I have been in a rental since the end of May and have had several problems that caused my rent check to come back NSF. I have always paid the late fees and the landlor's fee for the NSF. They have sent a certified letter warning me that if this continues, they will terminate the lease. Can they do this? If so, how? I have also provided documentation as to why the rent was late or NSF, I know this isn't an excuse, but I do pay late fees and they accept everything I give them. Can you give me some insight to this? How easy would it be for them to terminate the lease. There is no specs in the lease for terminating based on these circumstances and I have four children at home. Jo

It depends on what your lease says. Generally chronic late payment is grounds for termination of the lease. If the lease doesn't specifically address the issue, then you need to check your local laws (see the sticky at the top of this forum) to see if it specifies that as grounds for termination.

If they do decide to terminate, then they can send you notice (usually 30 days) of their decision. You can refuse to leave forcing them to file for eviction. You can then go to court and explain the issues to a judge who may or may not uphold the eviction.

Yes they can do this, they are protecting themselves... they don't know if you will all of sudden stop making payments all together... I suggest, if you have problems with the checks, making sure that rent is the thing that does go through. Start paying in cash or money order, and make sure you get a receipt for each one.

Let me add one point here, you need to look at this from the landlord's side as well. First, if your check bounces, causing their check to bounce, this has an affect on their relationships with the people they pay. Second, like any business your landlord has a cash flow to maintain. If payment problems become chronic, that interrupts their cashflow. If they don't get enough income to pay their bills, that causes them problems. So even though you may reimburse them for their out of pocket charges, they would rather you just paid on time.

Hello j:

The law doesn't care about reasons. Unless your lease calls for a grace period, if you're ONE day late, your landlord can evict you. He doesn't have to accept payment after that. Those are the cold hard facts.

If you want to stay, make whatever arrangements you must to pay your rent on time. If your problems continue to be the landlords problems, you're going to be on the street.

excon