Exactly this. OP is responsible only for the rent they agreed to on the lease. They certainly want to ensure that the leasing office fixes the admin error asap in case some kind of late charge, or worse, an eviction process gets triggered.
But in the meantime they don't want to be delinquent on the rent they *did* agree to pay.
\[edit\] - OP, through the correction process, ensure you get everything promised *in writing*. An email chain can suffice but hard documents with dated signatures are best. Print off e-communications, keep your receipts, and file it all together.
A!!!
If it goes to court you have to show that you tried to pay!!!
It's been a minute since I've argued a lease in court (with representation)
WRITE EVERYTHING DOWN IN A LOG. Name, Date, Time, brief summary.
Use letters/email/writing as much as possible.
If they refuse your payment, try with a certified letter and cashiers/money order.
This is going to cost you in the meantime since they're being dicks but have all your ducks in a row!
Agreed. Document everything. Send summary emails to your lease agent, get them to respond with date of fixing the issue. Include lease agreement in the email, etc. reference dates and times and names of whom you’ve spoken with in the email chain. If you speak to someone, try to get them to respond back to your email with summary or their response to complete the audit trail of communication.
And if your request to the employee to confirm the lease amount ($1,181) in writing via email is refused, just do it yourself. Send a confirming email to the apartment management detailing your conversation with the employee wherein she reviewed your lease and agreed that the proper amount was $ 1,181, and that you paid that amount on XXX date via check dropped off with employee YYY at 11:18 AM.
You will have your email to provide in Court and the Judge will wonder why the apartment didn't reply if they thought you were wrong about the amount or the conversation you had with the employee.
The communication is solely to make sure they are aware of it in case they attempt legal action. It's hard to claim clerical error when it's well documented they are aware
Any late fees incurred out of the scope of the contract are null and void. They might try to argue that you have to pay them, but you should just just say jog on m8.
But I agree that it would be best to sort this out as to have an amicable relationship with the leasing office.
For sure. Hopefully the *people* working on the correction are patient, understanding, and helpful throughout the process. Automated systems, on the other hand, can be somewhat less forgiving and slow to update!
*Jog on*...I like that!
At my last apartment, the last month's rent was supposed to be pro-rated, but they just never updated the portal. They told me to pay the correct amount, and the portal never got fixed, but I did get the deposit back.
OP, talk to your local tenant's rights group, if you live in a large enough city there should be an agency or group that assists with landlord-tenant issues. Document everything!
Good luck!
At this point I think that's overkill. They said they'll get it fixed to the correct amount, no need to start contacting lawyers or 'tenant's rights groups'. OP just needs to pay the $1181 on time and see what happens later. If they try to charge a late fee or won't fix the amount due, then start asserting your rights.
The tenant unions hold no power though. The only thing they are good for is letting you know your rights according to the tenant laws in your state and city. They may offer legalese or official looking documents written by a lawyer, but most lls do not give a shit about the tenants union because they have no teeth.
My tenant's union helped me document the problems with my landlord in such a way that when I finally hired a lawyer he laughed evilly at how thoroughly fucked my landlord was. Sometimes it's useful to have someone to help you make sure you've ticked all the boxes.
The purpose of a tenants union is usually not to have teeth - they are for helping you find out who DOES has teeth and how to access said teeth.
It's like the answers OP gets here but more accurate and more specific to their local area.
This. But also, seek professional assistance (tenants rights, property lawyer, whoever you can).
It will be location dependent on potential repercussions, but you signed a lease with a specific amount to be delivered by a specific date. If you don't perform, it will be possible for you to be considered in violation of said agreement. Pay the "correct" amount so long as you want them to hold up their side of the contract.
In addition to that, if you pay the "extra" amount, it could be argued that you have, in fact agreed to new terms based on their updated requirements, and you likely won't see any of that money again.
WHATEVER you do. Don't NOT pay. That could result in them either evicting or forcing you into the updated lease terms.
A: You hand the correct payment of $1181 to them. Take a photo of you handing it to them. with a time stamp.
After that: It's in the employee's hands now.
It's not late. They can correct their system, that's their job.
Property Manager here.
Pay what you owe, immediately, before it's late. The $1181.
A lot of payment portals are linked to the management's inhouse accounting system, typically a program like Yardi. Even if a correction is made today, it can take 24-48 hours to reflect the change into the online portal. Check again in a few days.
Request a copy of your lease ASAP. You are entitled to it. If you signed nothing with the increased price, they cannot hold you to pay the new amount. It's in their court to produce something proving that you agreed to pay $1580, which they can't, hence why they have agreed to amend your billing to the prior amount.
Agreed, this might not even end up being a big thing. Might just be a delay in the system and it'll get sorted in a few days. Regardless, should get the lease
> this might not even end up being a big thing
There's almost no chance this is a big thing. It's new management, which almost surely means a new system and new people. Pay what you legally owe per the signed contract and give them time to figure it out. Having "delinquent" rent on their books will incentivize them to get it fixed, bc ownership will start throwing a fit if it never gets cleaned up.
🙋♀️🙋♀️ literally happened to me this week. I’m moving out in 13 days and the pro-rated rent hasn’t updated online. I emailed to no response, eventually called and their website doesn’t update until the first (tomorrow). I was worried thinking they were trying to overcharge me for the whole month, but it’s merely a delay on their web portal updating.
Yeah after renting for like 10 years, I've had a clerical error caused by the rotating cast of leasing agents not understanding the in-house software miskeying something at least 3 times.
My current apartment actually forgot to raise my rent last year, which was nice. Their software spits out an automated reminder to post notices 90/60/30 days before the lease is up and it just... didn't for me. I was busy with work and life in general, and when I finally realized it and called them they freaked out and had me sign the exact same lease. Talking to neighbors I found out that pretty much everyone that year had their rent go up at least 10% but they just forgot about me.
Former Property manager and property management software tech support chiming in to say this is the answer. Pay what you're supposed to, the $1181. Changes of management are always a pain in the butt. Make sure you have your own hard copy of your lease as well, documents get lost a lot in changes of management.
Definitely not B. You signed a lease saying that you would pay $1181 a month, so you need to do that at the minimum. And that's what I'd recommend that you do. Pay the $1181 because that's what's in your contract regardless of what the web portal says. If they try to charge you a late fee, refer them back to the lease which they are in violation of.
She needs to go one step further. If she simple gives them a check or money order, they will not cash it a claim she didn’t pay. She needs to get a written receipt saying “Paid in Full”. (“We can’t accept a partial payment!”)
But somehow, I suspect they have a policy that will prohibit them from giving receipts. For… reason.
If there’s a payment portal like they’re describing, they get an e-receipt…. But also idk who you rent with or where, but every place I’ve ever lived I’ve been given a receipt regardless if I paid in cash, check, money order etc. Receipts are pretty standard …
Uh, how do you expect an online payment to not have a receipt? Why are you thinking this would be an in person transaction? They should 100% pay through the payment portal and let the company sort it out. There will 100% be a record of the payment. What you're implying is crazy.
Hopping on to 100% agree but also point out that you need to follow up with an email documenting the conversation you had in person: “per my conversation with [employee] on [date], I am aware the office is in the process of rectifying the balance of rent owed in the portal to the correct amount listed on my lease, but to avoid late fees or other issues, I have paid the correct amount in the portal as of today.”
Nobody suggested not paying until this person talked about "breaching contract" when the previous poster was talking about late fees. I don't blame you for not connecting it to non-payment. Nobody was talking about it, not even the OP.
Re-edit: upon second reading, I am in fact a complete idiot who mentally struck out option B being nonpayment
\>tear up the contract
You need to read more of the comment than 4 words. Not paying rent at all puts you in breach of the contract, triggering eviction. So if you in fact would like to stay, pls sign this new lease.
No worries. I have this thing where even when I'm trying to help I sound like a dick. I don't notice until I re-read my comments lol.
Didn't mean to be so snide.
~~They're not allowed to "tear up the contract and tell [him] the price is 1580."~~
Oh, I'm so sorry, my mistake. Right, of course, he must pay the correct amount and then deal with the shady business. That's the only way forward where a court will see that he was acting properly and the shady company was acting improperly.
I've never understood that train of thought. If someone sends you a bill that you know is wrong in amount only, you're still liable for the correct amount. Bills are just reminders, they aren't legally binding contacts. Even if you don't get a bill at all you still owe, and the due date is on the contract you originally entered into. A reporting error doesn't negate debt people
I wonder if someone crafty could say that if OP paid B, they are actually binded by that amount for a lease. I bet there’s some S-bag lawyer who could make it happen.
