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Notice of late rent from landlord

KleinKlein Registered User regular
edited April 2017 in Help / Advice Forum
My roommate and I usually pay our rent at the beginning of the month, but it looks like I misplaced my check when placing it in the envelope. Today, we received a notice that the check was missing, and I paid the remaining rent and late fee, and gave a note of apology. I noticed that we were supposed to get an eviction notice on the 5th, but neither I or my roommate saw the notice, and only today found out about the missing portion of the rent. If I have paid the rest of the rent and late fee, are more landlords understanding that situations like this happen? I am worried that I could lose my place or get evicted over a mistake on my part. We have never been late on rent prior. I plan on calling tomorrow to make sure, I just wanted to hear from others who may have been in a similar situation. Thanks!

Klein on

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    admanbadmanb unionize your workplace Seattle, WARegistered User regular
    It's hard to answer that without knowing where you live and what kind of landlord you have, but odds are you're unlikely to be evicted for being a couple days late on rent one time.

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    FeralFeral MEMETICHARIZARD interior crocodile alligator ⇔ ǝɹʇɐǝɥʇ ǝᴉʌoɯ ʇǝloɹʌǝɥɔ ɐ ǝʌᴉɹp ᴉRegistered User regular
    It depends a lot on the laws in your jurisdiction and how much of a dick your landlord is.

    In general, if you pay the remaining rent promptly and the late fees, you're not going to get evicted over that. But that's a huge generalization and individual circumstances can be wildly different.

    Calling them ASAP and discussing the situation with them is really what you need to do.

    every person who doesn't like an acquired taste always seems to think everyone who likes it is faking it. it should be an official fallacy.

    the "no true scotch man" fallacy.
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    KleinKlein Registered User regular
    Feral wrote: »
    It depends a lot on the laws in your jurisdiction and how much of a dick your landlord is.

    In general, if you pay the remaining rent promptly and the late fees, you're not going to get evicted over that. But that's a huge generalization and individual circumstances can be wildly different.

    Calling them ASAP and discussing the situation with them is really what you need to do.

    I turned in the remaining rent and fee, and I plan on calling tomorrow as their office is closed.

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    Eat it You Nasty Pig.Eat it You Nasty Pig. tell homeland security 'we are the bomb'Registered User regular
    in most (all?) U.S. jurisdictions you have at least 30 days from notice of eviction before you can actually be thrown out of a residence, though the specifics depend on state/local laws.

    Landlords generally send eviction notices out quickly after nonpayment of rent, because the longer they wait to do that the longer they must delay evicting delinquents. The terms of your rental agreement probably stipulate that it is back in force based on you settling your outstanding bill, but that depends on the agreement (and again, on local regulations.) If you are not under contract the landlord may be permitted to give you notice at any time.

    NREqxl5.jpg
    it was the smallest on the list but
    Pluto was a planet and I'll never forget
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    FeralFeral MEMETICHARIZARD interior crocodile alligator ⇔ ǝɹʇɐǝɥʇ ǝᴉʌoɯ ʇǝloɹʌǝɥɔ ɐ ǝʌᴉɹp ᴉRegistered User regular
    Keep in mind that in some states, a landlord may start eviction proceedings at the earliest possible moment knowing that eviction can take a long time, with the intention to cancel the eviction if you pay up on your late rent.

    This is a pretty common practice. Definitely take this issue seriously (which it sounds like you're doing) but don't panic.

    every person who doesn't like an acquired taste always seems to think everyone who likes it is faking it. it should be an official fallacy.

    the "no true scotch man" fallacy.
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    bowenbowen How you doin'? Registered User regular
    Yeah this is the kind of situation where you absolutely need to talk to a person to see what the process is at this point.

    not a doctor, not a lawyer, examples I use may not be fully researched so don't take out of context plz, don't @ me
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    So It GoesSo It Goes We keep moving...Registered User regular
    This happened to me in college. We always paid our rent with three checks, one from each roommate, into an envelope and mailed or dropped off. One time one of the checks didn't get in there so only partial rent was paid.

    We were all very surprised to see an eviction notice on our door during the first week of the month! One simple phone call revealed the issue, which we quickly remedied and the landlord was like okay, you're good.

