Uh, he could have the opportunity to pay only if the landlord accepts his payment which in some instances the landlord actually refused to accept payment and the party gets evicted. Some landlords can be real sh*ts if they want to be. (I've seen some do this).

OP said:

But here's what the lawyer letter said: we have until the end of today to pay up, and if we don't, the "landlord" will issue a 10 day notice to comply or vacate which could lead to eviction.

Basically the landlord is going to turn this over to his pricey lawyer to handle regardless of the cost as the cost can be passed on to the tenant. He's already done this by having the lawyer send you the letter informing you of the landlord's intentions.

I'm surprised that since you've used the electric and only had to pay for 4 months of your use that you'd even want to consider "jerking" them around more. You've already gotten several months free electricity and you said you're willing to throw away your $400 deposit money.

Won't it cost you more to move out, get another apartment, put down another deposit (and possibly an electricity deposit as well) than to pay the $500+ electricity bill and stay at your present place?

Sounds like you just want to dodge your responsibility in order to fund your new scuba gear project. You're going to spend more money in the long run than you would if you just paid the money. You're not "jerking" anyone around but yourself in this scenerio regardless of how many times I read and re-read your posts.

The timetable as it sits now:

Today is supposed to be the deadline to pay up or risk the 10-day notice thing, which is not an eviction notice.

Lease is up April 30. We've already arranged a new place and will begin moving into it April 15, or a tad under 3 weeks from now.

What I'm thinking: simply ask for more time, with implications and evasive references to the deposit. IOW, stall. In that regard, I can BS with the best of them. Later on, if necessary, I can be as big a jerk as the circumstances require, but for now I'd be happy just to get them to hold off until we're on our way out of here.

Thoughts?

Twinkie, you have thoroughly misread almost everything I wrote. We had already arranged another place to live before any of this came up, because this place is just too small for us (plus the maintenance and such is a cluster-****). Moving out has nothing at all to do with this situation. And in case you missed the little smiley thing, the scuba comment was a J-O-K-E. And I've already made arrangements with the electric company to fold the 3 months into the new place and work out a payment plan. None of that stuff enters into it.

If you've already made arrangements with the electric company to pay 3 months what about the 4th month? Also, have you informed your landlord that YOU are going to be paying the electric company yourself and leaving them out of this?

Ok, so you will be getting the 10 day pay up or vacate notice shortly. If you don't get it today more than likely you'll get it Monday. It's almost April anyway. If you don't pay for April's rent and you leave on the 15th your landlord probably will file the eviction and ding you for April's rent.

You don't have to allude to any deposit when dealing with them as they will be keeping it anyway thinking they're entitled to it.

More than likely you will be moving out by the time they've gone down to file the eviction suit anyway.

The 4-month thing was apparently a mistake on the landlord's part, because when I talked to the electric company they said they would only bill me for 3 months. That portion of it isn't part of what the landlord is asking for, just the part that they actually got billed for. Right now I'm trying to decide if I should go down there and ask for more time in order to stave off the 10-day notice. Thoughts?

I tried to go talk to them, but the person causing all the trouble wasn't there, of course. I spoke with the assistant, who is a very nice person, and she logged my appearance and my request for more time. I also contacted the lawyer again and suggested that she could help me get more time. Since the lawyer pointed me to some places that could help, I figure she should help me stall. And now that it's the weekend, of course, nothing's going to happen.

Twinkie, I fully intend to pay the April rent. We'll BEGIN moving on the 15th, but since all we have is two minivans and a Jeep Cherokee to move with, we can use the extra breathing space between the 15th and the end of the month. Plus, I don't want to give them any excuse to try and besmirch my name, especially for non-payment of rent.

We now pause while the entire place rolls up the sidewalks for the weekend...

Well, I tried to talk to this woman again, and it's frankly impossible. She now says she can take the electric bill out of my April rent payment and then declare me delinquent on the rent if she wants to. I find that hard to believe?? Supposedly her lawyer told me this, but that's not true because this is the first I've heard of such an idea. Can she really do that?

So either nobody knows or nobody cares?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by dwashbur

So either nobody knows or nobody cares?

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Hello again, d:

I told you what to do. You want to do something else. Maybe you know better.

excon

Quote:

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Originally Posted by excon

Hello again, d:

I told you what to do. You wanna do something else. Maybe you know better.

excon

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No, you were right. I should have given up trying to talk to her and all I did was give myself a headache. But my question is, can she do that little maneuver with my rent payment?

The likelihood is yes. If there are outstanding fees open, they could apply your payment to those fees.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by dwashbur

But my question is, can she do that little maneuver with my rent payment?