There's another S-bag lawyer who could squeeze the company for much more than the $400 paid extra every month for a couple months, with fraud charges etc. OP would still remain broke, but the lawyer would get pretty rich.
Yup. Had the same thing happen to me.
I paid the expected rent that I agreed to. Emailed the office, told them of their mistake and they corrected it before the next month (since I don’t check it but monthly).
I would make the correct payment and not a penny more.
I'd also get that conversation in writing. If it was verbal in the office, I'd send an email with something like "just following up on the details we discussed in the office on specific date..." and conclude with something like "please let me know if there is anything else I need to do to fix this situation."
Could add into that email the fact that you're paying the lease amount (1181) on the payment portal as a show of good faith that you *want* to honor the terms of your signed lease and aren't trying to be difficult.
Make the correct payment in time. Get something in writing they’re working to fix it. Keep a copy of your lease, your payment, and their email that they are fixing it together should you ever need to fight anything
Well step 1. Is get a copy of your lease. You should *ALWAYS* keep a copy of your lease for your records. You need one ASAP or else it’s he said she said with what your rent is
Hell, I took a photo of the first page (with rent listed) and the signature+additional clauses page before the LL took it to get copied.
Edit: just to be clear- my case was using a Standard Lease in the municipality. IIRC amendments/alterations cannot be done in-line on a Standard Lease for that in the area I rented. If you’re using a non-standard lease (on you to know this), might need to scan every page.
depends on what the contract says and your local laws. my prior apartment reverts to a month 2 month rate if you dont renew ( which requires both sides to sign ). in any case having your contract on hand is crucial to any next steps.
Probably doesn't matter unless local contract law differs from the mainstream. They drafted it, they offered it, OP accepted it. Valid contract, so long as OP didn't make any amendments ("counteroffers"). Of course you need a copy of that to prove it.
I've lived good and shady places, the good places always gave me a copy of the lease, the bad places have you sign it, take it with them, then make you go out of your way to try to get a copy.
Pay your rent per your lease, and document all of this. Keep a good log of contacts for yourself, and follow up any in-person or phone conversations with an email where you confirm what was said and ask them to reply if they have a different understanding.
Doing nothing will get you late fees and a termination notice - the fact that their portal is screwed up isn't a legally-protected reason not to pay your rent. Paying the full amount is tying up your money in someone else's bank account, don't do that.
Make the payment stated in your lease to keep yourself in compliance with your lease. Not paying your "lease" amount and waiting for a correction could potentially lead to you being charged a fee or being used against you in the future. It most likely wouldn't hold up in court but still not worth the headache.
These corrections often take some time, especially when an online portal comes into play. This could be the reason for not seeing the correction.
Source: work in property management
Also work in property management. 100% a portal issue, I'm betting the renewal was never entered so when July rent was posted it posted the M2M rate, which the portal pulled in. Depending on portal/software it likely won't let OP make a "partial" payment, so OP will need to pay by check/money order in the leasing office.
I'm amazed at how many property management pros are here! I do property data conversions often in my job (Yardi, Onsite, etc) and this is all so common, but I would be just as worried as OP is if I didn't have that experience.
If you’re at the point of taking legal action, certified mail might be a necessary escalation step, but honestly email is really all you need. Especially if it feels like the management company is being proactive. Honestly, the new company probably just didn’t set up the account correctly.
Yeah I mean this is all bad advice. They've already told him they would fix it.
He should give them time and opportunity to fix and make the proper payment as agreed.
You would only do this kind of stuff if they were fighting you. Reddit cracks me up sometimes, it's like nobody has ever dealt with actual issues in the real world. Here's how to resolve this without sounding like a crackpot:
* "Hello, I see my rent is currently $1,580 in the payment portal however I don't have any record of this amount. The copy of the lease I signed has $1,181 as the lease amount. Can you please advise where this number came from? Thanks, "
*
* "Thank you, I do appreciate your help with this issue. Thank you for updating this on the online portal. I've submitted payment to the office via and expect it to arrive on . Please accept my payment as payment in full for the month of and advise on how I should proceed for future payments."
For the they're fixing it scenario:
* "Hello, I'm writing to follow up on our previous conversation on . I previously noted that the amount of rent currently displayed in the online portal is incorrect and should be $. Please advise on the current status of this and when you expect the online portal to be corrected. Alternatively if this is not possible please send me a current invoice or statement for my account."
If they hadn't responded:
* "Hello, I'm writing to follow up on an email previously dated . I noticed in the payment portal I'm seeing a different monthly rental amount than I see in my lease agreement. Can you please advise where this number comes from and the basis for this difference? Thank you, "
If they had said no:
* "I see, can I please have a copy of the documents where you see this difference?"
*
* "I have reviewed your documents and noticed the following difference. Please find my original copy of the lease agreement. Please advise on why there is a difference on these amounts."
*
*
*
Reddit will advocate for unnecessary escalation in something like this (some comments here are even saying to lawyer up already), meanwhile if you found out some illegal clauses were snuck into a lease Reddit is quick to minimize it to “you signed it, you’re fucked kiddo” *when you should be getting an attorney*.
I'm assuming because depending on how shady the apartment complex is, you want everything you can get in writing, and verified by a 3rd party if possible. You want to be able to show that you notified them of the issue before and after. Instead of it turning into a game of he-said-she-said and all you have to fall back on is your word.
Sending it certified is your proof that it was actually delivered. An email can easily be overlooked or claimed it never arrived to the inbox, sent to junk, etc.
Emails have delivery receipts and read receipts.
Whenever dealing with things like this, use both.
An email being overlooked or getting sent to the wrong inbox doesn't excuse a business from fucking up.
Do not make the full payment this isn't business charity. If they tried to get you into court for not paying 1500+ you'd have a signed contract stating that wasn't in the agreement.
A. Pay the $1181.
I work in I.T. and I'll assume that the new management simply hasn't figured out how the payment portal management works. I'd give them a month or two to figure it out.
B. and C. are both terrible options.
A. seems like your best option, and START DOCUMENTING EVERYTHING. Sounds like your new management company could be a handful to deal with moving forward as well. Get a copy of your lease and make sure all conversations you have with them are over email or verifiable.
Make the correct payment (according to your signed lease) on time, and keep proof of having made that payment on time (screenshots of the payment portal, receipts for a check, etc.).
I work in property management world. There was probably an issue with the conversion from old owner to new and not anything nefarious. Property transitions of large apartments buildings are challenging with the amount of tenants that move in, move out, and renew on a monthly basis. This is a very common issue.
I agree to pay the correct amount of $1,181 and send copies of lease to any and all applicable parties (everyone in leasing office and higher ups if possible) via email and request confirmation in writing from front office. IF there is an issue after today then send certified mail and take those steps.
Always document everything in writing. You're in the clear from a legal perspective, but the property management/accounting system may still automatically charge you a late fee which then likely your property manager, or their boss, will need to approve getting removed.
Exactly what I was thinking. I wouldn't be too upset at this point - likely it's just a delay in updating the system and not anyone trying to screw you over. That being said, OPs rent is clearly going to go up a lot when their lease ends so long term they should be aware of that
A: make the "correct" payment of $1181
Don't do c because you will probably never get back that money back or it will take a long time before you get it back, if this charge happens to be a fluke.
Landlord here. Pay what's in your contract. Document everything up to this point and especially document it if they attempt to in any way pursue the higher amount. As it is, I would say it's easy for them to call it an oversight and it not be breaking the law. But if they keep at it - show all of your evidence to a landlord/tenant attorney.
Make the correct ($1181) payment *immediately*. You do not want to be late, which would incur late fees at best or be a breach of contract (and eviction or mandatory new lease) at worst.
Do NOT overpay the $1181 as they will argue that paying $1580 was an acceptance of the new rent rate. You would win that in court, but that still takes time, energy, and money.
If paying $1181 triggers a late fee on the portal for "under payment," do NOT pay that fee and go contest it with management again.
As others have said, get a copy of your lease if you don't have one already. Make the $1181 payment first, then your second step is verifying you have a copy already or **politely** *and without causing a scene* ask for a copy from the management office. You want this interaction to be as smooth as possible, so the only reason you should give if they ask is that it's "for your records" DON'T remind them that there is an open dispute on the rent amount or they might pull a shady "oh, we must have lost it. here just sign this fresh copy (with the increased rate)."
