Landlord trying to scam me or some sort of mistake

[LinktheDeme]

The situation is this, I paid my rent on time. When I say on time I mean not on the due date but within the 5 day grace period before late fees occur. If you are late with your payment on rent you pay 10% of rent and $2 per day. Now my landlord sent me an email with a do not reply address at the time of the office closing (so i cannot call back). Stating that I have a late charge of $10 (I do not know how that number exists if I am late I should be paying 10% of the principle + $2 per day at the minimum I should be paying $65).

I paid my rent on April 4th when it is was due the 1st which was within the 5 day grace period. I wrote a check for my rent amount and dated it the 4th when I turned it in. I have a visual of this check on my bank statement online and they did indeed cash it but it was around the 14th. (They stamped the back as the 8th must be when they processed it?).

Now im sure this is either a mistake, their trying to scam me, or someone there cashed it skimmed off $10 and is retardedly trying to claim my check was $10 less than it was which I do not understand. Or possibly some other scenario.

My concern is that they never issue receipts for rents nor have I been offered a receipt. I was wondering if receipts are required for rent payments.(I live in the state of Illinois if this effects anything) I am pretty sure they are always the responsibility of the Vendor, not the Consumer. Which is why places give you money if you call them out on no receipts. I have never been late on a rent payment before this is my second years rent on my first year all 12 payments on time, which supports my case if they try to argue.

My rent is $555 a month (its a single college apt and ya rent is extortion imo and I've heard this place is notorious for scamming security deposits but it could just be dumb college kids not knowing how to take care of an apartment)

[thetruepandagod]

Hi deme, i didn't read any of this.

[test123]

download some judge judy. Judging for the plaintiff....

[plue]

You should probably just contact them regarding the mistake when their office opens, and explain that you paid on time. I don't know what else to say, seeing as how this is over $10?

[Xno Kappa]

Are you black?

[Pikarya]

Did you fuck the landlords daughter? There's a fee for that.

[Judai]

Did you fuck the landlords daughter? There's a fee for that.

only 10 bucks? kinda cheap!

[Olo401]

They have no proof that you handed it in late. You however, have proof that you issued the check on a certain date (April 4) and that they stupidly didn't cash it until the 14th.

That said, IL law allows them to charge a reasonable late fee if you are late, and says nothing about grace periods. If you choose to fight it you probably won't get far.

I'd just pay the late fee this time, but for now on I recommend you turn in your rent in person, and demand a dated receipt for now on.

[LinktheDeme]

They have no proof that you handed it in late. You however, have proof that you issued the check on a certain date (April 4) and that they stupidly didn't cash it until the 14th.

That said, IL law allows them to charge a reasonable late fee if you are late, and says nothing about grace periods. If you choose to fight it you probably won't get far.

I'd just pay the late fee this time, but for now on I recommend you turn in your rent in person, and demand a dated receipt for now on.

Well the reason I don't want to pay it is simply on principle of the matter. I was on time in terms of the lease requirements so if its anything other than a simple mistake I'd be a little upset over it. I also did turn my rent in person as well, and I always ask "is there anything else I need?" and they always say nope.

Hi deme, i didn't read any of this.

Don't worry I tldr;d it by bolding what I was asking. Only people concerned folk would read the background details so they understand my situation~
also hi :O


edit: I guess i forgot to mention that the grace period is in the terms of the lease thats my bad

but ya main question is if receipts are required for rent payments? if so is it the responsibility of the vendor to give the receipt or is it the responsibility of the consumer to ask for the receipt?

only 10 bucks? kinda cheap!

not if you saw what she looked like. . .

[Mytiwar]

I paid my rent on April 4th when it is was due the 1st

I don't want to pay it is simply on principle of the matter. I was on time in terms of the lease requirements

Yeah... I'd just pay the 10 bucks and make a sandwich instead of going to Subway tomorrow.

[aurik]

Varies by jurisdiction. If you're in university, many universities have legal resources for this kind of thing so that their students don't get taken advantage by sleazy slumlords. Definitely go talk to them.

[LinktheDeme]

Yeah... I'd just pay the 10 bucks and make a sandwich instead of going to Subway tomorrow.

