All Forum Posts by: Aiko C.

When I moved in and got into the payment portal, the verbiage on the portal said no processing fees for credit cards (two days after I signed the lease). Great, I thought. The only place was in the FAQ for "payment options'. I took a screen shot that has the date, the complex address and even the Uber corporation that owns it. Now, the exact same portion of the FAQ says this (second screenshot) When I inquired about it, I got this response.

Unfortunately I do not handle any website settings/integrations, but our credit card policies haven’t changed since we opened.

All credit card transactions have always charged a service fee, a debit card charges a flat fee, and a bank account payment has no service fees.

We are still in the processes of finalizing all our software platforms and websites. Updates to the site are made on the backend and it is quite possible that this was one of those.

Your first screenshot is in line with what I would expect to see before your portal switches to a ‘residential’ portal. The only time a fee is not present is when you are paying your application fees online.

Here are the screenshots and I believe the relevant portion of the lease. Note, there is nothing else in the lease about CC payments or 2.5% surcharge. I am only posting the relevant portion of the first screenshot for privacy of the company, but it does have the date, complex address and uber corporation name. You're gonna have to take my word for it that I've got the date on the first screenshot - two days after I signed the lease and that I'm inside the payment portal.

I will note this one other oddity. Twice in the new FAQ they state the property management company doesn't make any portion of the 2.5% fee. Twice in a 2 page FAQ. Of course, the property management company no longer has to pay Visa and MC the interchange fees.

Who's right here? Thanks for reading.

Quote from @Steve Vaughan:

What an unwarranted jerk LL.   Is this a person or corporate entity?  I only ask because I'm being interviewed by a national paper about the erosion of tenant compassion with the rise of corporate LLs. 

I'd be surprised if a 3day notice since covid is still the way its done.  But this is FL so ya never know.  Look up your states LL-Tenant law online. Ours in WA was increased to a 14-day requirement.  

Either way, I'm pulling for you @Aiko C. ! 

 Corporate

And, thanks.

I don't know why I said I would owe $1600 + LL Attorney fees. The $1600 is an additional security deposit and my apt is in better shape than when I received it, so I would get the $1600 back. So, my financial risk for this entire thing is the attorney fees for the LL to file an eviction and I doubt a judge is going to allow something extreme. I mentioned that I'll pay the LL Attorney fees if I lose to keep it off my credit report and get the eviction expunged. Although I know I will have an eviction filing on my record.

Quote from @Jeyo Punnakottil:

@Aiko C.

Your original lease states that you are the only person on the property.Now you recently got married sometime into your original lease and wanted to bring her to the LL property,so you discussed it with LL.The queStion to you is did your NEW WIFE move in and is staying with you without you signing the new lease.If so you already violated the Lease..LL demanding the seurity deposit for ur new wife and sending you a addedndum to lease and you have not signed the new adendum ,which posibily i believe is for including your new wife into the lease .IN THE EYES OF LAW YOU ALREADY VIOLATED THE LEASE ,you failed your lawsuit then and there.

Also in my state the Cure of leave letter is for 3 days which means if you donot cure the issue mentioned in the letter within threedays the LL can file for eviction .

First, thank you for taking the time to read my posts.

 I had thought about this angle. Here's what I have to fall back on.

(1) Bill in the on-line portal was $3600:

$2000 rent

$1600 security deposit

I paid $2000 - no way to indicate what that $2000 was for

In FL it is a 7 day notice to cure. If I believed $2000 was rent, 7 day notice should have been provided. I think judge would take the most liberal interpretation and side with me and say LL should have provided 7 day notice to cure. This fact alone should be enough to win, I believe. Also, could use the "poor me, I don't have the extra $1600 (available). What am I supposed to do, not let her stay or move out, thus breaking the lease and providing 60 days notice + 2 months rent ($8000). LL is being unreasonable. I know LL can hide behind FHA, treating all occupants the same.

(2) Yes, wife here. Seems LL would have to prove wife was here (for more than 15 days). Not easy. I did turn over DL for lease application with current address, but that still doesn't prove she lived here for more than 15 days. Not sure if that is relevant, but three day notice says, "my name and any and all occupants" - wife not mentioned.  If Judge asked me under oath if she were here (more than 15 days) I would have to say 'yes'. LL will likey assume I would say 'no' and have to build a defense that wife was here 15+ days. Obviously, I'm not going to help LL on this issue. Also, not sure if relevant. Wife has been here over 1 year. Only applied to add wife for our own immigration purposes (prove bona fide marriage to USCIS) AND to see how she would be treated for applying for new apt, which I have been approved for, but she is not included. Sorry that is complicated. I'm leaving either way. (I have an approved application on another apt.) Not overly concerned about having an eviction on my record either. Paying the $1600 + whatever will keep it off my credit file, plus getting one eviction expunged in FL is almost a slam dunk.