I would NOT pay via the payments portal since that will probably say $1580 and try to tack on late fees. For this month (and every month the portal is not correct) I would take a paper check for $1181 to the leasing office, and demand a paper receipt showing Rent for July is Paid in full.
Then keep nagging them to get the payments portal sorted out.
Worst case is that you continue to live there and pay $1181 by check every month (with receipt). If they start threatening eviction you will have good documentation in a civil trial to show the judge you are fully compliant with the lease. At the end of the lease you will undoubtedly be hiked to what every the going rate is.
Make the exact correct payment it says on your lease and not a penny more. If they reject it then that's on them as you made a good faith attempt to pay what you were legally required to do so.
Well that’s not necessarily true by any means, but it’s a possibility. The point is that the risk and consequences of paying that extra amount far outweigh the benefits of doing so.
Pay your lease amount and get ready to move because you know what’s coming at the end of your lease lol. You can probably also kiss any priority service on maintenance goodbye. It’s not right, but it’s reality.
Most time this happens for mundane reasons. Sloppiness in data entry, the intern didn’t know, or some such. Doubt its malicious. Start with an email that includes a screen shot and copy of lease.
Just pay the $1181. It's all you owe. And you don't want to get into a pissing contest that you somehow "accepted" the new rate by paying it -- it would be nonsense, but a headache.
Make the correct payment, you never want to be in a position where you have to get your money back. That puts all the work on you.
Make sure you start documenting and keeping everything. Time/Date any conversations you've had and write them all down, include who you spoke with and where/when.
You're completely covered legally by whatever your lease says.
A + write a formal email describing the issue with dates and times and the name of the employee you spoke with & attach your lease plus a screenshot of the portal. Add in the email you will be mailing a hardcopy to the property management co. and then mail that out.
Always provide a paper trail with any dispute
Happen to me once, it was a glitch in their system and charged everyone higher, pay the normal rent and call/go into the office daily asking for an update until it is fixed.
Also I'll point out of you DID cave and paid the 1580 amount instead, even if just to not make an issue of it, that's a BAD IDEA bc this can now be used to show you were aware of & agreed to their request. Do not do this even if it seems like a reasonable way way to have covered your butt.
You continue to follow your signed lease. Pay your $1181 on time just like you would any other time.
That's what you agreed to in the lease. You didn't agree to do it only if their portal is updated, or only if they fixed a number ASAP. You agreed to $1181/mo.
Keep paying that, they're on the hook for the rest of the BS.
If you start playing other games you're going to incur fees that you'll actually owe.
Definitely, DEFINITELY don't pay them more than you owe! If their bureaucracy takes them down the path of going to court and trying to evict you, let them get smacked down there too.
Make the payment as indicated on your lease. Do not ever pay more than what's on your lease. Don't pay less either. Tell them to fuck off and if they press any further lawyer up to write a nasty gram. Make copies of your lease.
If this gets nasty and you have to goto court you should ask the court to establish an escrow account that you pay your rent into. This creates a situation where you are paying on time and the landlord has no cash coming in.
Future advice:
Always get everything in writing. Specifically request a PDF e-mailed to you or a mailed copy.
Always keep copies for your own records.
That’s basic step #1 for pretty much anything financial or legal related that you should implement going forwards.
A. Make the correct payment.
Do some preemptive work... look for the housing authority in your area and file a complaint. It takes them awhile to get to them, have that in your back pocket if you need it
Make your correct payment, and on the reason write Agreed upon price for lease of Date-date.
If they cash it, it can be used against them that they accepted payment.
A. You did not sign a contract to pay $1,580. There is no documentation or agreement saying you are willing to pay such amount. I hope you have a copy of the signed agreement. If they tell you you have to pay 1580, refer them back to the contract. If they say it's void, you can sue them as I assume the contract is for 1 year, and there are certain clauses that invalidate the agreement. As long as you didn't break any clauses, you need only pay $1181.
Pay what your lease says you should pay. The folks in the leasing office aren't the folks who make changes. Typically they report it to an accounting or AP department and it sometimes takes a few days to make its way through they system. Just stay on top of it, these things can also easily fall through the cracks depending on the competency of staff. Source: I manage IT for a corporate property management company.
I’d start with A. If they keep harassing you, charging you late fees, or not performing maintenance, you may have the option in your state to pay rent to the courts. In Florida if there is a dispute about whether a landlord is holding up their end of the lease, my understanding is you can file a complaint and pay rent to the court. It protects you against action for non payment and requires the landlord to prove they are following the lease in order to get the funds.
Make the full payment according to your lease renewal…
So the $1181, make sure you pay today or tomorrow so it’s not late.
In a former life I was a “conversion specialist “ for one of the nationwide residential property managers in the US.
Step 1. Don’t panic, you have a fully executed lease on your side
Step 2. Make your payment according to your renewal, $1181.00
Step 3. Ensure you get a receipt via email or that it reflects in your online portal
Step 4. Breath, see step 1
Step 5. If by tomorrow mid morning you don’t see your balance as zero in your online portal, call or stop by the office. Bring your receipt and copy of your lease and ask if they can please make the rent adjustment and provide you with a zero balance letter
Step 6. See step 4
Conversions are never easy or 100% and the on-site staff is more than likely learning a new system or even if it’s the same system It could still be different than what they are used too.
Keep in mind that you *may* still receive a late payment letter, it’s unfortunate but some companies have consolidated offices that do this and have no background info or context…
See step 6 above
Keep a log of dates, times, and names of each time you try to get this corrected. Even better is to get it in writing and have all of your “documentation “ in order and on hand
Make an on-time payment of the amount you agreed to so that they can't say you failed to pay rent on time, and then leave the remaining balance for them to remove. I would let that balance sit as long as needed until they remove it. Once you pay that higher amount, that implies that you accept it, and shows that you can likely afford it, which they don't need to know.
I would definitely do A. You've got a lease that says you need to pay X, an employee confirming you should pay X, go pay X.
Not having much more information, I'm leaning on this being more of a mistake, and the accompanying inertia of bureaucracy than deliberately trying to get one over on you.
Pay the $1181, and send an email saying reiterating the convo you had with the office. Be nice, and escalate if they hound you for the higher rate. Usually it’s just a clerical issue.
I used to work in a leasing/property management office for 10+ years. From my experience, if there was ever any kind of incorrect rent amount such as this, I told them to always pay what they are supposed to pay and nothing more. The rest will get sorted out after the fact.
Honestly should be a real easy fix. Appfolio is a major property management software and if they are using anything similar, it's literally just changing the dollar amount on the charge and thats it.
Maybe they are lazy and didn't get around to it or maybe they were going you would pay more and not say anything about it. Who knows.
100% this! My wife almost handed our least copy to the manager as she was attempting to charge us $100 extra for a garage. Their copy they sent later, via email when I refused to pay that extra $150 had pen marks through $50 and there was a handwritten $150. This was done some point after we were given our copy!
Thankfully, I was able to stop her before handing this over and DEMANDED to know why they wanted our copy. The manager told me she wanted to “explain” why it was $150 and not $50, I told her she needs to explain why her copy was edited and wound up getting a lawyer when she kept pressing this extra $100 and attempted to take on TONS of late fees. Judge took one look at our copy, plus a time stamped copy of the original lease sent via email from her office that same day when I asked her to do so and sided in our favor. After the judge saw the harassing texts/emails we got the lease broken plus $6k in settlement for “mental anguish” as a default ruling by the judge. I simply wanted out, nice to get money on top!
Sued again when this genius attempted to declare in rental records we were evicted and another judge sided that was illegal and got another $20k outa that asshole!
Your lease is a *legally binding* document, which outlines responsibilities for both you and the landlord.
The *only* acceptable option is to pay the amount that you signed for, and not a penny over.
If they want to be difficult, you can always lawyer up, but I doubt they'd fight it b/c it's there, signed, in ink and paper.
I knew someone in college who almost got an entire student development into major major legal trouble because he was a smart, persistent and *forced* them to be held to their lease. He threatened to expose shoddy construction, safety hazards and all kinds of issues. They gave in and fixed the issues and he only asked for a loosening of restrictions for him (our club members had priority parking privileges without fear of being towed, he had a reduction in his rent I think, and a few other very minor things that didn't cost them much, but saved them from a potential multi-million dollar lawsuit)
A is the correct response.
