Housing Issues: do I contact Base Legal?

[MrSaturn]

Short and dirty I have been issues with my Landlord does base legal help with this?

Longer story:
I sent in my rent check 5 days early to office, as I do, and on the 7th (normally on the first) realize it has not been cashed. I go in to the office to ask. They say they do not know one way or the other and tell me to email the owner. I do.

4 days no response then I get email kicked back saying that email doesnt work. I try to go in again office closed during hours. Finally I find my agent at the office today talk with her she doesnt have a clue. As I leave 30 minutes later agent calls and informs me that my check was not signed. Could I please come back and write a new check. I do. The owner finally tells me, during the second part of the adventure, the owner want to charge a NSF fee to me or basically $25 dollars + 10% rent + rent.

To add to this... a sink hose burst flooding the basement when I finally got home. I think they are going to try to pin that on us too. Including talk of both of us claiming water damages on the carpet from insurance. Of course I said I wont do that.

Sorry for the long rant (I think I hear a small violin) but this is weirding me out.

 

[Rubiks06]

Well, as far as the pipe bursting im not sure what to tell you. The rent on the other hand is an easy fix. Navy fed and USAA both have online banking. USAA is the one im more familiar with but i believe most banks have them now days. I go through them for all of my check writing. The big reason here is the check comes directly from the bank and arrives on a guaranteed date. You know it is signed and it is tracked from point start to finish. You can call them and they will tell you when the check was sent when the check arrived and when the check was cashed giving you an extra paper trail to CYA. Good luck.

 

[SingDixieGoNavy]

Check writing

Rubiks--first hope the romeo is treating you well! Second how much does usaa charge for the check stuff?

 

[phrogdriver]

Base legal will give you advice about your rights and responsibilities vis-a-vis the landlord. They will explain the law and maybe even give you the right forms to fill out complaints or court filings, but they won't represent you in any proceedings. Definitely check them out. If the law is on your side, you can tell the landlord that, and maybe he'll back down. If not, there's always small-claims court.

 

[jamnww]

Second how much does usaa charge for the check stuff?

Nothing, just a standard member service. Thats how I pay all my bills.

 

[ea6bflyr]

Get RENTAL INSURANCE and life will be much better.

As for the legal advice, is it really worth your time and effort for a mere $25 dollars + 10% rent? If so, I'm sure Legal will be able to give you some sound legal advice.

 

[Herc_Dude]

Get RENTAL INSURANCE and life will be much better.

+1
We have been doin it since we have been renting and its CHEAP peace of mind. Through USAA for a more-than-reasonable price you can have all your stuff covered.

 

[gaijin6423]

But be aware that if you have anything of specific (higher) value, that you need to acquire insurance for those high value items (think engagement ring) from USAA, or it will not be covered. For my wife's ring, they required an appraisal, and I want to say that they had me send the make/model of other high value items. It's been a while, however.

 

[villanelle]

USAA online bill pay is wonderful and free. Their insurance is also very reasonably priced and the service is second to none.

 

[Red_]

Online bill pay

I have used online bill pay to pay my bills for years and love it. However, as I learned this the hard way, you are still responsible for tracking your bills and ensuring they are paid. A check was sent to my mortgage company and there was never a credit to my account. These bill payers are a separate company that the banks use, so when the check couldn't be found, I was sent to the bill pay company, not the bank. And to top it off, I had to pay a stop check fee to stop the check that they lost.

 

[MrSaturn]

Thanks for all the replys but I believe I need to clarify.

I have rental insurance with USAA. However, I will not allow them to install new hardware to a sink that breaks a week later and try to blame us with it. The added insult of declaring we should BOTH claim it with BOTH insurances is fraud and at very least tells me the type of character im doing business with.

I love USAA rental and bill pay. This was the check before webpay started up. I like paying days in advance (so mistakes are caught early) and I was afraid on how long it would take to get there... (Hawaii is a long ways from Texas)

is it really worth your time and effort for a mere $25 dollars + 10% rent?

It would be 325 dollars. So a free trip to legal would probably be worth it