Can a Landlord Forbid Payment of Rent by Certified Mail

My question involves landlord-tenant law in the State of: California

There have been disagreements about timeliness from time to time. My last lease extension changed from 3rd of Month grace to No grace and a doubling of late fee (which I have never been assessed in prior lease and 1 extension - with changes). This made me concerned re documentation. I have been sending my rent via Certified Mail most if not all of this lease extension period. My LL does not like it - she has to get the ticket from her box and stand in line. She complains it is not convenient for her (she used to use a service but changed to PO box some time ago). Of course, she can always redirect the letter to be delivered to her home, etc via the notice that gets delivered.

Her new lease says that she will not pick up any certified mail after September 1st. I am not allowed to pay rent via certified mail. California Tenant Handbook tells me that certified mail is the way for me to prove rent was paid on time if she tries to charge me a late fee. I mail my rent on the 1st - unless it is a Sunday/holiday then I mail the day prior.

Per handbook: rent is considered received on the mailing date (not postmark date). She simply says the postmark date will do - but this only works if she has retained the envelope. I overpaid my rent once and had to provide a copy of my check before she would refund the overage - even though she is supposed to keep records. (But I am not asking about that-just an illustration.)

I am only trying to find out if she can refuse to allow or ban me via my lease to send my check via certified mail.

Thank you.

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I am only trying to find out if she can refuse to allow or ban me via my lease to send my check via certified mail.

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She can. And I don't blame her for doing it.

As a former landlord I would do the same thing rather than have to go to the post office and pick it up. Having a tenant make me do that is insane and I wouldn't stand for it.

Use a little common sense here.

You can send first class mail with tracking and delivery confirmation (without a signature) for about the same price as certified mail. That tells you when the mail was delivered to her house. Make sure you send it far enough in advance so that it gets to her a couple of days before the due date. Don't ride the due date as that's just going to end of costing you money in late charges.

The alternative is print yourself up a supply of rent receipts, arrange to deliver your rent check personally on or before the due date, and hand her a pen and a receipt to sign.

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Quoting sdbelle

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My question involves landlord-tenant law in the State of: California

There have been disagreements about timeliness from time to time. My last lease extension changed from 3rd of Month grace to No grace and a doubling of late fee (which I have never been assessed in prior lease and 1 extension - with changes). This made me concerned re documentation. I have been sending my rent via Certified Mail most if not all of this lease extension period. My LL does not like it - she has to get the ticket from her box and stand in line. She complains it is not convenient for her (she used to use a service but changed to PO box some time ago). Of course, she can always redirect the letter to be delivered to her home, etc via the notice that gets delivered.

Her new lease says that she will not pick up any certified mail after September 1st. I am not allowed to pay rent via certified mail. California Tenant Handbook tells me that certified mail is the way for me to prove rent was paid on time if she tries to charge me a late fee. I mail my rent on the 1st - unless it is a Sunday/holiday then I mail the day prior.

Per handbook: rent is considered received on the mailing date (not postmark date). She simply says the postmark date will do - but this only works if she has retained the envelope. I overpaid my rent once and had to provide a copy of my check before she would refund the overage - even though she is supposed to keep records. (But I am not asking about that-just an illustration.)

I am only trying to find out if she can refuse to allow or ban me via my lease to send my check via certified mail.

Thank you.

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There is another method you can use that will get you the same results as certified mail. It is called return acknowledgment. You get a similar postcard in the mail, but instead of it being signed by your landlord it is signed by the mail carrier proving that it was delivered to her mailbox on a certain date.

The service LL is talking about is actually called "Return Receipt." You fill out the green postcard "Form 3811" and attach it to the letter. The problem is that you can't attach it to just any first class mail. It only applies to certified, registered, COD, or insured (over $500). What you could get what used to be called "delivery confirmation" which now has been glorified as "USPS TRACKING" but to get that you have to either use one of the eligible classes (certified, etc...) or elevated it to a "parcel." (You need to bulk up the envelope to more than 1/4" or such).

If you don't actually need proof of delivery but just proof you sent it you can get a "certificate of mailing" which puts no restrictions on delivery. The post office will stamp your form with the date (using the same postmark stamp they put on the actual envelope).

I do think your landlord is full of crap. She can say what she wants, but her failure to retrieve her mail from the post office will not mean anything with regard to the fact that you DID pay the rent anymore than if she just left it in her mailbox.

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Quoting flyingron

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The service LL is talking about is actually called "Return Receipt." You fill out the green postcard "Form 3811" and attach it to the letter. The problem is that you can't attach it to just any first class mail. It only applies to certified, registered, COD, or insured (over $500). What you could get what used to be called "delivery confirmation" which now has been glorified as "USPS TRACKING" but to get that you have to either use one of the eligible classes (certified, etc...) or elevated it to a "parcel." (You need to bulk up the envelope to more than 1/4" or such).

If you don't actually need proof of delivery but just proof you sent it you can get a "certificate of mailing" which puts no restrictions on delivery. The post office will stamp your form with the date (using the same postmark stamp they put on the actual envelope).

I do think your landlord is full of crap. She can say what she wants, but her failure to retrieve her mail from the post office will not mean anything with regard to the fact that you DID pay the rent anymore than if she just left it in her mailbox.

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I sympathize with the landlord. Certified mail is a pain in the behind to anyone who works a normal 8-5 job. There is just no way to pick up the mail except on Saturdays, and even then its a narrow window. Some people might be lucky enough to work close enough to their local post office so that they could do it on their lunch hour, but for most people the only option is Saturday. I wouldn't accept certified mail for the payment of rent either. However, I would work with the tenant to find some other means of accepting the rent where they could get a receipt or proof of payment.

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Quoting flyingron

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I do think your landlord is full of crap.

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I don’t think the landlord is full of it. Picking up certified mail can be a pain in the ass. The landlord is certainly within his/her rights to put into the lease a provision that prohibits the tenant from using certified mail and requiring something more convenient for the landlord. The tenant has the choice to accept what the landlord proposes, offer something else that the landlord might accept, or reject what the landlord wants and run the risk the landlord will terminate the tenancy with the current lease expires.

The landlord can include provisions where certified mail is unacceptable form of payment per CA Civil Code 1962(d)(3).

CA Civil Code 1962(f) states that the payment is considered posted if personal delivery is not allowable (and I don't think you can personally deliver to a PO box) on the date you mail it, not the date received. You will just need a receipt from the post office showing you mailed it on x date and the law presumes that is the date it is considered paid.

You can also demand your landlord provide you a receipt of payment to show that you did pay your rent if that is a concern.

I don't agree that CC 1962 (d) (3) when it refers to "form of payment" allows them to constrain the mail. Form of payment is talking about the instrument (cash, check, money order, etc...) not how it is delivered.