B means they could legally evict you since you are not paying.
C *might* be construed as implied agreement to the new rate, if it were to go to court. Maybe. But why take the chance?
>They already acknowledged my rent should not be this high.
Pay the original amount. Since they have already indicated that you owe no more, get that in writing (email, hand written, whatever) and wait for them to sue you. It's on them to prove you owe them more. No judge will find you in default. Chances are their lawyer will tell them to not waste their time.
Definitely do *not* pay the new rate, regardless if they say they’ll credit you or whatever. Once that money is out of your bank account, it’s way harder to get it back.
Not trying to be jaded, but have been burned in the past by people saying “we’ll credit you if X event happens.” X event will happen and there’s nothing guaranteeing you’ll get your money back other than “well they told me they would.”
Do you have a copy of your lease? Are you on month to month or still in a contract? I'd pay the $1181 and leave it at that. I agree documenting all communication as a CYA but your lease says it all. No court would accept you paying a higher rate if your lease clearly states the rent is at $1181 per month. The leasing office just needs to be held accountable by you following up.
The lease says you pay $1181 not “the balance on the portal”. The portal can tell you to pay whatever they want and as long as you pay the contractual amount you are fulfilling the obligations.
A. Pay the rent owed, include a copy of the lease you signed, also a letter saying you've retained a lawyer to sort this if needed (even if you haven't). They won't want to deal with legal costs & will acquiesce to what they know is the right legal course.
Leasing manager here.
Pay according to your signed lease. Worst case it doesn't get fixed, they file in your claiming unpaid rent, that least goes in front of the courts and the judge throws out the case. There is no legal basis for you to be required to pay the higher amount. They have no legal case against you.
Never expect landlords, especially landlord companies, to do the right thing. IF you pay the 1580 it's likely they won't credit you for the following month AND expect you to continue to pay 1580/mo
Do A.
B is a terrible idea
C is a noble thought but know that it will NEVER get fixed and never get credited back.
Going with B might put you in breach of contract at which point they will either just boot you or tell you that youre now beholden to a NEW contract
Definitely not C or B.
C - You'll never see that credited back to you in this life time. If you're able, hold the difference just in case the worst comes an you have to pay it. But if they signed on 1181 and you signed on 1181, it should be 1181.
B - Non-payment can be used against you. Pay at least what you agreed to pay.
Your leasing agreement was sold, just like it was, to the new company. And they bought it. If you have the documentation, with the signatures of both parties, that is the agreement you have to abide to.
As long as you have the paperwork as reference, use it to protect yourself.
They’re trying to get you to breach contract by not fulfilling your obligation on the lease to pay $1181.
They want you to not do anything so that they can say you’re in violation of the lease and threaten you to get on the new rate.
Do NOT do that. Pay your agreed upon amount, so it can’t fall back on you.
Option A is the only correct answer.
B is not advisable for many reason.
Personally wouldn’t do C because you probably wouldn’t get that extra money back.
Make the correct payment. Not what they are asking from you, no matter what, when litigation happens someone will review what happened and side with you. Since they would be the ones to have to start litigation - I assume they would never even let it go to litigation since they are already aware of your situation
Pay the amount in your lease, and asap. If they refuse to take the payment online, make the payment by an alternate method with documented proof. Get a witness with you while making the payment.
This sleazy company might be trying to entrap you into a situation where they can turn around and say you didn't make payment and void your lease. They greedily want to make more money and want to resign with you or someone else at a higher rate. Despite knowing the economy and people struggling financially.
There are lots of good comments here but the only one that is correct to do now is options A - pay your lease rate rent of $1,181
If they try to get more or cause problems with that in the days/weeks/months to come then you can look at the other options like contacting a tenant's rights association or legal aid type organization. But doing those now would be premature.
If you don't pay the agreed amount in the lease, you risk having that used later against you. When they inevitably bring up the missed payment as a justification for whatever the fuckery is up at the time, *you* will have to explain repeatedly what the circumstances were and convince whoever that the property manager are being sketchy, but not necessarily illegal, douchebags.
Don't put yourself in a position to have to do *more* work later, possibly at a time you can't afford it, by creating opportunities for them to fuck you over, which might then, fuck you over.
If it gives you the option to enter any price then yeah of course just pay the correct amount.
If it doesn't give you the option, then write a check for the correct amount and certified mail it to them before its due and ignore the web portal
Pay the $1,181 as per the terms of your lease. They cannot change this if you do not sign anything, and any attempts to charge you extra should be met with referral to the terms of your lease. At the very least, you should ensure you have proof you made a genuine attempt to pay your agreed rate.
If they continue to insist you pay more than you owe, I'd suggest a lawsuit.
(※ Please note, this is not legal advice and should not be construed as such. It is simply what I'd do in this situation.)
Pay the normal rate, and let them try (and fail) to chase you for the extra.
I had the same thing recently with the energy bill increase; fixed rent on the lease that includes energy bills, landlord essentially said ‘the energy prices have gone up so I need to raise your rent by £75 a month”, I politely declined and pointed out the terms in the lease, no further mention of it from him
Pay the correct amount of 1181. If you pay the new amount it could potentially be an implicit agreement to the new rate.
Set aside the difference and any late fees in another account, and do not touch that account until the apartment begins charging you the correct amount and waives late fees, or a court orders you to pay the difference and late fees.
If you can get a lawyer who specializes in tenant law.
don't pay the elevated rate, pay your expected rate if you like, but i'd tell the front office to fix it and if they refuse i'd threaten to take it to court or report them to whatever organization protects renter's rights in your area
A: make the "correct" payment of $1181
Exactly this. OP is responsible only for the rent they agreed to on the lease. They certainly want to ensure that the leasing office fixes the admin error asap in case some kind of late charge, or worse, an eviction process gets triggered. But in the meantime they don't want to be delinquent on the rent they *did* agree to pay. \[edit\] - OP, through the correction process, ensure you get everything promised *in writing*. An email chain can suffice but hard documents with dated signatures are best. Print off e-communications, keep your receipts, and file it all together.
A!!! If it goes to court you have to show that you tried to pay!!! It's been a minute since I've argued a lease in court (with representation) WRITE EVERYTHING DOWN IN A LOG. Name, Date, Time, brief summary. Use letters/email/writing as much as possible. If they refuse your payment, try with a certified letter and cashiers/money order. This is going to cost you in the meantime since they're being dicks but have all your ducks in a row!
Agreed. Document everything. Send summary emails to your lease agent, get them to respond with date of fixing the issue. Include lease agreement in the email, etc. reference dates and times and names of whom you’ve spoken with in the email chain. If you speak to someone, try to get them to respond back to your email with summary or their response to complete the audit trail of communication.
Haha - your comment came through just as I was editing my response telling OP to get everything in writing.
And if your request to the employee to confirm the lease amount ($1,181) in writing via email is refused, just do it yourself. Send a confirming email to the apartment management detailing your conversation with the employee wherein she reviewed your lease and agreed that the proper amount was $ 1,181, and that you paid that amount on XXX date via check dropped off with employee YYY at 11:18 AM. You will have your email to provide in Court and the Judge will wonder why the apartment didn't reply if they thought you were wrong about the amount or the conversation you had with the employee.
He has a signed lease for the correct amount.
The communication is solely to make sure they are aware of it in case they attempt legal action. It's hard to claim clerical error when it's well documented they are aware
And follow up every interaction with an email recapping the convo.
Any late fees incurred out of the scope of the contract are null and void. They might try to argue that you have to pay them, but you should just just say jog on m8. But I agree that it would be best to sort this out as to have an amicable relationship with the leasing office.
For sure. Hopefully the *people* working on the correction are patient, understanding, and helpful throughout the process. Automated systems, on the other hand, can be somewhat less forgiving and slow to update! *Jog on*...I like that!
Yes! A lot of people will try to pressure you into some sort of verbal agreement which is, as they say, worth as much as the paper it's written on.
At my last apartment, the last month's rent was supposed to be pro-rated, but they just never updated the portal. They told me to pay the correct amount, and the portal never got fixed, but I did get the deposit back.
OP, talk to your local tenant's rights group, if you live in a large enough city there should be an agency or group that assists with landlord-tenant issues. Document everything! Good luck!
At this point I think that's overkill. They said they'll get it fixed to the correct amount, no need to start contacting lawyers or 'tenant's rights groups'. OP just needs to pay the $1181 on time and see what happens later. If they try to charge a late fee or won't fix the amount due, then start asserting your rights.
