[baby8]

My rent check was returned for "uncollected funds". My landlord now wants me to pay a fee of $35.00 for each check that was returned by THEIR bank. When I read the lease, it looks like I only owe a $35.00 fee for my check. The lease states:

LATE FEE COSTS AND RETURNED CHECKS: If any installment of rent is not received by the landlord within five(5) days from the due date, Tenant covenants and agrees to pay as additional rent, the sum of fifty dollars. Tenant further agrees to pay a handling charge of $35.00 for each check returned by the bank for insufficient funds or any other reason. Returned checks will not be redeposited. In case of a bounced check, Landlord may require any and all further payments to be made by money order or certified funds.



Which is it and how should I resolve this?

[Fr_Chuck]

By your lease all you will have to pay is first the LATE free, since a returned check is still like not receiving the payment, And the bad check fee as listed in the lease.

They can of course sue you for the damages your check caused, if they counted on that check being good, and wrote checks on that account and they bounced, I have had personal luck on sueing the other person for that and winning. So most likely they can take you to small claims court and win if they want to. Since your check ( if they can prove it was) was the cause of the other issues.

[froggy7]

Fr_Chuck... just to be clear, I read that as the tenant having to pay the 50 late fee AND the 35 check fee, since it says "returned for any reason".

And for those (like me!) who are curious what "uncollected funds" means... here's a handy snippet: "Deposits, other than cash and equivalents, that are made to a bank account may not be made available by the bank until they clear the banking process. As a result, the balance in an account will be made up of deposits that have cleared the banking process (collected balance) and those that have not (uncollected balance). The combination of the two, or the full account balance, is known as the “ledger balance” or “checkbook balance”, since it is the balance a customer would typically record in their check register. In reality, any checks written on anything more than the collected balance in an account are paid at the bank's discretion, and may be returned for “uncollected funds”."

So it sounds like someone was banking on a check clearing that didn't.

[jillianleab]

I agree, froggy. To me, the wording of the clause and the circumstances indicate the tenant would have to pay the late fee AND the returned check fee.

So, baby, pay the $35, don't write any more bad checks, and be glad I'm not your landlord - I'd make you pay the full amount AND pay in nothing but certified funds!

[kp2171]

you are the one at fault, for whatever reason.

don't try to weasel out of this one. If their bank presented the check twice (common) they were dinged for you bad financial judgement. This is NOT about them trying to pad their income. This is about you hurting them financially by passing bad checks.

that doesn't make you a bad person. Been there myself when younger.

but as a business owner myself I can tell you it hurts me directly when someone passes a bad check my way. My bank charges me for trusting you. The right thing to do is just own up to it and call it a learning experience.

it might have been an "honest" mistake. That still doesn't mean you aren't hurting the person who fulfilled their part of the agreement. And here, you can sue for 3x the amount of the check... though it needs to be clearly spelled out in the agreement.

morally, I think you need to own this problem. Its yours. You did it. And what the landlord is asking is within reason.

[excon]

Hello baby:

I understand you to be saying that the landlord had checks bounce due to YOUR check bouncing, and he wants you to pay $35 for each of THOSE?

If that's so, I don't know how many there are, and I don't know how badly you want to stay there.

Indeed. Those ARE costs that the landlord had to bear due to YOUR check bouncing. I don't know how a court would rule.

If it's only the $35, or even if it's $85, pay it and go on with your life. If he's got 10 checks that bounced, well that's a different story.

excon