Dishonest Land(ladies) / Possible forced move-out - Posted by Angelus433
Posted by Angelus433 on August 26, 2006 at 04:22:04:
Hi everyone.
I’m seriously needing some constructive advice, I hope that someone here will be able to assist. First of all, I’ve been renting a small 1-bedroom apt here in Alaska - since Oct. 2002. Other than our crappy loud neighbors, we’ve loved living here – It’s quite literally, one of the best complexes to get into (clean, safe) for the price.
And here comes the craptacular part:
I live w/my S.O., and it has always been financially impossible for us to pay the rent by the normal due date - the 5th of every month. Only last year ('05), did we finally get the new Landlady to negotiate into our lease that rent would be due on the 7th — which is Payday. Up until then, we always paid a late fee, which was an extra $50.00 on top of the normal rent (also always on the same cashiers check). It was a huge mistake on our part, to not insist on having it written down and sent to us officially. However, it does state on our Tenant Ledger (provided to us a couple days ago), that our rent is not due until the 7th, as per the landlady.
Anyway …Earlier this week, we rec’d a notice under our door, late in the evening, that we “owed” a late fee of $50.00, due by September 1st. It was for April 2006, and stated that we were “late” with the rent that month. Well, we have excellent paying habits – We know that we stretched our luck getting the current landlady to agree/understand that payday is not until the 7th, and we always drop it off that same day, we don’t push our luck (ya’ know, having a place to live is on the top of our agenda …duh ). Luckily, I save most of our cashiers check reciepts — And sure enough, our cashiers check receipt states that it was drawn on April 7th, 2006.
We brought it to the landlady-in-training – The previous one is still around to “train” the new one, and she’s also the General Manager of the one of the properties tied into this one. So technically, the old manager is still the boss. New landlady listened to us, raised some eyebrows, and then said she’d talk to old landlady about it. Late the next evening, she slipped the Tenant Ledger under the door – With a handwritten note on the last page that the Late Fee was still due, and that Old-landlady stated that our rent check was NOT REC’D until May 1st.
Now, what really gets me is that I was an auditor at a hotel for a number of years and I understand how to read statements and ledgers quite well. Upon examining the tenant ledger, I noticed that in 2005, rent was charged on the first of the month and then nothing the rest of the month. On the first of the following month, rent was charged again, but this time a check was posted for the previous month. Four days later on the fifth, another check was posted for the current month’s rent. This same thing happened again this year in April. The note the new landlady had handwritten on the bottom states that the ledger clearly shows that rent was not received on time. After speaking with her, I pointed out that the ledger simply states that it wasn’t posted until that day, not whether or not it was received.
The kicker to all this is, I could care less about the late fee. What worries my wife and I, is that another tenant mentioned that the management was planning on turning the pod in which we live, along with the one next to it into employee housing. The loud neighbors I spoke of before are generally employees of the management company that they put up in the apartments for seasonal work. What gets me, is why they would do this in the fall, as September 15th tends to be the closing time for almost all summer work. The tenant that had mentioned this to my wife stated that the new landlady contacted her about this at 11:30PM of all times and asked if she would like to move into another apartment that was open. As far as I know, nobody else has been contacted about this or any other notice given of the upcoming change. We are terribly worried about this possibility because it would explain why they would want the late fee paid and the account zeroed out. Our yearly lease is up for renewal on October 14th, 2006 and as I understand it, they may choose not to renew it due to the need for housing their staff. I am under the impression that they must give no less than 30 days written notice that we need to move out, otherwise legally they must renew the lease unless other concerns arise (of which there are none). Am I right?
What really gets us P.O.'d, is the definite possibility that they’re apparently more interested in having their Imported Non-US citizen employee’s moved into these 2 pods (approximately 12 apt.'s in 1 pod, many have been LONG-time residents, we’re talking 5 years+ — quite a few of them are elderly as well). Until we can afford a home of our own, this has been a home to all of us long-time renters. It’s literally just a stroll from both work, and the University. I know for a fact (due to the workers loud mouths) that their rent is 800/month (more than our 675), and that the workers make beans for hourly wage. So, I guess it’s all about making the money. Grr!
I really would appreciate some input on this Would we be better off verbally acknowledging to the current Landlady that, at the end of the day, it’s a “respected” manager’s word against two “kids”, and grudgingly pay the late fee that’s supposedly due? God, I don’t know. This whole thing has just got us so worked up.
Thank you to all, for any help.