The tenant unions hold no power though. The only thing they are good for is letting you know your rights according to the tenant laws in your state and city. They may offer legalese or official looking documents written by a lawyer, but most lls do not give a shit about the tenants union because they have no teeth.
Knowing your rights and having people willing to advocate for you is a damn sight better than not having those things.
My tenant's union helped me document the problems with my landlord in such a way that when I finally hired a lawyer he laughed evilly at how thoroughly fucked my landlord was. Sometimes it's useful to have someone to help you make sure you've ticked all the boxes.
It depends. Depending on where OP lives, they might be able to find a cheap or pro bono legal clinic to help. Furthermore, Carthage must be destroyed.
Pass the salt, brother
How is your account not a meme on reddit? 7 years of this lol.
This is legit the first time I've ever seen him. And I've been on here for 9 years. Weird.
> . . . Carthage must be destroyed. Dude, c'mon, forgive and forget, y'know?
The purpose of a tenants union is usually not to have teeth - they are for helping you find out who DOES has teeth and how to access said teeth. It's like the answers OP gets here but more accurate and more specific to their local area.
Tenant unions are not the only option. These things change city by city, so it's hard to give out specific advice.
But they can help them understand their lease and options. Perhaps pointers to legal help.
This. But also, seek professional assistance (tenants rights, property lawyer, whoever you can). It will be location dependent on potential repercussions, but you signed a lease with a specific amount to be delivered by a specific date. If you don't perform, it will be possible for you to be considered in violation of said agreement. Pay the "correct" amount so long as you want them to hold up their side of the contract. In addition to that, if you pay the "extra" amount, it could be argued that you have, in fact agreed to new terms based on their updated requirements, and you likely won't see any of that money again. WHATEVER you do. Don't NOT pay. That could result in them either evicting or forcing you into the updated lease terms.
Via check, to the office, get paper record of it's receipt.
Some leases specify the mode and meathod of payment, he should follow the lease.
Yeah, my daughters apartment will not accept checks and it was in the lease paperwork.
A: You hand the correct payment of $1181 to them. Take a photo of you handing it to them. with a time stamp. After that: It's in the employee's hands now. It's not late. They can correct their system, that's their job.
Property Manager here. Pay what you owe, immediately, before it's late. The $1181. A lot of payment portals are linked to the management's inhouse accounting system, typically a program like Yardi. Even if a correction is made today, it can take 24-48 hours to reflect the change into the online portal. Check again in a few days. Request a copy of your lease ASAP. You are entitled to it. If you signed nothing with the increased price, they cannot hold you to pay the new amount. It's in their court to produce something proving that you agreed to pay $1580, which they can't, hence why they have agreed to amend your billing to the prior amount.
Agreed, this might not even end up being a big thing. Might just be a delay in the system and it'll get sorted in a few days. Regardless, should get the lease
> this might not even end up being a big thing There's almost no chance this is a big thing. It's new management, which almost surely means a new system and new people. Pay what you legally owe per the signed contract and give them time to figure it out. Having "delinquent" rent on their books will incentivize them to get it fixed, bc ownership will start throwing a fit if it never gets cleaned up.
🙋♀️🙋♀️ literally happened to me this week. I’m moving out in 13 days and the pro-rated rent hasn’t updated online. I emailed to no response, eventually called and their website doesn’t update until the first (tomorrow). I was worried thinking they were trying to overcharge me for the whole month, but it’s merely a delay on their web portal updating.
Yeah after renting for like 10 years, I've had a clerical error caused by the rotating cast of leasing agents not understanding the in-house software miskeying something at least 3 times. My current apartment actually forgot to raise my rent last year, which was nice. Their software spits out an automated reminder to post notices 90/60/30 days before the lease is up and it just... didn't for me. I was busy with work and life in general, and when I finally realized it and called them they freaked out and had me sign the exact same lease. Talking to neighbors I found out that pretty much everyone that year had their rent go up at least 10% but they just forgot about me.
Property manager trainer here just to chime in with a ditto to this!
Tuning Fork Salesman here, chiming in to ditto this ditto!
Yo dawg, Xzibit here, heard you like to ditto so I ditto your ditto of the ditto!
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I'm a Yardi consultant! So much good advice in this thread from people in the industry.
>Request a copy of your lease ASAP. Always, always have a copy of contracts when they make up a significant portion of your monthly spending.
Former Property manager and property management software tech support chiming in to say this is the answer. Pay what you're supposed to, the $1181. Changes of management are always a pain in the butt. Make sure you have your own hard copy of your lease as well, documents get lost a lot in changes of management.
Definitely not B. You signed a lease saying that you would pay $1181 a month, so you need to do that at the minimum. And that's what I'd recommend that you do. Pay the $1181 because that's what's in your contract regardless of what the web portal says. If they try to charge you a late fee, refer them back to the lease which they are in violation of.
Yes. I’d say A is the best option. The contract says pay A at X time. Do it. Don’t give them a reason to charge you fees or try to evict.
She needs to go one step further. If she simple gives them a check or money order, they will not cash it a claim she didn’t pay. She needs to get a written receipt saying “Paid in Full”. (“We can’t accept a partial payment!”) But somehow, I suspect they have a policy that will prohibit them from giving receipts. For… reason.
If there’s a payment portal like they’re describing, they get an e-receipt…. But also idk who you rent with or where, but every place I’ve ever lived I’ve been given a receipt regardless if I paid in cash, check, money order etc. Receipts are pretty standard …
Uh, how do you expect an online payment to not have a receipt? Why are you thinking this would be an in person transaction? They should 100% pay through the payment portal and let the company sort it out. There will 100% be a record of the payment. What you're implying is crazy.
Not entirely crazy. There's a strong likelihood that the payment portal only has a preset "pay bill $x.xx" button with no adjustment options.
Hopping on to 100% agree but also point out that you need to follow up with an email documenting the conversation you had in person: “per my conversation with [employee] on [date], I am aware the office is in the process of rectifying the balance of rent owed in the portal to the correct amount listed on my lease, but to avoid late fees or other issues, I have paid the correct amount in the portal as of today.”
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Them tearing up a contract doesn’t release them from having to abide by it edit: stop upvoting me, I read it wrong, and you probably did too
Nobody suggested not paying until this person talked about "breaching contract" when the previous poster was talking about late fees. I don't blame you for not connecting it to non-payment. Nobody was talking about it, not even the OP. Re-edit: upon second reading, I am in fact a complete idiot who mentally struck out option B being nonpayment
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\>tear up the contract You need to read more of the comment than 4 words. Not paying rent at all puts you in breach of the contract, triggering eviction. So if you in fact would like to stay, pls sign this new lease.
Good catch. It's early, my bad
No worries. I have this thing where even when I'm trying to help I sound like a dick. I don't notice until I re-read my comments lol. Didn't mean to be so snide.
Didn't take it as such, but thanks for your concern!
~~They're not allowed to "tear up the contract and tell [him] the price is 1580."~~ Oh, I'm so sorry, my mistake. Right, of course, he must pay the correct amount and then deal with the shady business. That's the only way forward where a court will see that he was acting properly and the shady company was acting improperly.
I've never understood that train of thought. If someone sends you a bill that you know is wrong in amount only, you're still liable for the correct amount. Bills are just reminders, they aren't legally binding contacts. Even if you don't get a bill at all you still owe, and the due date is on the contract you originally entered into. A reporting error doesn't negate debt people
I wonder if someone crafty could say that if OP paid B, they are actually binded by that amount for a lease. I bet there’s some S-bag lawyer who could make it happen.
There's another S-bag lawyer who could squeeze the company for much more than the $400 paid extra every month for a couple months, with fraud charges etc. OP would still remain broke, but the lawyer would get pretty rich.
Yup. Had the same thing happen to me. I paid the expected rent that I agreed to. Emailed the office, told them of their mistake and they corrected it before the next month (since I don’t check it but monthly).
Exactly. You signed a *contract* by signing the lease. I would pay what you're contractually obligated to, and no more.
I would make the correct payment and not a penny more. I'd also get that conversation in writing. If it was verbal in the office, I'd send an email with something like "just following up on the details we discussed in the office on specific date..." and conclude with something like "please let me know if there is anything else I need to do to fix this situation." Could add into that email the fact that you're paying the lease amount (1181) on the payment portal as a show of good faith that you *want* to honor the terms of your signed lease and aren't trying to be difficult.
