landlord (Cove: lease, felony, costs)

[azrael2066]

i recently gave a check to my landlord for the rent and it was sent back for insufficient funds. i know that i have to pay for the returned check, but shes say that she authorized payments to be made on her checking account because she thought the check would clear. Now she says that I have to pay her for the returned fees on each one that was returned. I do not feel that i am responsible for her decisions that she makes regarding her account. The total is close to $300.00. Am I wrong?

[RCH99]

How dare she assume your rent check is good. What a ridiculous landlord.

Yes, you are wrong. Cover her fees.

[cheryjohns]

Typical lease on a house:

the first day it's late - anywhere from $25 - $50
Average $10 - $20 per day thereafter
$25 - $35 NSF charge.

Yeah, you are wrong.

[reenzz]

You are responsible. If it wasn't for your bounced check, she would of never racked up the fees. Pay what she says. BTW, writing a bad check in Texas is a felony.

[azrael2066]

Okay. So what all of your saying is that someone has given you a check for $500.00 and it has yet to clear and is pending. then you go and pay you light bill, water bill, cell phone, or whatever. Knowing that you only have $100.00 in your account and you do this hoping the rent check is not returned. Then you want that person to reimburse you for the returned fees because it was not your fault. Looking at it from that perspective, this means that I can go after the company that should have direct deposited my funds on time and I took a gamble that the funds would be there to cover the rent and now I can go after them to reimburse me for my fees and the landlord's fees. If anybody can tell me how this can be done I would really like to know. By the way the landlord wrote 8 checks, not me.

[cheryjohns]

....and it rained and the dog ate my homework.

Try not paying her and see how that works out. She can collect everything she is entitled to on the lease, which may be more than her fees.

If the lease says she is entitled to, say, $320 in NSF charges and late charges (because your rent has NOT been paid) - and you only give her the amount of the check - she can apply all of it to fees and the remainder to the rent - which means late charges are still accruing.

If she has to take you to court - you also get to pay court costs - and late fees are still accruing. It will be a jim-dandy reference that she gives to the next landlord, btw. This is how people spiral down to slumlord level housing - the good ones won't rent to them.

If you think you will be able to hide it later - you would be surprised how many are caught trying and failing.

This is going to cause you a lot more than $300 in grief. Just pay her. You'll lose more than that in accumulated application fees to places that turn you down later.

[aba030]

I don't see why the OP should be responsible for paying NSF fees on checks the landlord wrote. The landlord should not be writing checks for funds that are not physically in their account. What if the OP's check didn't bounce but took an extra day or two to clear? Would it be right for the landlord to demand payment for NSF fees from the OP because the check took longer to post than expected? I absolutely agree OP should be responsible for all NSF (for the check the OP wrote) and late fees as stipulated in the lease.

Is the landlord demanding late fees in addition to the $300 of NSF fees?

[DanielWayne]

Contesting this in court will cost far more than $300. Not to mention burned vacation or maybe even lost earnings. On top of that you are likely to lose.

Withholding payment will open a different can of worms that you really don't want to do. That is guaranteed to escalate the damage against you (the OP) by tenfold.

Those are your choices if you don't want to pay the fees.

Paying $300 and chalking it up as "lesson learned" is the lesser of your evils. You are in damage control mode. You are not in a position to win.

[DSL_PWR]

Originally Posted by azrael2066

i recently gave a check to my landlord for the rent and it was sent back for insufficient funds. i know that i have to pay for the returned check, but shes say that she authorized payments to be made on her checking account because she thought the check would clear. Now she says that I have to pay her for the returned fees on each one that was returned. I do not feel that i am responsible for her decisions that she makes regarding her account. The total is close to $300.00. Am I wrong?

yes, you are wrong.

just pay up since you caused the chain reaction of events here.

[reenzz]

Originally Posted by azrael2066

Okay. So what all of your saying is that someone has given you a check for $500.00 and it has yet to clear and is pending. then you go and pay you light bill, water bill, cell phone, or whatever. Knowing that you only have $100.00 in your account and you do this hoping the rent check is not returned. Then you want that person to reimburse you for the returned fees because it was not your fault. Looking at it from that perspective, this means that I can go after the company that should have direct deposited my funds on time and I took a gamble that the funds would be there to cover the rent and now I can go after them to reimburse me for my fees and the landlord's fees. If anybody can tell me how this can be done I would really like to know. By the way the landlord wrote 8 checks, not me.

Your illegal act (passing a bad check) caused the landlord to suffer monetary damages. You get to pay for your illegal action.