I apologize for the length in advance.
I rent an apartment in MA. When I signed my lease, I got a free month's rent, which I opted to take in December. I didn't pay my December rent, and in the middle of the month received a notice saying the building was starting eviction precedings against me. I went to the office (quite upset, clearly) and the matter was cleared up within minutes. The issue was that they just didn't check my file when my rent didn't come in. I insisted on getting a letter saying that the notice had been sent in error and taken out of my file. It took 4 weeks to get this notice.
Now I am up for renewal, so I asked the management company if there were any offers like the free month's rent. The response was that I had not returned a notice they had mailed to me in time to take advantage of the free month offer. Problem is, I never received this notice, and when I told them this, they basically said "we don't care".
After three weeks of getting the runaround (they promised to call me back the next day and wouldn't, didn't respond to calls and messages, etc) I finally got a meeting with the property manager who reiterated the "we don't care, there's nothing we can do" sentiment.
If I were to take them to court, who has the burden of proof to show that the notice they refer to was or was not mailed? They can't prove they mailed it, and I can't prove they didn't, so I assume whoever carries the burden of proof would lose the argument. I don't know if I somehow got blackballed because of the fuss I raised in December, or if they really did mail it. All I know is, I never received the notice.
I should also mention that the management company does not "mail" things to us in the truest sense of the word. There is no address or stamp, just a piece of paper shoved in our mailboxes, sometimes with an apartment number on it and sometimes not. They say that the mailman puts these in our boxes, but my second question is, is this even legal or do they need to officially mail things with a stamp?
any help is appreciated!