Who is liable for forged endorsement on rent check?

[Two2]

Made payment to landlord through bank electronic bill pay. Bank Sent paper check to landlords address. Check was cashed with double endorsement first the landlords forged signature, second pay to the order of person X. Landlord denies receiving or endorsing rent check. Ultimately neither she nor I have the Rent money. Who takes the loss and is responsible for pursuing legal charges and obtaining payment? Was the money stolen from me and rent payment was never rendered or was the money stolen from her and she has been the victim of identity theft. To be noted forged endorsement is very similar to landlords actual signature indicating that it was stolen by someone with some degree of connection to her.

 

[JETX]

US law only.....

 

[Two2]

State of IL-
-Payment made to Landlord via electronic bill pay - Paper check sent to landlord's address
-Check was cashed with two endorsements the landlords forged signature and a second endorser who was able to cash the check
-Landlord states that they never received check and endorsement is not theirs
-Signature has some characteristic very similar to landlords actual signature indicating that person who stole the check had some knowledge of them
-Pursuing fraud investigation with my bank

Question: Since neither i nor the landlord have the rent money. Who takes the loss and is responsible for pursuing legal action to recover funds?

 

[Cvillecpm]

Write a REAL check and send it certified or delivery confirmation.

This is why landlords should have post office boxes!!

 

[TinkerBelleLuvr]

Sounds like he used the bill-pay option of his bank.

What did the bank say when you called them? Explain that you used THEIR bill-pay option. The landlord will need to file a police report. Get a copy for your bank.

 

[xinerevelle]

This is why my tenants are required to go to my bank and deposit a check into my account themselves each month. I don't touch the actual check (or cash) and they get a receipt. And then I never have any "the check's in the mail" issues.

 

[ecmst12]

A check issued by a billpay service IS a "real" check.

Your landlord needs to pursue the theft claim. If the money is returned to you, then you need to pay him (obviously) but other then that, it was stolen while it was in his posession (since it was NEVER in your posession) and so it's his loss. His insurance might even cover it if the bank can't.

 

[Antigone*]

Your bank's bill-pay customer service should take care of the fraud claim for you. They should resolve the issue quickly.

To the poster who has her tenants deposit their checks in her acoount - wow, I am sorry but that is ridiculously um...not smart. You have opened yourself up for fraud BIG TIME. You should rethink the way you collect your receivables. The fewer people who have your account number the better. I hope you reconcile your account in a timely manner.

 

[justalayman]

time out here.

if the landlord claims the check was never received, then the landlord is still owed the money. The OP needs to contact their bank and inform them that the rent check was claimed to have never been received by the payee. Since it has already been processed by the bank, they will have to institute a backwards transfer of the funds and investigate the theft situation.

regardless what happens with that, OP still owes the LL the rent.

the LL is not liable for the check in any way unless it can be proven he is involved with an attempt to defraud the OP.

remember:

. Landlord denies receiving or endorsing rent check.

 

[jdm2008]

Made payment to landlord through bank electronic bill pay. Bank Sent paper check to landlords address. Check was cashed with double endorsement first the landlords forged signature, second pay to the order of person X. Landlord denies receiving or endorsing rent check. Ultimately neither she nor I have the Rent money. Who takes the loss and is responsible for pursuing legal charges and obtaining payment? Was the money stolen from me and rent payment was never rendered or was the money stolen from her and she has been the victim of identity theft. To be noted forged endorsement is very similar to landlords actual signature indicating that it was stolen by someone with some degree of connection to her.

Can you post the resolution to this case when this happens I am curious to the result.

 

[redleg17]

IANAL and this is just my non-informed opinion:

but if the check was stolen and an endorsement forged.....it was obviously received by the landlord and therefore the money was stolen from him not you.

 

[Zigner]

IANAL and this is just my non-informed opinion:

but if the check was stolen and an endorsement forged.....it was obviously received by the landlord and therefore the money was stolen from him not you.

How do you figure? If it was stolen from the mail, then LL never received it...

 

[Antigone*]

IANAL and this is just my non-informed opinion:

but if the check was stolen and an endorsement forged.....it was obviously received by the landlord and therefore the money was stolen from him not you.

"Non-informed opinions" are strongly discouraged on our site, especially since they are typically way off base. Yours was no exception.

 

[redleg17]

I stand corrected, regardless of the situation, the account holder has a responsibility to report to his financial institution that there was a forged endorsement on a check.

 

[justalayman]

E=redleg17;2415648]The check was forged by someone who knew what the landlord's signature looked like.

How do you know that? A bank does not verify that any given signature mimics the one they have on file.

.....that would be a good indicator that the check was delivered

.no support based on your "evidence"

The problem isn't at the bank or the postal service....the problem is somewhere at the LL's end.

and how do you support such a claim. It could have easily been stolen at the post office or, depending on how the OP mailed it, from his mailbox or it could have been stolen from the LL's mailbox.

Your argument has no merit.

Otherwise, how would some completely random person who stole/found the check know what the signature looked like?

there has been nothing stated that the signature looked anything like the LL's actual signature.