If your landlord cashes a rent check a month early and it bounces, should you be responsible for their fees?

If you wrote the check without sufficient funds in your account you are responsible for the fee. If the only check that had been cashed had been the one the bank issued early it might be different. It will never matter what date you put on a check or if the payee cashes the check prior to instructions. If the fee you are talking about is from the property manager, you still owe that fee—you wrote them a worthless check. There are also criminal charges that could be brought.

Check to remind her of the situation, its entirely possible she simply forgot.

If she did remember, then she “should” void the fee because it was her screw up. But “technically” its your fault for giving them a check, even if it was un-needed. The reason being that some people will pay their rent months ahead of time (or even for the entire year in advance). If the check used for one of these payments bounces, it will still incur the fee.

If she doesn’t void it though, she’s a biatch.

Yep. Sorry. The fee can’t be that high. Just consider it a lesson.

The fees only $25, it was the bank that screwed me over, I changed the date for when it should send the check to a month later because of the incident, but it still sent the check for the original date in addition to the new date I set. I personally didn’t write a worthless check. Technology just isn’t as magically accurate as we’d like to think. I had to cancel my check disbursement schedule and create a new one. It just bothers me that she didn’t mention this fee when I spoke with her initially. I’ve even seen her in person, but she waits 2 months to leave a notice on my door saying she’ll send me to collections if I don’t pay. I spoke with her today about it, and she won’t void it. She told me to take it up with my bank, but I already had them reverse my overdraft fee because of this screw up. I doubt they’ll want to hear from me again.

Is she the landlord? Manager? Owner?

@coogan If I understand correctly the bank should get rid of the fee, since it was their mistake. Is it your bank charging the fee to your landlord?

Your landlord is probably just being a jackass. They know who paid and who didn’t. Most management companies use software systems to keep track of this stuff anyway. She’s just trying to stiff you.

Technically, I doubt you’re being ripped off. Every lease I’ve ever seen has had fees for bounced checks, and they don’t really care if it’s a bank error that caused it, such as if your automatic payment system disbursed a check before you put the funds for it in the account. They don’t care—you wrote them a bad check, not your bank. Now the fact that you wrote them a second check and they cashed it is criminal if they charged you double rent.

Yes. If you bounce a check, the bank charges a fee. Someone has to pay for it. It only makes sense that you do since you were the one that bounced the check. Next time make sure the money is there before you write the check.

The landlord is not being a jackass; it sounds like you two need to communicate better.

Lots of people pay early. If the property is large it is impossible for them to keep track of these things.
I don’t quite understand why you didn’t just ask for the check back as soon as you knew it was an overpayment and before she deposited it?
I have apartments and if you had wanted me to hold the check I would have either refused or at least put a stocky note on it reminding me not to post it until the following month.
If you had an agreement, I would probably say something like this,
“I understand that you incurred fees for this check, but you also agreed not to cash it. Could you please waive the fees this time?”
if she refuses or says, “I can’t, it’s a corporate policy,” be polite and say,
“I understand. If you’re not the person empowered to make this decision, may I have the phone number of the person who is?”
if she CAN make the decision, she will probably waive the fees. She really doesn’t want her boss to know she screwed up.
The key is to me kind and polite, and not unreasonable at all. Most of us in the apartment industry realize we are in a competitive business and customer service is important. If we thought we might loose a good resident because of a mix up that resulted in an NSF check we would waive the fee in a heart beat.
If you have been a pain in the arse resident however, they may not be so anxious to keep you happy.

She’s the manager, but not the owner. I’ve been a really great tenant, but she knows I’m not renewing since those were due in Feb. Suntrust can “take” 5–10 business days to update their online banking.

The cost doesn’t bother me. It’s the fact that I spoke with her in Feb. about it, and two months later informs me I have to pay their fee. Why not just tell me when the incident happened? It just seems like bad business practice.

@coogan I would be frustrated too. I really think she should waive the fee. I think she should admit she cashed it in error, learn a lesson that she should not agree to hold onto checks if she can’t keep it all organized, and just chalk it up to that. And, you have learned the lesson, not to trust people to hold your check for the future.

This is exactly why i do not pay my bills by check. i either pay in person in cash or i use my debit card.

Suntrust computers are not live. in other words, you can make a deposit and it will not show for three days. it take their outdated computers this long to catch up to itself.

They accept check only. Other developments accept plastic, but not here.

@john65pennington It might not be their computer it might be the law is on their side, that they don’t have to show it for that many days, and so they “hold” your money not allowing you to use it, so they can make interest on your money without you making any.

@john65pennington There’s really nothing technical for why it should take so long. I bank with Chase and I can make a deposit and drive straight home and check my balance and it will be there. More likely is that their internal process requires some kind of human sign off or something like that, depending on the way the deposit was made, e.g. via ATM. Most apartment complexes/landlords don’t accept credit.

@noyesa But, is the money still on a three day hold?