    I remain peeved to this day that they didn't just pick up the phone and call one of us about the missing check, but they aren't legally required to do that, and landlords in college towns are usually dicks.

    Just call them up and they will most likely tell you now that you've paid, everything is back to normal.

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    KleinKlein Registered User regular
    Thanks for the input everyone, I really appreciate it. I'll give an update tomorrow after calling them.

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    ceresceres When the last moon is cast over the last star of morning And the future has past without even a last desperate warningRegistered User, Moderator mod
    Stop paying with multiple checks if you can.

    I was in the leasing office one day asking a question about furniture disposal I think, and my landlord and I got to talking. That week she'd finally thrown up her hands and instituted a policy where submitting multiple checks to pay rent for the same unit is no longer allowed in our complex because it makes so much extra work for her, especially when people are bad at math. Do what you've gotta do, but one check per apartment per month. It's easier to keep track of, easier to process, and depending on the state and the management company and so forth, literally a fraction of the work for your landlord.

    Doing extra work and then finding the numbers don't add up and then chasing down fractions of rent and then figuring out which one of you owes it and THEN having to process that fraction of rent separately make landlords really cranky. You don't want a cranky landlord.

    And it seems like all is dying, and would leave the world to mourn
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    TOGSolidTOGSolid Drunk sailor Seattle, WashingtonRegistered User regular
    edited April 2017
    I use Google Wallet to send my roomy my half of the rent money every month and then she pays it. It's a super simple system and Google Wallet keeps track of the transactions so I've got easily accessible proof I paid my half in case something ever comes up. I'd definitely recommend y'all do something similar to keep the money trail between y'all and the landlord simple.

    TOGSolid on
    wWuzwvJ.png
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    BlarghyBlarghy Registered User regular
    In most cases, if the landlord accepts your payment for the month (even if its late), then they have no grounds to evict you for that one late payment. If any eviction happens, it would have to be for another issue.

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    SmokeStacksSmokeStacks Registered User regular
    If your landlord was gunning for eviction you would have seen a notice on your door promptly on the 5th. You didn't get one at all, just a notice that you hadn't paid in full yet. Definitely call in the morning to clear everything up but don't sit up worried all night or anything, you're fine.

    Eviction is generally a pain in the ass, and is usually very expensive for a landlord (at a minimum you're looking at a month of no rent paid while the unit itself is empty, plus cleaning/painting/listing fees/etc), so barring some very unusual circumstances you're not going to be evicted.
    So It Goes wrote: »
    landlords in college towns are usually dicks.

    This is because landlords in college towns have to deal with college students, which out of all available tenant types are universally the worst.

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    schussschuss Registered User regular
    Yeah, it's mostly because evictions can take up to 90 days in some cases when appeals are counted. Professional landlords start the process immediately just in case.

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    KleinKlein Registered User regular
    edited April 2017
    So I just spoke to my landlord and I think we are all good, they said they had not gone through any eviction notice. I am a bit frustrated that we did not receive the first notice that on the 5th, but there is not much I can do about that and the misplacement of the check was my fault. I think we may look into google wallet and write one check. Thanks everyone for the suggestions! I hope that this doesn't look bad for reapplying or if I ask them for a reference. Would it be rude to ask if this would be reported in some way? I don't want it to affect my credit score.

    Klein on
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    FeralFeral MEMETICHARIZARD interior crocodile alligator ⇔ ǝɹʇɐǝɥʇ ǝᴉʌoɯ ʇǝloɹʌǝɥɔ ɐ ǝʌᴉɹp ᴉRegistered User regular
    Good to know it worked out.

    Regarding your credit score question: generally no. Stuff like this doesn't appear on your credit score until it's so bad they get a collections agency involved or they get a court of law to issue a judgment against you.

    The only thing to worry about is your tenant reference when you move, but to be honest this stuff happens pretty commonly. As long as it only happens once and as long as you work with your landlord swiftly (which you did) it'll be fine.

    Some landlords are dicks about it but it doesn't sound like yours is.

    every person who doesn't like an acquired taste always seems to think everyone who likes it is faking it. it should be an official fallacy.

    the "no true scotch man" fallacy.
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