Homes are expensive. If you want to buy one in the US right now, you have to take out a 7 percent mortgage on an asset that has risen 40 per cent in price over three years. So many choose to rent instead. But this arrangement also has its share of problems, many of which can be caused by a problematic landlord.
Reddit user lvl100Evasion just experienced this firsthand. Talking to the platform’s community ‘Mildly Infuriating,’ they shared the eviction letter they received after being late to make the rent payment by just 15 minutes, along with all the nonsense it entailed.
This tenant got an eviction letter from their landlord
Image credits: lvl100Evasion
Because they were late to pay for rent by 15 minutes
Image credits: Ketut Subiyanto (not the actual photo)
Image credits: lvl100Evasion
Usually tenants have 3-7 days to pay overdue rent, not 15 minutes
Image credits: LesiaScotch (not the actual photo)
When we’re talking about rent due dates, the lease agreement is the primary document establishing the terms and conditions between tenants and landlords. In most cases, it clearly specifies when the payments need to be made, so since the Redditor hasn’t shared theirs, it’s hard to determine all of the details of their situation.
The lease agreement usually includes information on grace periods and late fees as well (grace periods are the time given to tenants to make a payment beyond the due date without penalty and late fees are the charges tenants incur if they fail to pay by the end of the grace period).
According to Marcia Stewart, who co-authored such books as Every Tenant’s Legal Guide and Leases & Rental Agreements, tenants often feel that the form of payment—cash or check—should be up to them but unfortunately, it’s not their call.
“Most landlords require rent be paid by check or money order, but some landlords now allow payment by credit card … or automatic debit (rent payments are debited automatically each month from your bank account and transferred into the landlord’s account),” she explains.
If you don’t pay rent when it’s due, expect your landlord to do the following:
- call, email, or otherwise contact you, demanding the rent;
- begin assessing late fees if there is a late fee provision in your lease or rental agreement;
- send you a termination notice, telling you that if the rent is not paid within a certain number of days or if you haven’t moved out by then, the landlord will begin eviction proceedings.
But usually tenants have 3-7 days to pay overdue rent. Not 15 minutes.
Rent increases lead to more people being kicked out onto the streets
Image credits: RossHelen (not the actual photo)
According to Carl Gershenson of Princeton University’s Eviction Lab in New Jersey, in recent years, many cities across the US have seen dramatic rent increases and because of that, eviction filing rates have surged, particularly in the South and Southwest.
Rent hikes across the country are most painful for working single mothers, retirees and people receiving disability payments from the government.
The Redditor mentioned that they “hate being a Millennial,” and while their pain is palpable in the text they wrote, surprisingly, the Americans most at risk of eviction are babies and toddlers.
Of the 7.6 million individuals facing eviction each year, nearly 40%—2.9 (2.7 to 3.2) million—were children, weathering instability during crucial years for their development.
“When I started writing about these issues, I kind of thought kids would shield families from eviction,” said Matthew Desmond, who leads the Princeton Eviction Lab. “But they expose families to eviction.”
For landlords, children often bring unwanted risk — they make noise, they draw on walls, and they require lead testing. For parents, having a baby can sometimes cause a financial shock, making them more likely to miss rent.
Hopefully, lvl100Evasion will find a way to bounce back.
Some of the people who read the story said they had similar experiences
The post triggered strong reactions
On the first, is on the first. Not 9-5 on the first. There's usually a 4 day grace period, too. In my first apartment I had a caretaker like this. Not landlord, just a caretaker. On the first, in the morning, she would go around banging on doors demanding rent money. If you didn't have it right then and there she would hand you an eviction notice out of her stack she had prepped. She wouldn't even give you a receipt when you paid. This is illegal, against tenancy rights. Evictions have to go through the proper proceedings and take a lot more time than a minute. It's not late if she pays in the evening. Heck, I've paid my rent at 11pm at night because that's when I got home from work. But it was still considered on time. This is predatory behaviour towards young, new tenants, who are assumed to not know their tenancy rights and what actions to take when faced with illegal actions by landlords and caretakers.
The trailer park/housing area near where I work is like that, except the "manager" is afraid of everyone so on the 5th he sneaks around taping notices to doors. No rent receipts, nobody else to talk to except the elderly, befuddled manager. Also shuts people's water and electricity off without notice. Police won't do anything, say it's a "civil matter" and to get a lawyer. It's all low/fixed income people so they can't afford a lawyer. (Being the closest store that sells money orders, we get to hear a lot of horror stories.) The way they prey on people is absolutely disgusting.
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Pay by Money Order? Wonder how much of that income is actually being declared?
lol No. Not at all. All of this is a lie. Nowhere in the US is it legal to evict someone for being 15 minutes late with rent. Every state has things built in to stop that process. Eviction is a legal process, not just something a landlord decides on a whim. In most places the eviction notice has to be delivered by a ward of the court, which is usually the sheriff's office or constable. That doesn't happen until the 90 day mark. So, all of this is a lie.
Which some people are unaware of, and there are slimy landlords who will try to scare unaware tenants into thinking they are evicted on the landlord's whim.
Load More Replies... On the first, is on the first. Not 9-5 on the first. There's usually a 4 day grace period, too. In my first apartment I had a caretaker like this. Not landlord, just a caretaker. On the first, in the morning, she would go around banging on doors demanding rent money. If you didn't have it right then and there she would hand you an eviction notice out of her stack she had prepped. She wouldn't even give you a receipt when you paid. This is illegal, against tenancy rights. Evictions have to go through the proper proceedings and take a lot more time than a minute. It's not late if she pays in the evening. Heck, I've paid my rent at 11pm at night because that's when I got home from work. But it was still considered on time. This is predatory behaviour towards young, new tenants, who are assumed to not know their tenancy rights and what actions to take when faced with illegal actions by landlords and caretakers.
The trailer park/housing area near where I work is like that, except the "manager" is afraid of everyone so on the 5th he sneaks around taping notices to doors. No rent receipts, nobody else to talk to except the elderly, befuddled manager. Also shuts people's water and electricity off without notice. Police won't do anything, say it's a "civil matter" and to get a lawyer. It's all low/fixed income people so they can't afford a lawyer. (Being the closest store that sells money orders, we get to hear a lot of horror stories.) The way they prey on people is absolutely disgusting.
Load More Replies... Pay by Money Order? Wonder how much of that income is actually being declared?
lol No. Not at all. All of this is a lie. Nowhere in the US is it legal to evict someone for being 15 minutes late with rent. Every state has things built in to stop that process. Eviction is a legal process, not just something a landlord decides on a whim. In most places the eviction notice has to be delivered by a ward of the court, which is usually the sheriff's office or constable. That doesn't happen until the 90 day mark. So, all of this is a lie.
Which some people are unaware of, and there are slimy landlords who will try to scare unaware tenants into thinking they are evicted on the landlord's whim.
Load More Replies...
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