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Hello again, d:

The very nature of your question indicates that YOU, are the one being intimidated here. How she allocates your rent payment only matters if you LET her allocate your rent that way. Had you followed my advice, you would already KNOW that this dispute is going wind up in front of a judge, and that's where your legal questions will finally be answered.

Look, the bottom line here is this. IF you win on the estoppel issue, you won't OWE the bill. IF you don't, you WILL. What you paid in rent, and/or how ever the deposit issue works out, you will owe them money, or they'll owe you money. It's simple math. It doesn't matter HOW your landlord decides to "allocate" this money.

excon

Ex,
I'm not so much intimidated as baffled. I haven't seen anything in the lease that suggests such an idea, and she flat-out lied to me when she claimed the lawyer told me this stuff. Basically, this woman has the ethics of a cat in heat. She kept trying to get me to commit to applying the deposit to this electric bill and I kept hedging, refusing to say as much. I said I would be open to entertaining the idea, and that was as far as I would go. But I have no doubt that she is telling the lawyer I agreed to it.

I couldn't care less about the money. Frankly, I consider money a necessary evil, and refuse to let it dominate any aspect of my life when there are plenty of things that are so much more important. At this point I'm just curious about this idea, because it kind of blindsided me.

OTOH, you said "How she allocates your rent payment only matters if you LET her allocate your rent that way." How would I go about NOT letting her do so? Or is that something that would be sorted out in court later, regardless of what she does right now?

Bear in mind I'm a total ignoramus when it comes to this legal crap.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by dwashbur

How would I go about NOT letting her do so?

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Hello d:


You sue her.

I don't buy your "I don't care about the money BS. If that was so, you'da paid the bill. Instead you've been hocking us about for for a couple weeks. And, if you DON'T care about the money, you SHOULD, if only to keep score.

excon

Quote:

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Originally Posted by excon

Hello d:


You sue her.

I don't buy your "I don't care about the money BS. If that was so, you'da paid the bill. Instead you've been hocking us about for for a couple weeks. And, if you DON'T care about the money, you SHOULD, if only to keep score.

excon

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As far as just paying the bill, it was a choice of doing that or having a deposit to put on the new place. Since we had already chosen the new place and put down a partial deposit, I opted for the latter. In addition, if it's really something I DON'T owe, I'm not into throwing my funds down a well, either.

When I say I don't care about money, I mean in the Grand Scheme Of Things. It doesn't dominate my life, and as long as there's enough coming in to get along I'm happy. If there isn't, well, as Lawrence Block's character Bernie Rhodenbarr said, there are always ways to get more. Hence, in the long run - or even the short run - this person can't really hurt me. She can be a nuisance, but that's about all. She keeps trying to threaten me with collection, as if that's the worst thing in the world. I've been there and it's no big deal. When she tries to throw that at me, it's all I can do to keep from laughing out loud.

As far as the whole question of this stuff goes, I'm more interested in them taking responsibility for their own screw-up. Legal wranglings aside, it would just be nice to see a corporate clone like this one say "Yes, we goofed. We'll fix it." That's more than a bit naïve, I know, but that's the main reason I'm doing this. The other reason is just to keep them off my back until we get moved, so I can concentrate on that.

So, if I'm reading you right, you're saying that if she does do that, we immediately sue her? Do I have that right?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by dwashbur

you're saying that if she does do that, we immediately sue her? Do I have that right?

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Hello again, d:

I'm sure I told you exactly what to do earlier. I'm sure it included something like going through the move out process, demanding your deposit, WAITING until THAT issue is resolved, and THEN file suit.

excon

Quote:

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Originally Posted by excon

Hello again, d:

I'm sure I told you exactly what to do earlier. I'm sure it included something like going through the move out process, demanding your deposit, WAITING until THAT issue is resolved, and THEN file suit.

excon

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Also bear in mind that it doesn't take much to confuse me... :confused:

One more little quick question, just for clarification. You said "give them written notice, sent CERTIFIED."

They have their own fancy-pants form, which I got from the assistant manager a few days ago. My intention is to turn it in to her (not to the witchy-woman), have her sign and date it, and then get a copy. Will that suffice, or should I still send a certified letter in addition?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by dwashbur

Will that suffice, or should I still send a certified letter in addition?

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Hello again, d:

How come you always want to do something OTHER than what I told you??

excon

I told you, it doesn't take much to confuse me... so ignore their form and send a letter, or send the form certified?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by dwashbur

ignore their form and send a letter

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Hello again, d:

Do THAT. You know that you can go read this thread in its entirety any time you become confused.

excon