 04 at 3:30 PM and I wanted to know what to do if the landlord never signs for these letters and tries to say that I failed to pay my rent on time for the month of OCT. The Cert. mail letters will be sent back to me. I am leaving this apartment (my final day here is 31 OCT). The landlord(s){husband and wife} have shown that they are uncooperative before. I am a stellar tennant and they let their daughter live (for free) next to me and she and her kids were nuts. I was not accomodating to them (I just wanted to mind my own business) and this made the landlords very mad. The daughter and kids finally moved to a trailer park. Now it's getting personal. I am on a month to month lease. The lease agreement states that all correspondence has to be in writing. What are my options.
 


JETX

Senior Member
Daddy of a 10yo said:
What are my options.
What are your 'options' about what?? Your post asks no questions, and raises no legal issues.
Simply, you mailed your rent check four days ago, have proof of mailing and it appears the landlord is not picking up a certified letter. Okay, so far??
 
D

Daddy of a 10yo

Guest
My Question is...

...and I wanted to know what to do if the landlord never signs for these letters and tries to say that I failed to pay my rent on time for the month of OCT. The Cert. mail letters will be sent back to me. I am leaving this apartment (my final day here is 31 OCT). The landlord(s){husband and wife} have shown that they are uncooperative before. I am on a month to month lease. The lease agreement states that all correspondence has to be in writing. What are my options?

That is my Question.

Yes you may see no legal question raised here but as Im sure you have seen before with others who are in need of advice, dealing with this type of landlord is like playing a game of chess and each move must be calculated in advance even when I play the game by the regulations. My landlord is making each step complicated and all Im asking for is some good advice.
 

JETX

Senior Member
Daddy of a 10yo said:
and I wanted to know what to do if the landlord never signs for these letters and tries to say that I failed to pay my rent on time for the month of OCT. The Cert. mail letters will be sent back to me.
If the landlord takes you to court to show that rent was not paid, you have the sealed letter/checks, certified receipt, etc. to show that you attempted and he refused.

I am leaving this apartment (my final day here is 31 OCT). The landlord(s){husband and wife} have shown that they are uncooperative before. I am on a month to month lease. The lease agreement states that all correspondence has to be in writing.
You already said all of that.... and has absolutely NO relevancy to the issue of your paid or unpaid rent, or your leaving on Oct 31.

What are my options?
Again, about what??? Your 'options' are... you move out as you have already planned on Oct 31. Then, any further options are determined by the landlord on whether they try to sue you or not. If they do, you handle the issues that they might raise.
Once suggestion though.... if you have a deposit with the landlord, you better make sure that the property is in '100% condition' when you leave.... and document EVERYTHING with photos or better, video.
 
D

Daddy of a 10yo

Guest
My Options...I only try to find solutions to negative posibilities that might arise so I can be prepared for each contingency- Thats why I ask "What are my options?" It is a matter of enhanceing my strategy, prepareing proactively ahead of time and my ability to be flexible under adversity (so I can be laughing when thier plans fail). I learned this from 12 years of U.S. Army training and real world missions and it has worked for me many times like when my ex-wife was acting like "Girls Gone Wild Spring Break"(if you're familar with that sort of thing). Lets just say that I took care of her and her filthy extramarital habits.
You said "...any further options are determined by the landlord on whether they try to sue you or not. If they do, you handle the issues that they might raise." Yes, true, but I really dont like to handle things "after the fact" when there might have been something I could have done (thus the "possibilities and options") in advance. I know this is not a perefect world and thats what the point of my questions on this forum are. To try to prepare for and cut off the posibility of this landlord and his "wicked witch of the west" wifes' attempt to persue me after my last day of obligation to them. I wish you were here to answer all of my "what if" questions (and I think you could) however you wouldnt want to because time is precious- I agree; but its not like I have all sorts of wild "what ifs" to ask about.
You have to remember that I, like many others who log on here am a novice (about crooked landlords) and am alone with no one else to share these nightmares with- So then, theres you.
OH YES I totally agree with cleaning like it needs to be ready for Army barracks inspection. Also Im borrowing a VHS-C video camera and Im going to date my own video inspection with a newspaper frontpage and date in each shot so the apartment is in the stated condition as I have it on that particular day so the landlord cant claim any other additional damage or claims after I leave. Im going to try to get a witness to sign my own inspection page with me and to be in my video inspection on the day I inspect for myself. I certainly will provide the landlord with a Deposit Return Demand letter (Certified mail R.R.R. of course)on the last day of being responsible for this crappy place. Thats not only to get my deposit back within 14 days or less, it also puts a limit on the timeframe the landlord gets to claim damages against me {AZ Law}(Which I can dispute with my cosigned witnessed inspection sheet and video) thus he cant charge me 5 or 7 or 9 years from now by total surprise.These measures are carefully considered because time itself, and time again, has told me that this snake will try to delay and complicate things further as best he can. Probably more news to follow ...stay tuned.

ANY other replies and advice is GREATLY appreciated.

please pay no attention to my poor spelling skills-its the message thats important- thanks
 
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