Apartment + Payment = Fun (rant)

[Trymos]

So I live in a 1 bedroom apartment, the apartment themselves are nice but i've had major issues with them actually accepting payment on time. Don't get this wrong, it's not that my checks are not being accepted, not at all.

One time I paid my rent on the 2nd (10% late payment charge is on the 5th) before going to visit my parents for a few days. I came back on the 7th and I had a note on my door saying I had a $56 charge for a late rent payment.

Here's the kicker: I had my rent withdrawal (i even looked at my rent price, it was the exact same) come out on the 4th.
After about 10 mins of nothing actually happening with the office I just decided fug it and paid the late fee.

Fast Forward 2 months after that last event, somehow my apartment got bed bugs, nothing major. Got it treated and I was expecting to be charged. I did, $300 which I didn't have the money for because of apprenticeship. I went to the office and I had went to work out a payment plan for that, they said I could pay it off $100 a month which was perfect for me. So I did that, they had supposedly put it in the system which I even saw...

...1 week later I got a 3 day pay or leave notice for $326.69 (uh guys i dont think that's how 10% works)
Went to the office again: guess what, nothing except getting that $100 they actually charged me to be taken out of the $326.
I just said forget it and took out a small loan (essentially doing the same thing as the payment plan except with interest) to pay it off and asked how long it was till my lease expired.

Is what they're doing even loving legal anyways? What do I even do if they attempt this stuff again?

[Ad Bot]

[Planr]

sounds like theyre not bothering to do their job properly just so they can rip you off. or maybe they really are that forgetful/stupid.

[Trymos]

sounds like theyre not bothering to do their job properly just so they can rip you off. or maybe they really are that forgetful/stupid.

with the way my rent payments are handled (randomly cashed in on the 2nd 3rd 4th or early 5th where i wont get late payment) when i always cash it in on the 2nd, the latter is entirely possible.

but the fact that my neighbors are not having any of the same issues i do and they've been there for almost 2 years...

the former is possible and they just really loving hate me.

[Darryl McKoy]

Why on earth would you pay the late fees if they weren't right? Major mistake. Now they've got 3 incidents of you basically admitting liability, which is going to make it more difficult to dispute.

In terms of what you should do next, it depends on what's available to you. Does your country/jurisdiction have a regulator that overlooks renting/tenancy? Here in Australia we have the Department of Fair trading which looks after that. It's not uncommon for things like this to also have advocacy groups that will help you raising disputes, so look that up

[Lockebox]

was it a small loan of a million dollars

[Otis Da HousKat]

Protection laws varies from place to place, but I feel most jurisdictions would have laws preventing the renters from doing skeezy stuff like that. Make sure to have all interactions, bills, and payments documented in some way.

But ya, I know it can be scary seeing the PAY OR LEAVE notice, but you shouldn't pay bills, even partially, you are going to be disputing. A friend's 8 year old son did some dumb stuff with wireless hotspots and racked up a $2000 cell phone bill. The phone companies have ways of disputing those kinds of charges, especially when kids do it, but because she had already made a few payments on the bill before knowing about that the company told her she was stuff out of luck basically.


The worst thing that has happened to me renting was the property management company losing my renewal notice saying I wouldn't be extending my lease. They tried to charge me a fee and withhold the entire deposit. After sufficient bitching on the phone and their office where we turned in another copy in person they backed down. A lot of places will do stuff they know isn't legal or ethical, but people won't fight it because they are afraid of losing their living spaces and the legal hurdles involved.

[Trymos]

Why on earth would you pay the late fees if they weren't right? Major mistake. Now they've got 3 incidents of you basically admitting liability, which is going to make it more difficult to dispute.

In terms of what you should do next, it depends on what's available to you. Does your country/jurisdiction have a regulator that overlooks renting/tenancy? Here in Australia we have the Department of Fair trading which looks after that. It's not uncommon for things like this to also have advocacy groups that will help you raising disputes, so look that up

Honestly at this point I might just wait till their next forgetup then i'll dispute it.
Although outside of the apartment assocation (which i don't even think is a legal entity, but apartment owners worship this thing like it is god, if you leave on a 3 day pay or leave OR leave middle of lease without an agreement you can get reported and become practicially unable to rent for from what i heard over 8 years, this is why i paid the late fees.) I don't know anything about disputing this legally.

A lot of places will do stuff they know isn't legal or ethical, but people won't fight it because they are afraid of losing their living spaces and the legal hurdles involved.

I'm honestly not worried about losing my apartment since I don't have much stuff in it so it really isn't hard to move. I AM worried about legal fees since money is not much of an object for me right now.
I am also worried about not being able to rent since that's pretty much my only choice right now too.
Like I said, they treat our apartment association reports like gospel.

[espio100]

was it a small loan of a million dollars

kill this meme already

[Darryl McKoy]

You're in the US yeah? Which state?

[Trymos]

You're in the US yeah? Which state?

Tennessee.