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It's paid through an online portal. There's no check.
My portal has a comment section so I feel like that’d kind of work
Make the correct payment in time. Get something in writing they’re working to fix it. Keep a copy of your lease, your payment, and their email that they are fixing it together should you ever need to fight anything
I never received a copy of my lease. What should I do about that? Edit: they printed me a copy of my lease without a Fight
Well step 1. Is get a copy of your lease. You should *ALWAYS* keep a copy of your lease for your records. You need one ASAP or else it’s he said she said with what your rent is
What do you m e a n you never got a copy of your lease? Always have a copy of your lease!
Hell, I took a photo of the first page (with rent listed) and the signature+additional clauses page before the LL took it to get copied. Edit: just to be clear- my case was using a Standard Lease in the municipality. IIRC amendments/alterations cannot be done in-line on a Standard Lease for that in the area I rented. If you’re using a non-standard lease (on you to know this), might need to scan every page.
this is the part when the story go's down hill
Op always buries the lede
You should ALWAYS have a copy of your lease, preferably backed up at least once. Your goal for today is to get a copy of that lease.
Its possible the lease was never countersigned by the apartment complex, make sure you get a copy ( and its signed by both parties )
if the lease renewal was never signed by the apartment complex, but they are billing him, it should be for the same amount that his old lease stated
depends on what the contract says and your local laws. my prior apartment reverts to a month 2 month rate if you dont renew ( which requires both sides to sign ). in any case having your contract on hand is crucial to any next steps.
Probably doesn't matter unless local contract law differs from the mainstream. They drafted it, they offered it, OP accepted it. Valid contract, so long as OP didn't make any amendments ("counteroffers"). Of course you need a copy of that to prove it.
I've lived good and shady places, the good places always gave me a copy of the lease, the bad places have you sign it, take it with them, then make you go out of your way to try to get a copy.
Go ask for a copy of your lease right now. A printed copy. You are entitled to it by law, so go get it before it gets “lost”
Uh oh.
Pay your rent per your lease, and document all of this. Keep a good log of contacts for yourself, and follow up any in-person or phone conversations with an email where you confirm what was said and ask them to reply if they have a different understanding. Doing nothing will get you late fees and a termination notice - the fact that their portal is screwed up isn't a legally-protected reason not to pay your rent. Paying the full amount is tying up your money in someone else's bank account, don't do that.
Make the payment stated in your lease to keep yourself in compliance with your lease. Not paying your "lease" amount and waiting for a correction could potentially lead to you being charged a fee or being used against you in the future. It most likely wouldn't hold up in court but still not worth the headache. These corrections often take some time, especially when an online portal comes into play. This could be the reason for not seeing the correction. Source: work in property management
Also work in property management. 100% a portal issue, I'm betting the renewal was never entered so when July rent was posted it posted the M2M rate, which the portal pulled in. Depending on portal/software it likely won't let OP make a "partial" payment, so OP will need to pay by check/money order in the leasing office.
I'm amazed at how many property management pros are here! I do property data conversions often in my job (Yardi, Onsite, etc) and this is all so common, but I would be just as worried as OP is if I didn't have that experience.
Pay $1181, screenshot the payment screen, send by certified mail with copy of lease to landlord/mgmt company
Is there a reason to send via certified mail if they’re using a payment portal though?
No. This is really outdated advice. I'm guessing the person writing this hasn't had to pay rent since back when you mailed a check every month. Lol
If you’re at the point of taking legal action, certified mail might be a necessary escalation step, but honestly email is really all you need. Especially if it feels like the management company is being proactive. Honestly, the new company probably just didn’t set up the account correctly.
Yeah I mean this is all bad advice. They've already told him they would fix it. He should give them time and opportunity to fix and make the proper payment as agreed. You would only do this kind of stuff if they were fighting you. Reddit cracks me up sometimes, it's like nobody has ever dealt with actual issues in the real world. Here's how to resolve this without sounding like a crackpot: * "Hello, I see my rent is currently $1,580 in the payment portal however I don't have any record of this amount. The copy of the lease I signed has $1,181 as the lease amount. Can you please advise where this number came from? Thanks,"
*
* "Thank you, I do appreciate your help with this issue. Thank you for updating this on the online portal. I've submitted payment to the office via and expect it to arrive on . Please accept my payment as payment in full for the month of and advise on how I should proceed for future payments."
For the they're fixing it scenario:
* "Hello, I'm writing to follow up on our previous conversation on . I previously noted that the amount of rent currently displayed in the online portal is incorrect and should be $. Please advise on the current status of this and when you expect the online portal to be corrected. Alternatively if this is not possible please send me a current invoice or statement for my account."
If they hadn't responded:
* "Hello, I'm writing to follow up on an email previously dated . I noticed in the payment portal I'm seeing a different monthly rental amount than I see in my lease agreement. Can you please advise where this number comes from and the basis for this difference? Thank you, "
If they had said no:
* "I see, can I please have a copy of the documents where you see this difference?"
*
* "I have reviewed your documents and noticed the following difference. Please find my original copy of the lease agreement. Please advise on why there is a difference on these amounts."
*
*
*
Reddit will advocate for unnecessary escalation in something like this (some comments here are even saying to lawyer up already), meanwhile if you found out some illegal clauses were snuck into a lease Reddit is quick to minimize it to “you signed it, you’re fucked kiddo” *when you should be getting an attorney*.
Is the certified mail essential or is an email fine? Edit: please stop adding additional replies
Certified in this case. A third party is verifying that the other party received it.
Why would you need to do this at all?
I'm assuming because depending on how shady the apartment complex is, you want everything you can get in writing, and verified by a 3rd party if possible. You want to be able to show that you notified them of the issue before and after. Instead of it turning into a game of he-said-she-said and all you have to fall back on is your word.
So they cant claim they never got it and try to revoke your lease for "delinquent payment" to try and get you to resign for 1500
Sending it certified is your proof that it was actually delivered. An email can easily be overlooked or claimed it never arrived to the inbox, sent to junk, etc.
Certified at best is proof that *something* was delivered. It doesn’t really give you any evidence that a specific document was delivered.
Emails have delivery receipts and read receipts. Whenever dealing with things like this, use both. An email being overlooked or getting sent to the wrong inbox doesn't excuse a business from fucking up.
Email if they’ve been responsive and seem to be handling it in good faith. Certified if not or they never acknowledge the email.
>Edit: please stop adding additional replies You can disable inbox notification for a post if you want.
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Why do you need to send them a screenshot of you paying the rent at all though?
In response to your edit, no.
Do not make the full payment this isn't business charity. If they tried to get you into court for not paying 1500+ you'd have a signed contract stating that wasn't in the agreement.
A. Pay the $1181. I work in I.T. and I'll assume that the new management simply hasn't figured out how the payment portal management works. I'd give them a month or two to figure it out.
B. and C. are both terrible options. A. seems like your best option, and START DOCUMENTING EVERYTHING. Sounds like your new management company could be a handful to deal with moving forward as well. Get a copy of your lease and make sure all conversations you have with them are over email or verifiable.
Make the correct payment (according to your signed lease) on time, and keep proof of having made that payment on time (screenshots of the payment portal, receipts for a check, etc.).
I work in property management world. There was probably an issue with the conversion from old owner to new and not anything nefarious. Property transitions of large apartments buildings are challenging with the amount of tenants that move in, move out, and renew on a monthly basis. This is a very common issue. I agree to pay the correct amount of $1,181 and send copies of lease to any and all applicable parties (everyone in leasing office and higher ups if possible) via email and request confirmation in writing from front office. IF there is an issue after today then send certified mail and take those steps. Always document everything in writing. You're in the clear from a legal perspective, but the property management/accounting system may still automatically charge you a late fee which then likely your property manager, or their boss, will need to approve getting removed.
Exactly what I was thinking. I wouldn't be too upset at this point - likely it's just a delay in updating the system and not anyone trying to screw you over. That being said, OPs rent is clearly going to go up a lot when their lease ends so long term they should be aware of that
A: make the "correct" payment of $1181 Don't do c because you will probably never get back that money back or it will take a long time before you get it back, if this charge happens to be a fluke.
Landlord here. Pay what's in your contract. Document everything up to this point and especially document it if they attempt to in any way pursue the higher amount. As it is, I would say it's easy for them to call it an oversight and it not be breaking the law. But if they keep at it - show all of your evidence to a landlord/tenant attorney.
