[~PurityLake~]

hanging on my front door when I let my dog back inside.

:

Had a heart attack.

Then I read on, mostly skimming, and read where it stated I was late!

Then I was ANGRY!

I always pay rent at least 2 weeks early. Every year, we take advantage of their PFD special (pay 6 months rent, get 7 month free). In February, I'd called the office to verify that our next rent would not be due until MAY 1st (plus an extra $15 for Feb and $15 for March due to a rent increase started Feb this year - every year-) and that April was our free month. My husband even called a couple days later himself to verify the due date was MAY 1st.

We've been saving because we'd also pre paid our auto insurance, auto loan, and cell phone with the PFD and knew many bills would be coming due end of April, beginning of May that we'd not had to pay on or save for the past several months.

So, I call my husband, he is all calm about it (WTH?-he's not calm about anything) and says he'll call them tomorrow. I call them after looking up their phone number (it wasn't even on the notice

. I talk to a woman who says 'hold on while I speak with my manager'. Then she (or manager, not sure, they sounded the same) gets on the phone and says they made a mistake.

I said, 'well, it was still upsetting for this to happen to me'. She explained their new ledger has a special red box on the upper right hand of the form indicating those who used the PFD special and 'earned' a free month, but when the ledgers are printed from their new computer programs, the printer snips the page so the red boxes are not on the paper..... so she thought she'd caught all the mistakes, but just missed this one. How did she only miss one, I wonder? So I say, 'so there could be others out there getting eviction notices that shouldn't be', and she says, 'no, you're the only one'. So now I'm mad again. If she 'knew' I was the only one, why didn't she call me? why didn't she stop the guy who walked from the office to my trailer to hang it on my door from doing so? The paper is signed and dated at 5:28 pm today! and I called her about a half hour later when I noticed it on my door. So why couldn't she have called me if she knew I was the only one? or does she not really know and was/is only hoping I'm the only one while some other poor soul in the park is having a heart attack, too.

~~~Okay, I'm done now. Thanks for listening~~~

ETA:
PFD = Permanent Fund Dividend

 

[Mama Dragon]

I'd have a heart attack right then and there. Thank goodness they weren't trying to pull a fast one on you and it worked out fine!

 

[ollineeba]

Glad it worked out for you. I'm sure that must have been really stressful for a while, though!

 

[annethcz]

What a frustrating misunderstanding! I'm so glad that you got it worked out quickly.

 

[~PurityLake~]

Quote:

Originally Posted by annethcz What a frustrating misunderstanding! I'm so glad that you got it worked out quickly.

My husband reminded me they made the same mistake last year.

It's an hour later, and my stomach is still hurting, even though I'm emotionally over it now.

 

[lolar2]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ~Purity♥Lake~ My husband reminded me they made the same mistake last year. It's an hour later, and my stomach is still hurting, even though I'm emotionally over it now.

That must have been scary!

Put it on your calendar for next year, I guess.

 

[Think of Winter]

Oh bummer.

Something similar happened to us. We returned from our honeymoon to find an eviction notice on our front door, and we had never been late with a rent payment. It took a while to figure out what happened, but in all the wedding craziness, dh wrote our rent check for the amount of another bill. The big leasing companies waste no time in checking, they just put up a notice.

 

[mysticmomma]

Maybe next time you should write them a check for zero dollars and in the memo line write PFD.

 

[~PurityLake~]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mysticmomma Maybe next time you should write them a check for zero dollars and in the memo line write PFD.

LOL, that's funny.

We actually paid it in full with our debit card with the PFD money back on September 13th. Our gas bill is the only place I pay with a check since they charge a $15 fee to pay it online.

 

[seap3]

Wow, they would evict you when it was only the 8th? That seems pretty severe.

I guess I would think an eviction is a huge deal, and that if they are going to do that, they would research exactly what was going on first - call you to see what's going on, send a warning, etc.

I'm glad it worked out for you, but I'd be super pissed too.

 

[~PurityLake~]

Quote:

Originally Posted by zersha Wow, they would evict you when it was only the 8th? That seems pretty severe. I guess I would think an eviction is a huge deal, and that if they are going to do that, they would research exactly what was going on first - call you to see what's going on, send a warning, etc. I'm glad it worked out for you, but I'd be super pissed too.

Yes, the notice was dated for the 8th and said if rent wasn't paid in full by April 15th, at 11 am (7 days from date of notice), we would have to move. It didn't specify if we'd have to move by that day, but I'm guessing so.

The thing is, we own our trailer (piece of crap that it is), rent the lot, so moving would involve thousands of dollars in moving our trailer (it would probably fall apart in transit) to a place that we don't own or another trailer park that we'd still be paying rent for.

 

[UberMama]

Geesh, just reading your post made me feel all jumpy. We're not doing so hot financially, since DH is out of work for almost two months now. So I'm paranoid about every bill now. :/ But man, I am so glad it was a mistake and nothing more for you!!

 

[mightymoo]

That's a pretty crappy mistake and it sounds like she didn't care too much.

:

Quote:

