Q: Rent to own homewner is claiming he did not receive money order for monthly payment.
It was dropped off on 4/8 and trackinf shows it cashed 4/10. He did not contact us until 4/15 to claim he did not get it. He is demanding a late fee and a double payment on the next due date. He also is requesting we revise our original agreement. He has not specified the changes he wants. We've been paying on time for the past 2 years. We were late maybe 3 times and each time we communicated with him and added the late fee. I sent in the money order and western union is going to send me a copy of the cashed money order so we can see who cashed it. I do not want to pay him until I know for sure that he did not cash it. He is unwilling to wait for communication from western union and has been texting daily. He has given us many reasons not to trust him. He is threatening legal action on us now. He said his lawyer says we have to pay him the late fee. Can he evict us?
A:
Dear Potential Eviction Client: While I endorse the efforts you are making to show the Owner that the Owner endorsed the payment, in the meantime if you are able to afford it I would strongly recommend you go ahead and expedite making the payment that is being demanded (a second time, in your viewpoint), but send it along with a cover correspondence outlining your entire legal position and that you are paying "under protest". Then later, if you can establish that owner endorsed/cashed your last payment, you will thereafter indicate that your double payment shall be credited accordingly. This is the better method than facing a [wrongful] unlawful detainer claim. If/when you prove the owner received your payment, the late fees shall be extinguished. As an aside, perhaps you should look into a payment method that has a better "paper trail". Lastly, as far as asking you to modify the Rent To Own agreement - of course that can be accomplished unilaterally (i.e. you have to agree to the proposed modification in a written Amendment to Agreement).
JIM GREER practices real estate law in CO and CA, and offers this response as a courtesy only; nothing herein constitutes legal advice as the questioner and the responder are not in an Attorney-Client relationship.
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