Location: Oklahoma City
I have leased from the same landlord for the past 13 months. I have always paid my rent on time and I am a good tenant. I pay $750 a month for rent.
On February 6, I noticed that my February rent check was posted for $700.50, instead of $750. Puzzled, I looked at the online copy of my check and discovered that while I had written $750 in the numerical amount box, I had mistakenly written out Seven Hundred and 50/100 instead of Seven Hundred Fifty and 00/100.
As soon as I saw what had happened, I immediately emailed my landlord (her preferred method of communication) and informed her of the mistake, offering to immediately send a $49.50 check for the difference.
I received the following response from my landlord:
"Your check arrived here 2/2. I saw it 2/4 and noticed the error. According to the law I had two options:
~ I could have returned the check to you as nonpayment. But you wouldn't have gotten the returned check 'til your mail was delivered 2/5. (The eviction process starts with filings at the court house on the morning of the 4th of a month.) Or,
~ I could cash the check, even tho it was a partial payment (which the law recognizes only as a "nonpayment") - but still require you to pay the remainder, $49.50, plus the $75.00 late fee.
So, yeah, y'all owe $49.50 for the February rent. And you owe the $75 late fee: $124.50 total.
The law assumes partial and nonpayments are about being a deadbeat. So, legally, the late fee is about being punitive. But, at this point, I have no real interest in being punitive per se.
However ... what I AM interested in is this: I started a charitable project mid-January that puts one dozen CFLs into low-income school families' homes. (We've already provided for 20 households inside 3 weeks.) So, in fact, I DO want that late fee - to donate to the project. If I add $5 to your donated late fee - at least 4 school children's households will benefit by becoming more energy conservative homes for years to come, and that's something we all benefit from.
If paying the late fee at this time is too difficult for you, I'd happily accept it later in the month. Or even as late as it being included in your March Rent Payment. Later than that and we'll have a real problem.
So my records credit you with your check for $700.50. What you still owe me now amounts to $124.50. That includes the $75 late fee, as allowed by law - and which I will then donate in your names."
It seems a little odd to me that the Landlord didn't just choose a third, nonlegal, option which would have been to call me as soon as she noticed the mistake and instruct me to hand-deliver a check for the difference that day.
Also, I am very uncomfortable that she is trying to force me and my spouse to donate to her "charity."
I am very opposed to paying the late-fee on the principle of the situation, and I'm also very much against "donating" to her cause.
Any advice on proceeding in this situation?
A side fact: This landlord did evict the tenant before us.
I have leased from the same landlord for the past 13 months. I have always paid my rent on time and I am a good tenant. I pay $750 a month for rent.
On February 6, I noticed that my February rent check was posted for $700.50, instead of $750. Puzzled, I looked at the online copy of my check and discovered that while I had written $750 in the numerical amount box, I had mistakenly written out Seven Hundred and 50/100 instead of Seven Hundred Fifty and 00/100.
As soon as I saw what had happened, I immediately emailed my landlord (her preferred method of communication) and informed her of the mistake, offering to immediately send a $49.50 check for the difference.
I received the following response from my landlord:
"Your check arrived here 2/2. I saw it 2/4 and noticed the error. According to the law I had two options:
~ I could have returned the check to you as nonpayment. But you wouldn't have gotten the returned check 'til your mail was delivered 2/5. (The eviction process starts with filings at the court house on the morning of the 4th of a month.) Or,
~ I could cash the check, even tho it was a partial payment (which the law recognizes only as a "nonpayment") - but still require you to pay the remainder, $49.50, plus the $75.00 late fee.
So, yeah, y'all owe $49.50 for the February rent. And you owe the $75 late fee: $124.50 total.
The law assumes partial and nonpayments are about being a deadbeat. So, legally, the late fee is about being punitive. But, at this point, I have no real interest in being punitive per se.
However ... what I AM interested in is this: I started a charitable project mid-January that puts one dozen CFLs into low-income school families' homes. (We've already provided for 20 households inside 3 weeks.) So, in fact, I DO want that late fee - to donate to the project. If I add $5 to your donated late fee - at least 4 school children's households will benefit by becoming more energy conservative homes for years to come, and that's something we all benefit from.
If paying the late fee at this time is too difficult for you, I'd happily accept it later in the month. Or even as late as it being included in your March Rent Payment. Later than that and we'll have a real problem.
So my records credit you with your check for $700.50. What you still owe me now amounts to $124.50. That includes the $75 late fee, as allowed by law - and which I will then donate in your names."
It seems a little odd to me that the Landlord didn't just choose a third, nonlegal, option which would have been to call me as soon as she noticed the mistake and instruct me to hand-deliver a check for the difference that day.
Also, I am very uncomfortable that she is trying to force me and my spouse to donate to her "charity."
I am very opposed to paying the late-fee on the principle of the situation, and I'm also very much against "donating" to her cause.
Any advice on proceeding in this situation?
A side fact: This landlord did evict the tenant before us.