(3) Wife tenant application was approved, but extra security deposit required because of "lack of credit history". I knew this going in and offered wife's ITIN from the IRS at the very beginning. LL said not required. But I did use that acronym in my email - ITIN and LL could say they don't know what that means. Would judge believe LL didn't know what an ITIN was?  Wife had been using her ITIN for building a credit profile. SSN was received in the middle of May and I offered that to the LL, but they said they would run it, but would likely have no impact because still not credit history. On the ITIN she opened two bank accounts and had one unsecured credit card for $2800 from Chase, I also added here as an authorized user on my oldest credit card to help build her credit. Now two unsecured cards. My argument, banks though her creditworthy. I think I mentioned, ITIN credit profile can be transferred over to SSN once obtained. Time for that process is unknown and I haven't even started on it.

Quote from @Jim K.:

@Aiko C.

Absolutely, you should go for it. I can confidently confirm that your strategy has at least a 92% chance of success. Maybe as high as a 98% chance.

This is your moment, Aiko. Who dares, wins!

You're snarking the snarker. Touche.

BTW, "Fortune favors the bold" is better than "Who dares, wins!" IHMO

Quote from @Jim K.:

@Aiko C.

The problem your landlord has with your new wife is a lack of credit history, not the presence of a federal criminal record, which is why the FBI fingerprint scan and security clearance check exists.

Look at this from the LL's perspective. This is a new marriage. What if, God forfend, your marriage falls apart in the first few weeks? It happens all the time. It happens to people with the best intentions. IT HAPPENED TO ME IN MY FIRST MARRIAGE. Let's say that you decide to move out. So now the landlord is left with only your wife living in the unit, and you are GONE, with no forwarding address. How can your LL be sure he'll be paid, if your wife doesn't have a credit history? That's why he's is demanding the security deposit.

Of course you can sue your LL for wrongful eviction whether you pack up and leave or not. You can file a lawsuit against anyone for practically any reason in the USA. Will you win? Probably not. The LL does have a valid concern, if the situation is as I've described it.

I agree that your LL probably doesn't know or care what an ITIN is. I also think a lot of this could be solved and his worries assuaged with some personal attention and care. So I probably wouldn't act like this in this situation, in my position as a DIY landlord managing a small portfolio owned only by my wife and myself. But hey, it's the LL's property and the LL's choice and that's how he's chosen to protect his investment.

Didn't we just have this discussion last month, too? I dimly remember someone telling me to get bent because I explained a similar situation and recommended that he find his next landlord through a refugee resettlement organization, because that would be one good way to make sure he would be working with someone who would understand his wife's immigration situation (and perhaps wasn't as deeply prejudiced against housing immigrants as all to many LLs are).

I work with refugee resettlement organizations, I married an immigrant, I am a dual citizen and an American Born Abroad myself. Good luck to you.

"Get bent" is a little too strong a term. I admit there was a touch of snark in one of my replies.

Believe I was justified, but it's water under the bridge and I don't want to revisit.

But....thanks for this reply. Insightful indeed.

This is such a long story and I want to disclose every bit of information. It's all in my head, but I'm sure there are a few details I'm forgetting to add to this thread. Forgive me for that. It's helping me to write this down for discussion with an attorney. 

Okay, so I understand a typical LL will possibly ask for a larger security deposit for a new tenant. Logically, I don't understand it. Seems like he could always go after me if there were damage or missing rent because I am on the lease. However, I accept and sort of understand your argument about disappearing with no forwarding address, etc. No need to comment, I could look it up to get a better understanding.

Now, the piece of information that I think I posted earlier is that neither of us signed the lease addendum adding my wife to the lease. The LL sent me a three day notice. I kind of expected a 7 day notice to cure, but I got the 3 day notice to pay or vacate with the reasoning of "unpaid rent". I did offer my wife's ITIN which has a credit profile with the 3 CB's, but the LL didn't know what that was or didn't care, just like you said. The 3 day notice demands $1600 or exactly the amount of the security deposit that is in the addendum I never signed. The June bill on the on-line portal was $3600 and I paid $2000 which is my typical rent. It is $1600 short and LL letter is demanding "unpaid rent" not extra security deposit that is a line item in the on-line portal. But I never signed the lease addendum with the security deposit in it.

