When the Landlord Loses Your Rent Check

[bookslover]

This happened to me recently. Landlord said he "misplaced" my check and need to send him another one.

So, I went to my bank and placed a "stop payment" order on the check and will write him a new one. Waiting to find out if he'll let me deduct the $30 stop-payment fee my bank charges.

Out of curiosity, I checked on line to find out "if the landlord loses your rent/mortgage check, am I legally required to sent him another one?" After all, if one sends the rent in on time and in good faith, then, if the landlord loses your check, that should be on him, not you.

The consensus seems to be that - yes, you still owe him the rent, but the landlord should be willing to let you deduct the stop-payment fee.

Anyone else have a similar experience? Any legal types out there have an answer (I live in California)?

 

[LilyG]

A fee to cancel a check that hasn't been processed - ridiculous!

 

[Semper Fidelis]

I agree with Lily. Switch banks. $30 for a stop payment is absurd.

I don't know what your legal rights are but, if you have the right to not pay him rent, I would still pay.

I would right him a rent check for the rent minus $30. If you are not required to pay him rent then he ought to be grateful that you have the integrity to pay him rent but deduct the cost of his error.

 

[Ed Walsh]

A fee to cancel a check that hasn't been processed - ridiculous!

Yea, that's the way it's done. I think my bank charges $35

And to Richard, I would politely tell your landlord that you will be deducting the stop-payment charge from the next rent check. If he gives you a hard time, personally I would cave and just eat the loss myself. But I advise you to start off by assuming he will think it is fair.

A funny aside:
My landlord for my office kept telling me that he was going to write a new lease and increase our rent from $1750 to who knows what. It had been years since he raised our rent. So come the first month of 2016 I told my office manager to start paying $100 more per month. I thought he was due an increase, but I was afraid that it would be more like $150-$175 a month. Anyway, he was so blown over that I raised my own rent he agreed to the amount. And it has stayed the same ever since.

Well, I thought it was funny.

 

[Edward]

I agree with Lily. Switch banks. $30 for a stop payment is absurd.

You bank with a credit union or an online bank? PenFed will give you two for $25 if you do them at the same time. Looks like Discover and Ally are $15.

For big banks, $30 is on the low end.

Even a large S&L like USAA is $29.

From an internet site that tracks such things, it looks like BofA, TD and Citi and Chase are at $30 (Chase will cut it to $25 if you do it online and leave people out of it). Wells is $31, PNC is $33, BB&T is $34, US Bank and CapOne are $35, and SunTrust is $36.

 

[Stephen L Smith]

In my country normally one pays by electronic payment so you don't have the problem of lost cheques and extra bank fees. Cheques are practiclly obsolete in New Zealand.

 

[Edward]

Disclaimer - I am not a California attorney; you should seek the advice of an attorney licensed in California who practices banking law. I could refer you to several who would probably be willing to talk to you and give you excellent advice at between $500 to $700 an hour.

That being said, if the money never left your account, of course you still owe him.

If the money left your account and went somewhere else, either there has been forgery or fraud, so you would take it up with your bank when you discover it when you look at your statement.

Bounced check fees roughly equal stop payment fees. If you have enough cushion in your account to cover the missing item until it can be sorted out, it's probably best not to stop payment. If you don't, and both checks get processed, the bounced check fees will quickly outpace the one stop payment. Although the bank *might* make you whole, while you will always be out the stop payment fee.

I'd ask, nicely but firmly, for the landlord to eat the cost of the stop payment. But there is no way to force the issue in a cost - effective manner.

 

[Edward]

In my country normally one pays by electronic payment so you don't have the problem of lost cheques and extra bank fees. Cheques are practiclly obsolete in New Zealand.

Fine and dandy until the bank's computer crashes.

 

[MW]

In my country normally one pays by electronic payment so you don't have the problem of lost cheques and extra bank fees. Cheques are practiclly obsolete in New Zealand.

A recent payment by electronic transfer had me wondering if we are supporting the idea of a cashless society. There was a time when people thought the idea would undermine civil freedom. It seems that it is not much of a concern anymore.

 

[arapahoepark]

A recent payment by electronic transfer had me wondering if we are supporting the idea of a cashless society. There was a time when people thought the idea would undermine civil freedom. It seems that it is not much of a concern anymore.

Well fiat money with a central bank hasn't helped....

Just politely tell him that you're deducting the cost because the banks are ridiculous.

 

[Semper Fidelis]

You bank with a credit union or an online bank? PenFed will give you two for $25 if you do them at the same time. Looks like Discover and Ally are $15.

I stand corrected. Navy Federal charges $20. I don't think I've ever had to use it.

 

[Edward]

Navy Federal charges $20. I don't think I've ever had to use it.

Well, I missed with PenFed and USAA, but I was aimed in the right general direction.

I've never stopped payment, either. But I try to keep up with the industry.The biggest 3 made over $6 billion from ATMs and overdrafts in 2015.

 

[ZackF]

It does happen. I've been through that as creditors do lose payments. I would probably just write him another check and put the hold on the original. After paying him the full amount for April, I'd contact him later in the month, and ask if you could deduct the stop payment fee from May's rent. He may request a copy of the stop payment receipt if he honors your request.

 

[OPC'n]

I would pay the rent minus the cost to stop the check. Then I would start paying rent via automatic payments from your checking. It's simple and non stressful and there's no losing checks. I lived in an apartment for one year and that's how I paid my rent.

 

[bookslover]

UPDATE: I stopped payment on the original check (as I noted in the OP) and the landlord has agreed to let me deduct that $30 fee from the replacement rent check.

 

[Edward]

and the landlord has agreed to let me deduct that $30 fee from the replacement rent check.

Good for him. If you didn't get it in writing, confirm it in writing. Instead of an off-putting 'this will confirm' letter, you could do it in the form of a thank-you. "I wanted to thank you for making me whole by letting me deduct the stop payment fee from the replacement April rent check. Let me know if you need any sort of documentation of that charge for your records." So it looks like you are trying to be helpful, while incidentally creating somewhat a paper trail if you need it. (ALthough he sounds like he's a straight shooter).

Not nearly as good as a formal agreement drafted by one of those $700 an hour California lawyers, but a lot better than nothing.

 

[Pilgrim]

You bank with a credit union or an online bank? PenFed will give you two for $25 if you do them at the same time. Looks like Discover and Ally are $15.

For big banks, $30 is on the low end.

Even a large S&L like USAA is $29.

From an internet site that tracks such things, it looks like BofA, TD and Citi and Chase are at $30 (Chase will cut it to $25 if you do it online and leave people out of it). Wells is $31, PNC is $33, BB&T is $34, US Bank and CapOne are $35, and SunTrust is $36.

The big bank I'm with charges $30 or $35 to stop payment on one check or up to maybe a few dozen, if memory serves. It's charged based on the request and not quantity, although there may be a limit on the number of checks.