August 5th, 2009
Voting Question: Office removes rent drop box, forces use of online payment-what recourse do I have?
I live in Chandler, AZ, in a condo community that also rents out. It’s more of a classy apartment complex, but I digress.
I’ve lived here for two years with no issue, until the property came under new management. They toted the online rent payment system as the way to pay, but unless you set up a recurring account that automatically paid on the 1st, you had to pay a $50 fee. So, paying online is $50 more, no big deal to me.
Then we tenants receive the monthly flyer stating that as of Aug 1, the rent drop box would be removed. Their way of going green. So unless I have my rent in by 5:30PM on the 1st, I’ll be hit with $50 in late fees. (plus another $20 in misc, it happened to me once).
So it seems, one way or another, this is an obtuse way of raising our rents by $50. It used to be so long as the rent was in the drop box after hours, they couldn’t assess late fees.
Along with a slew of other small issues I’ve pushed off and pushed off, this is it for me. I can’t pay by 5:30 PM on the 1st, which would mean leaving work early (if I can), and I can’t afford paying an extra $50 just because they like charging $50 for the sake of charging it for paying online.
What recourse do I have? I can’t afford to lawyer up, and I’ve left a couple (polite) messages asking to discuss this.
I cannot pay any earlier than the first unfortunately, the bulk of my rent is paid by my disability I get from the VA. The rest is from my paycheck.
Also, there is no grace period here. The late fee starts on the 2nd, which is why this change is a bit abrupt: I could come home, pool my money from my disability and other income, and have it in the dropbox before 10pm. That’s how I’ve done it for months and months, but now this change forces either me taking time off of work, or paying online (extra $50)
It’s not me wanting to be late, either. I rather much enjoy living here, but cannot understand why they are going out of their way to do this. It seems, as I mentioned, a clever way of getting another $50 a month.