Quote from @Ray Hage:

illegally in the country.

 I offered a FL State ID, a RealID compliant (gold star) document only issued to people "legally present". I know you guys frequently see posts where the poster doesn't include all relevant details, but there is nothing in that regard with this situation.

Quote from @Ray Hage:

I suppose he could do a background check to ease his mind if that he is concerned about her being a criminal or illegally in the country.

LL is citing "Lack of Credit History" for reason of the 3 day notice. Still, I offered an FBI fingerprint run to LL - one month old. <extra details, $60, visit the the local USPS, fingerprint scanner by USPS trained rep, received letter from the Department of Justice", nothing found.

You guys are fantastic.

As far as the SSN, I'm doing a poor job of explaining it. The LL requested an SSN. I assume to run a credit check. Wife didn't have an SSN at the time. I told LL she has an ITIN and they could use that. LL emailed..."Thank you for confirming, <wife> doesn't have an SSN". The LL then accepted my wife as a new tenant, but sent me a letter that they need an additional $1532 security deposit and the only reason cited was "Lack of Credit History". <writing this out has been very helpful, because I just realized the LL might not understand what an ITIN is>

More details and I appreciate you guys reading this far. Wife actually now does have an SSN. Was granted in the middle of this mess. I informed LL, and they said they could run a credit check, but likely it would have no impact because a new SSN would have the same result as no SSN.

That said, I'm not sure any of the above is relevant, because the primary issue is that we never signed the lease addendum adding wife as tenant. As I mentioned they know this because they sent the request to sign the lease addendum a second time on June 1st and then the 3 day notice on June 4th.

My question is (and I'm making consultations with nearby lawyers today) is a three day notice to pay or vacate the premises an eviction? If I pack up and leave and return "possession of the premises" to the LL, would a judge consider it an eviction if I sued my LL for an illegal eviction? I think the fact that I never signed the lease addendum, but the LL added the security deposit to my monthly rent anyway is enough. I paid the normal June rent, but the total come up exactly $1532 short. Now, LL is saying pay $1532 or vacate the premises. Could LL say to the Judge "we simply made a mistake"? Of course I have the 3 day notice to pay or vacate and a June 9th text message demanding $1532 by noon or face an eviction filing.

Like I said, I think this could simply be incompetence. 

Really appreciate that reply.

I considered your option of just paying the deposit. I do have the money. Maybe another tenant doesn't. What would they do? Ask the new wife to leave? Have thought this thru a little bit. Judge - I moved my new wife in, I'm not violating the occupancy limits, LL is demanding large extra security deposit. They already have me on the lease to chase down for unpaid rent or damages. I offered ITIN, but LL dismissed. New wife has  unsecured credit card grants of nearly $5000 from Chase and BoA based on her ITIN, so banks seemed to think new wife was creditworthy.

There was no way to label the payment as "rent". It was drawn off my account ACH. Bill was $3600. I paid $2000 - normal rent. Balance left was $1600.

If it were an unauthorized tenant violation, looks like they should have given me a 7 day notice to cure. They didn't (but, they still might). LL hasn't even mentioned that angle. Maybe they will in the eviction filing. I'm too far in now. I'm going to go to court with them, not to win, but to get denied even to respond. In FL, you have to bring the unpaid rent to respond. I don't have any unpaid rent. I really don't have an unpaid security deposit either because I never signed the lease addendum. LL also knows I never signed the lease addendum becasue the sent it to me a second time for signature just before the 3 days notice to vacate.

I feel bold, maybe a little too bold because I was leaving anyway, I already have an approved rental application on a larger apartment nearby and in FL, you can get one eviction expunged for almost any reason,but I have a pretty good reason anyway. I will still have an eviction filing on my record, I understand. I will want compensation for that in the lawsuit against the LL.

My question is still the same though. Is a three-day notice to pay or vacate an actual "eviction" under the law. If I left now, could I still sue my LL for illegal eviction and get the 3 months rent or actual expenses allowed under FL law? Apt is advertised as "luxury"...plan to stay in a "luxury" hotel until I move into new place. No refrigerator, I'll just order room service. 

People gonna read this and think I'm baiting my LL into evicting me. This is "sorta" true. I do not like my LL for a number of reasons, I admit. I actually think once the LL lawyers review my case they are just going to write to me and drop the security deposit. I've gone silent. TBH, they typically have people come begging for more time to pay rent. Ain't doing that. Ain't even gonna explain the law to them. They aren't children.