I will leave the management company anonymous as it would be my luck that they would sue me for saying the following….
Read the entire lease in the presence of the leasing agent.
While I don’t usually read the entire lease, I will from this point on. I will also do it while the leasing agent is waiting for me to sign the lease. Who knows what kind of goodies there are in there. I know that they have the right to terminate your lease at any time with no reason, but you cannot end your lease early without being penalized.
We will sue you if you are late with rent for a month.
This is the kicker I found out the other day. With the terrible snow storm, and my online bill payment originating from Pennsylvania, it is no surprise that my payment for rent did not arrive on time. It was sent on Feb 2, for payment on Feb 5, but as of this date, has not arrived yet. We received a note under the door on February 13 that said “we have not received your rent payment and we will take you to court for none payment.” Looking beyond the grammatical error, I was quite surprised the payment had not made it yet. I am convinced it is sitting in a snow covered postal service truck and will eventually make it to the management company someday.
What really urks me is that the leasing office of my building operates separate from the management company. The management company apparently filed a court case for non-payment on Feb 11. This is one day after the final due date for rent each month. Now this is the first time I have ever been late for rent and have been living at this address for close to 15 months now. One would think that perhaps someone should contact me and see if everyting was okay since it was my first time? Apparently not. The leasing office is responsible for notifying. They put a note under my door 2 days after the lawsuit was filed!!!!! Now isn’t that helpful?!
Late for rent one month when ontime for 14 others.
I was able to get my bank to waive the cashiers check fee for payment and the management company is going to waive the late fees since it was scheduled on time and no fault of mine for the lateness. This is good, but very frustrating that the management just sends every reputable renter to court. This seems much like what the credit card companies are doing…. “Thank you for being a loyal customer for 15 years. We are sorry, but during economic hardship, we need to double your interest rate. Thank you again for being a loyal customer.”
Time to buy a house again.
I have learned my lesson. Be your own rental agent!!!! I will be looking for a new apartment soon and better yet a house again where I don’t need to deal with late rent payments 🙂