Originally Posted by zersha Wow, they would evict you when it was only the 8th? That seems pretty severe. I guess I would think an eviction is a huge deal, and that if they are going to do that, they would research exactly what was going on first - call you to see what's going on, send a warning, etc. I'm glad it worked out for you, but I'd be super pissed too.

My dad owns a 3-family and he has learned over the years that he has to start eviction as soon as they are late, not because he's a jerk, but because the process takes so long and gives the tenant so many chances to make amends that when he has a non-paying tenant by the time he can get them evicted and the place re-rented, he will have lost many months (not sure exactly) of rent. He can't afford to do that, he barely breaks even on the property, so he has to start the process immediately - he can always cancel it if the tenant pays right up, but if he waits, its just more money lost in the end.

 

[mightymoo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ~Purity♥Lake~ Yes, the notice was dated for the 8th and said if rent wasn't paid in full by April 15th, at 11 am (7 days from date of notice), we would have to move. It didn't specify if we'd have to move by that day, but I'm guessing so.

I don't think so. The rules of the state may be different from mine, but in MA, you are served with a 14 day notice to quit - and have 10 days from the date of the notice to pay in full to avoid eviction. So you could say 'you have to pay by 10 days or you will have to move', that statement would be true. However, once the 14 day notice to quit is served, the landlord then has to serve you with a summons and complaint, which gives you a day to show up in court, you can only be actually physically removed from the premises by court order. Basically, you show up to the court date, and the judge says 'you didn't pay, you are evicted' and sets a date for that, unless you have a good reason (like the conditions were unlivable or something), you can then appeal, etc. So most likely if you didn't pay by that date, you would *have* to move, however that doesn't mean you have to move that day, it just means that in the future you will have to. Does that make sense? But, again check your local laws.

 

[seap3]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mightymoo That's a pretty crappy mistake and it sounds like she didn't care too much. : My dad owns a 3-family and he has learned over the years that he has to start eviction as soon as they are late, not because he's a jerk, but because the process takes so long and gives the tenant so many chances to make amends that when he has a non-paying tenant by the time he can get them evicted and the place re-rented, he will have lost many months (not sure exactly) of rent. He can't afford to do that, he barely breaks even on the property, so he has to start the process immediately - he can always cancel it if the tenant pays right up, but if he waits, its just more money lost in the end.

I can understand the landlords pov, but I also think they should look at the history of the tenant, maybe call to see what's going on, look at past payment history, before jumping straight to the harshest consequence.

If a tenant has never been late before, has a history of paying in advance, perhaps there is a mistake somewhere or the check was lost in the mail, payment not recorded, or a stupid mistake like what happened to the op - instead of scaring someone to death, they could take 3 minutes to contact them.

 

[~PurityLake~]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mightymoo That's a pretty crappy mistake and it sounds like she didn't care too much. :

I'm sure she wasn't personally emotionally invested in it. She was polite and apologetic, but a little sympathy would have made me feel better, too.

Quote:

Originally Posted by zersha I can understand the landlords pov, but I also think they should look at the history of the tenant, maybe call to see what's going on, look at past payment history, before jumping straight to the harshest consequence. If a tenant has never been late before, has a history of paying in advance, perhaps there is a mistake somewhere or the check was lost in the mail, payment not recorded, or a stupid mistake like what happened to the op - instead of scaring someone to death, they could take 3 minutes to contact them.

Yes, exactly! I have lived here since July 2005 and have ALWAYS paid my rent early. I have also pre paid those 6 months with the PFD special for three years. It bothered me that she thought I was the only one this happened to (if she knew, why didn't she attempt to contact me?). I do know the management office is under staffed, always has been, and the manager is overworked, but you would think a few reliable tenants would stand out around here. This neighborhood has a lot of not so good tenants flaking on rent, breaking the law, and other such nonsense. There are only a few tenants, myself included, that are reliable, trustworthy, law abiding and pleasant. You would think that would stand out for them enough for them to have done *something* about preventing that notice being sent out in the first place, and at the very least, a phone call being made.

 

[~PurityLake~]

So when I spoke with the manager, and I thanked her for straightening it all out, I told her I had already told my husband about the notice, and although I'd already called her, he would likely be contacting them himself because that's just the way he is.

So, today, he stopped home around 12:30 and said he'd stopped by the management office and talked with them. He said I don't need to worry about the rent increases they'd charged us for Feb and March because he got them to not charge it. He explained that the PFD special was a contract and that any rent increases during that pre paid time don't apply. So now we don't have to worry about paying that extra $30 on top of our May rent come May 1st.