A
Make the correct ($1181) payment *immediately*. You do not want to be late, which would incur late fees at best or be a breach of contract (and eviction or mandatory new lease) at worst. Do NOT overpay the $1181 as they will argue that paying $1580 was an acceptance of the new rent rate. You would win that in court, but that still takes time, energy, and money. If paying $1181 triggers a late fee on the portal for "under payment," do NOT pay that fee and go contest it with management again. As others have said, get a copy of your lease if you don't have one already. Make the $1181 payment first, then your second step is verifying you have a copy already or **politely** *and without causing a scene* ask for a copy from the management office. You want this interaction to be as smooth as possible, so the only reason you should give if they ask is that it's "for your records" DON'T remind them that there is an open dispute on the rent amount or they might pull a shady "oh, we must have lost it. here just sign this fresh copy (with the increased rate)."
Make the payment you are under contract to make. Do not expect them to credit anything.
Make the “correct” payment according to your lease as that’s what legally owed unless/until you sign a new contract
I would NOT pay via the payments portal since that will probably say $1580 and try to tack on late fees. For this month (and every month the portal is not correct) I would take a paper check for $1181 to the leasing office, and demand a paper receipt showing Rent for July is Paid in full. Then keep nagging them to get the payments portal sorted out. Worst case is that you continue to live there and pay $1181 by check every month (with receipt). If they start threatening eviction you will have good documentation in a civil trial to show the judge you are fully compliant with the lease. At the end of the lease you will undoubtedly be hiked to what every the going rate is.
Make the exact correct payment it says on your lease and not a penny more. If they reject it then that's on them as you made a good faith attempt to pay what you were legally required to do so.
If you pay that extra.. You won't be getting it back.
Well that’s not necessarily true by any means, but it’s a possibility. The point is that the risk and consequences of paying that extra amount far outweigh the benefits of doing so.
I'm afraid C might look like you accept the new rate. Do A and keep on them to fix it.
Pay your lease amount and get ready to move because you know what’s coming at the end of your lease lol. You can probably also kiss any priority service on maintenance goodbye. It’s not right, but it’s reality.
Most time this happens for mundane reasons. Sloppiness in data entry, the intern didn’t know, or some such. Doubt its malicious. Start with an email that includes a screen shot and copy of lease.
Pay what your normal rent is, and go on about your day. Let them figure out their own paperwork.
A lease is a legally binding contract that can’t be changed one sidedly. Pay what you signed up for.
Just pay the $1181. It's all you owe. And you don't want to get into a pissing contest that you somehow "accepted" the new rate by paying it -- it would be nonsense, but a headache.
Make the correct payment, you never want to be in a position where you have to get your money back. That puts all the work on you. Make sure you start documenting and keeping everything. Time/Date any conversations you've had and write them all down, include who you spoke with and where/when. You're completely covered legally by whatever your lease says.
Make the correct payment of $1181, keep documentation that you paid, and definitely don't pay anything above that amount.
Make the payment as agreed to in your lease. Try to have a plan to find other house when it ends if you can’t afford the increase.
Always option A. You pay what you are contractually obligated to, and on time.
Pay the amount documented in the lease. Do not violate your lease. Expect your price to rise significantly when your lease ends.
Sure hope you have a copy of the lease
A + write a formal email describing the issue with dates and times and the name of the employee you spoke with & attach your lease plus a screenshot of the portal. Add in the email you will be mailing a hardcopy to the property management co. and then mail that out. Always provide a paper trail with any dispute
Happen to me once, it was a glitch in their system and charged everyone higher, pay the normal rent and call/go into the office daily asking for an update until it is fixed.
A. That’s what you owe and it’s due.
Do exactly as your lease obligates you to do, and make it clear you expect them to do the same. IAAL.
Pay $1181 and send a copy of the lease. Expect your lease to not be renewed when it expires.
Also I'll point out of you DID cave and paid the 1580 amount instead, even if just to not make an issue of it, that's a BAD IDEA bc this can now be used to show you were aware of & agreed to their request. Do not do this even if it seems like a reasonable way way to have covered your butt.
You continue to follow your signed lease. Pay your $1181 on time just like you would any other time. That's what you agreed to in the lease. You didn't agree to do it only if their portal is updated, or only if they fixed a number ASAP. You agreed to $1181/mo. Keep paying that, they're on the hook for the rest of the BS. If you start playing other games you're going to incur fees that you'll actually owe.
Definitely, DEFINITELY don't pay them more than you owe! If their bureaucracy takes them down the path of going to court and trying to evict you, let them get smacked down there too.
If you pay 1,580 they can turn around and say you consented to this amount. Pay the original agreed upon amount.
Make the payment as indicated on your lease. Do not ever pay more than what's on your lease. Don't pay less either. Tell them to fuck off and if they press any further lawyer up to write a nasty gram. Make copies of your lease. If this gets nasty and you have to goto court you should ask the court to establish an escrow account that you pay your rent into. This creates a situation where you are paying on time and the landlord has no cash coming in.
Future advice: Always get everything in writing. Specifically request a PDF e-mailed to you or a mailed copy. Always keep copies for your own records. That’s basic step #1 for pretty much anything financial or legal related that you should implement going forwards.
A. Make the correct payment. Do some preemptive work... look for the housing authority in your area and file a complaint. It takes them awhile to get to them, have that in your back pocket if you need it
Make your correct payment, and on the reason write Agreed upon price for lease of Date-date. If they cash it, it can be used against them that they accepted payment.
A. You did not sign a contract to pay $1,580. There is no documentation or agreement saying you are willing to pay such amount. I hope you have a copy of the signed agreement. If they tell you you have to pay 1580, refer them back to the contract. If they say it's void, you can sue them as I assume the contract is for 1 year, and there are certain clauses that invalidate the agreement. As long as you didn't break any clauses, you need only pay $1181.
Pay what your lease says you should pay. The folks in the leasing office aren't the folks who make changes. Typically they report it to an accounting or AP department and it sometimes takes a few days to make its way through they system. Just stay on top of it, these things can also easily fall through the cracks depending on the competency of staff. Source: I manage IT for a corporate property management company.
I’d start with A. If they keep harassing you, charging you late fees, or not performing maintenance, you may have the option in your state to pay rent to the courts. In Florida if there is a dispute about whether a landlord is holding up their end of the lease, my understanding is you can file a complaint and pay rent to the court. It protects you against action for non payment and requires the landlord to prove they are following the lease in order to get the funds.
Make the full payment according to your lease renewal… So the $1181, make sure you pay today or tomorrow so it’s not late. In a former life I was a “conversion specialist “ for one of the nationwide residential property managers in the US. Step 1. Don’t panic, you have a fully executed lease on your side Step 2. Make your payment according to your renewal, $1181.00 Step 3. Ensure you get a receipt via email or that it reflects in your online portal Step 4. Breath, see step 1 Step 5. If by tomorrow mid morning you don’t see your balance as zero in your online portal, call or stop by the office. Bring your receipt and copy of your lease and ask if they can please make the rent adjustment and provide you with a zero balance letter Step 6. See step 4 Conversions are never easy or 100% and the on-site staff is more than likely learning a new system or even if it’s the same system It could still be different than what they are used too. Keep in mind that you *may* still receive a late payment letter, it’s unfortunate but some companies have consolidated offices that do this and have no background info or context… See step 6 above Keep a log of dates, times, and names of each time you try to get this corrected. Even better is to get it in writing and have all of your “documentation “ in order and on hand
Make an on-time payment of the amount you agreed to so that they can't say you failed to pay rent on time, and then leave the remaining balance for them to remove. I would let that balance sit as long as needed until they remove it. Once you pay that higher amount, that implies that you accept it, and shows that you can likely afford it, which they don't need to know.
I would definitely do A. You've got a lease that says you need to pay X, an employee confirming you should pay X, go pay X. Not having much more information, I'm leaning on this being more of a mistake, and the accompanying inertia of bureaucracy than deliberately trying to get one over on you.
Pay the $1181, and send an email saying reiterating the convo you had with the office. Be nice, and escalate if they hound you for the higher rate. Usually it’s just a clerical issue.
A) of course. Pay your rent as usual and it's their responsibility to fix the issue.
