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Cash Rent Payments required??

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Cash Rent Payments required??

Postby Ltraingirl » Wed Nov 06, 2002 2:12 pm

I didn't know about this website until now, so I hope someone can help me.

My roommate and I moved into an apartment building about 6 months ago that had been newly renovated. We had no actual landlord and they told us that the real estate agency would act as our landlord.

We signed a lease and another form, and looked both of them over very carefully.

Then, a week later, we were told that we were going to have to make all of our rent payments IN PERSON at the real estate office and ALL in cash. We were furious, to say the least, because NO WHERE in our lease is this stipulated. The poor girl who has to deal with complaints at the agency has always been very nice to us, saying that they have had problems before with people paying with checks.

Well, who the hell am I to care about that? My roommate and I both had to pay to have credit checks done on our guranteurs (we are both students) and they both cleared without any problems. For them to just ASSUME that we would write them back checks is pretty outrageous to me, and I'm wondering if it is even legal, or if there is something that I can do about it? They have told us flat out that they will NEVER accept checks. I mean, how SHADY is that?

We also used to get our utilities bills from them, just random amounts of money, and we were writing checks to some weird company. They finally switched us over to Con Ed, but not after not billing us for FOUR MONTHS and then slapping us with a HUGE 4 month utility bill.

What can we do? This place treats us with no respect because we are young, they think we're stupid!
Ltraingirl
 
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Joined: Wed Nov 06, 2002 2:01 am
Location: Brooklyn

Re: Cash Rent Payments required??

Postby MikeW » Thu Nov 07, 2002 11:08 am

Do you have a lease? Is this a private home situation?

Here's what I would do. Mail them a check certified return receipt. If they don't take the check, don't give them cash. If they start making a stink, tell them that your next phone call will be to the IRS. That should shut them up.
MikeW
 
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Joined: Tue Mar 05, 2002 2:01 am
Location: New York, NY

Re: Cash Rent Payments required??

Postby Phil Cohen » Fri Nov 08, 2002 5:41 pm

Very weird situation. Obviously they are scamming people--their tenants, the IRS.
I am not sure if legally you can insist on paying by check. If you pay by cash they are required to give you a receipt.

Once I had to pay in cash, but my LL at the time was an old Italian lady. Businesses almost always prefer checks. When they prefer cash there is always a tax angle.
I would suggest DEFINITELY alerting the IRS. You may be able to get a bounty if they are caught. But do not imply to the LL you are going to do anything like this.
Keep in mind that I am a tenant. Not a lawyer!!!!!
Phil Cohen
 
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Joined: Sat Mar 09, 2002 2:01 am


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