I mean lets quote the line out of context because it didn't state "I paid my rent on April 4th when it is was due the 1st which was within the 5 day grace period. " and the post right above you didn't reiterate the fact that the grace period was in the terms of the lease. So by charging a late fee they are going against the lease's terms which I entered the contract on. Reding iz hurd



Also, thx aurik I'll look into that

[Jeryhn]

You said you have an image of your check available online? Double-check that image and make sure you wrote five hundred fifty (not forty) five on the write-out line.

Technically, the written-out portion of a check you issue is the legally binding amount, not the numerical amount you put on the check. Its entirely possible a new-guy bank teller somewhere didn't know any better and you actually do owe 10 bucks.

Otherwse, yeah, dunno where you'd owe ten bucks, though it seems to be a trivial amount. I understand the principle thing though - ask your landlord to tell you exactly where you'd owe this money as part of the terms of your lease.

[scrockstar]

My rent is $555 a month (its a single college apt and ya rent is extortion imo and I've heard this place is notorious for scamming security deposits but it could just be dumb college kids not knowing how to take care of an apartment)

I pay $1,100 a month for my apartment and I payed $500 a month in college to share a house with 4 other guys. So I really wouldn't complain.

Next time just pay your rent on time and I can't imagine that fighting over $10 with your landlord will help you in any way long term.

[Alvein]

Get receipts from now on, They absolutely should be available.

[BardonGaruda]

I'm guessing the law isn't the same in US, but here in Ireland and in the UK it's a requirement that the landlord provide you with a rent book. The rent book must contain all the main particulars of your rental agreement and you must make it available to your landlord to update it as your receipt for rent paid.

If they don't haven't anything like this then you should definitely be demanding a receipt each time you pay your rent. With regard to the $10 I would just politely ask what the charge was for (in person) and try to sort it out that way. If you go in with the attitude of hey you guys screwed me out of $10, landlord can make things pretty difficult for you. Like taking a few extra days to fix broken AC/heating right when you need it most.

If you have an image of the cheque online I take it you also have a record of how much was taken from your account as this is how much would have been paid to the landlord's bank. Maybe his bank deducted a processing fee before depositing it to their account. But that's just speculation, going and asking them where the $10 came from is your best bet.

Also a tip on the possible not getting deposit back. When you moved in you should have gotten a condition report that would detail anything that was already broken, damaged or worn. Generally you've got a few weeks to notice other stuff not on the report that you didn't do and have it added. Many students are screwed out of deposits because there's marks/holes in walls, damaged/broken utilities or electronics that a previous tenant was responsible for. But not having any proof that it was there when you moved in can make it very hard to get deposit back. Also not making an effort to clean before you move out is another one students get caught on as there's generally a limit to the routene cleaning (a few hours) they do before taking it out of your deposit.

[Mytiwar]

I mean lets quote the line out of context because it didn't state "I paid my rent on April 4th when it is was due the 1st which was within the 5 day grace period. " and the post right above you didn't reiterate the fact that the grace period was in the terms of the lease. So by charging a late fee they are going against the lease's terms which I entered the contract on. Reding iz hurd

I really read the whole thing but I mean, late is late. If you had paid it 3 days earlier you wouldn't have gotten this little "late fee" I'm pretty sure. But whatever, good luck with it.

[Valisk]

If a 5 day grace period is allotted in the lease then you just need to bring it to their attention that you paid on the 4th and have the bank check to prove it. Really you just need to get information about the $10. If it's suppose to be 10% + $2 a day, then that doesn't sound like a late fee, sounds like you didn't pay your water bill or were $10 short on the rent amount. I wouldn't lawyer up just yet. You need to make a reasonable attempt to inquire and settle it amicably.

[Pringles]

May want to post the exact wording in your lease in terms of your grace period. In most cases, the grace period doesn't actually mean you can pay anytime during that time and still not be considered late, its usually there to allow an on time payment time to process and clear in the bank.

[BaneTheBrawler]

Very politely ask your landlord about it. 10 bucks isn't worth getting kicked out over.