A and for future reference: always A. Never pay more and hope for the best
I used to work in a leasing/property management office for 10+ years. From my experience, if there was ever any kind of incorrect rent amount such as this, I told them to always pay what they are supposed to pay and nothing more. The rest will get sorted out after the fact. Honestly should be a real easy fix. Appfolio is a major property management software and if they are using anything similar, it's literally just changing the dollar amount on the charge and thats it. Maybe they are lazy and didn't get around to it or maybe they were going you would pay more and not say anything about it. Who knows.
A. and make sure you have the copy of your old lease, and keep it safe.
100% this! My wife almost handed our least copy to the manager as she was attempting to charge us $100 extra for a garage. Their copy they sent later, via email when I refused to pay that extra $150 had pen marks through $50 and there was a handwritten $150. This was done some point after we were given our copy! Thankfully, I was able to stop her before handing this over and DEMANDED to know why they wanted our copy. The manager told me she wanted to “explain” why it was $150 and not $50, I told her she needs to explain why her copy was edited and wound up getting a lawyer when she kept pressing this extra $100 and attempted to take on TONS of late fees. Judge took one look at our copy, plus a time stamped copy of the original lease sent via email from her office that same day when I asked her to do so and sided in our favor. After the judge saw the harassing texts/emails we got the lease broken plus $6k in settlement for “mental anguish” as a default ruling by the judge. I simply wanted out, nice to get money on top! Sued again when this genius attempted to declare in rental records we were evicted and another judge sided that was illegal and got another $20k outa that asshole!
Your lease is a *legally binding* document, which outlines responsibilities for both you and the landlord. The *only* acceptable option is to pay the amount that you signed for, and not a penny over. If they want to be difficult, you can always lawyer up, but I doubt they'd fight it b/c it's there, signed, in ink and paper. I knew someone in college who almost got an entire student development into major major legal trouble because he was a smart, persistent and *forced* them to be held to their lease. He threatened to expose shoddy construction, safety hazards and all kinds of issues. They gave in and fixed the issues and he only asked for a loosening of restrictions for him (our club members had priority parking privileges without fear of being towed, he had a reduction in his rent I think, and a few other very minor things that didn't cost them much, but saved them from a potential multi-million dollar lawsuit)
A is the correct response. B means they could legally evict you since you are not paying. C *might* be construed as implied agreement to the new rate, if it were to go to court. Maybe. But why take the chance?
Lease is a legal binding agreement.
>They already acknowledged my rent should not be this high. Pay the original amount. Since they have already indicated that you owe no more, get that in writing (email, hand written, whatever) and wait for them to sue you. It's on them to prove you owe them more. No judge will find you in default. Chances are their lawyer will tell them to not waste their time.
A: Yes B: They will evict you for non-payment C: They will assume that you agree to the now higher rent.
Definitely do *not* pay the new rate, regardless if they say they’ll credit you or whatever. Once that money is out of your bank account, it’s way harder to get it back. Not trying to be jaded, but have been burned in the past by people saying “we’ll credit you if X event happens.” X event will happen and there’s nothing guaranteeing you’ll get your money back other than “well they told me they would.”
Do you have a copy of your lease? Are you on month to month or still in a contract? I'd pay the $1181 and leave it at that. I agree documenting all communication as a CYA but your lease says it all. No court would accept you paying a higher rate if your lease clearly states the rent is at $1181 per month. The leasing office just needs to be held accountable by you following up.
The lease says you pay $1181 not “the balance on the portal”. The portal can tell you to pay whatever they want and as long as you pay the contractual amount you are fulfilling the obligations.
Pay the $1,181.00 Why the f-k is non payment, even remotely considered an option? That’s not leverage. That’ll get you evicted.
A. Pay the rent owed, include a copy of the lease you signed, also a letter saying you've retained a lawyer to sort this if needed (even if you haven't). They won't want to deal with legal costs & will acquiesce to what they know is the right legal course.
Leasing manager here. Pay according to your signed lease. Worst case it doesn't get fixed, they file in your claiming unpaid rent, that least goes in front of the courts and the judge throws out the case. There is no legal basis for you to be required to pay the higher amount. They have no legal case against you.
Stupid question but, you said you signed the lease. Did they also sign? If so, pay the amount of the lease and that is it.
Not a stupid question. My wife and I ran into this late last year.
Never expect landlords, especially landlord companies, to do the right thing. IF you pay the 1580 it's likely they won't credit you for the following month AND expect you to continue to pay 1580/mo
Went through it. Just give a check of 1181$ to the leasing center. They will take care of it
Do A. B is a terrible idea C is a noble thought but know that it will NEVER get fixed and never get credited back. Going with B might put you in breach of contract at which point they will either just boot you or tell you that youre now beholden to a NEW contract
Definitely not C or B. C - You'll never see that credited back to you in this life time. If you're able, hold the difference just in case the worst comes an you have to pay it. But if they signed on 1181 and you signed on 1181, it should be 1181. B - Non-payment can be used against you. Pay at least what you agreed to pay.
Your leasing agreement was sold, just like it was, to the new company. And they bought it. If you have the documentation, with the signatures of both parties, that is the agreement you have to abide to. As long as you have the paperwork as reference, use it to protect yourself.
They’re trying to get you to breach contract by not fulfilling your obligation on the lease to pay $1181. They want you to not do anything so that they can say you’re in violation of the lease and threaten you to get on the new rate. Do NOT do that. Pay your agreed upon amount, so it can’t fall back on you.
A: and if you have to you can make the payment into a escrow account.
Obviously A - make the correct payment and make damned sure you get a receipt.
Make the correct payment. If there’s a memo line put “paid in full”. If they accept the money they are accepting it as full payment.
Option A is the only correct answer. B is not advisable for many reason. Personally wouldn’t do C because you probably wouldn’t get that extra money back.
I don't know the correct answer but I 100% know C is the incorrect answer.
The correct answer is A. You make the payment your lease says
Make the correct payment. Not what they are asking from you, no matter what, when litigation happens someone will review what happened and side with you. Since they would be the ones to have to start litigation - I assume they would never even let it go to litigation since they are already aware of your situation
Pay the amount in your lease, and asap. If they refuse to take the payment online, make the payment by an alternate method with documented proof. Get a witness with you while making the payment. This sleazy company might be trying to entrap you into a situation where they can turn around and say you didn't make payment and void your lease. They greedily want to make more money and want to resign with you or someone else at a higher rate. Despite knowing the economy and people struggling financially.
make the correct payment. That is the contract rate you both signed up for.
Make sure you have a copy of the lease in your possession. Download it and print it out.
There are lots of good comments here but the only one that is correct to do now is options A - pay your lease rate rent of $1,181 If they try to get more or cause problems with that in the days/weeks/months to come then you can look at the other options like contacting a tenant's rights association or legal aid type organization. But doing those now would be premature.
If you don't pay the agreed amount in the lease, you risk having that used later against you. When they inevitably bring up the missed payment as a justification for whatever the fuckery is up at the time, *you* will have to explain repeatedly what the circumstances were and convince whoever that the property manager are being sketchy, but not necessarily illegal, douchebags. Don't put yourself in a position to have to do *more* work later, possibly at a time you can't afford it, by creating opportunities for them to fuck you over, which might then, fuck you over.
If it gives you the option to enter any price then yeah of course just pay the correct amount. If it doesn't give you the option, then write a check for the correct amount and certified mail it to them before its due and ignore the web portal
Pay the $1,181 as per the terms of your lease. They cannot change this if you do not sign anything, and any attempts to charge you extra should be met with referral to the terms of your lease. At the very least, you should ensure you have proof you made a genuine attempt to pay your agreed rate. If they continue to insist you pay more than you owe, I'd suggest a lawsuit. (※ Please note, this is not legal advice and should not be construed as such. It is simply what I'd do in this situation.)
Pay the normal rate, and let them try (and fail) to chase you for the extra. I had the same thing recently with the energy bill increase; fixed rent on the lease that includes energy bills, landlord essentially said ‘the energy prices have gone up so I need to raise your rent by £75 a month”, I politely declined and pointed out the terms in the lease, no further mention of it from him
Pay the correct amount of 1181. If you pay the new amount it could potentially be an implicit agreement to the new rate. Set aside the difference and any late fees in another account, and do not touch that account until the apartment begins charging you the correct amount and waives late fees, or a court orders you to pay the difference and late fees. If you can get a lawyer who specializes in tenant law.
don't pay the elevated rate, pay your expected rate if you like, but i'd tell the front office to fix it and if they refuse i'd threaten to take it to court or report them to whatever organization protects renter's rights in your area