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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Aug 2018
    Posts
    1

    Question Can a Landlord Revoke a Receipt for a Rent Payment, 9 Months After Issuance

    My question involves landlord-tenant law in the State of FL. I will try to make this as brief as possible while including pertninent details. I was a participant in the Federal Rapid Rehousing (FRRP) program in Clay County, FL. The local agency that dispenses the funds sends a bulk check to the apartment complex and the complex applies the correct amount to each tenants account. The tenant is then emailed a receipt from the bookkeeper with their name, address and amount received. At the time I was responsible for a portion of my rent and I liked to pay in advance because that made me eligible for a $25 discount on my rent.

    During the end of November 2017 I received two receipts for payment: one from the FRRP, as well as a full-months' rent paid as a Christmas gift from my parents. Every time I received a receipt, I entered it into a spreadsheet so that I was aware of credit or whether I owed rent on the first of the month
    At the end of March the FRRP paid a lump sum payment of $3,674.00 to be appplied to my account. According to my receipts and calculations my rent ($635/mo) was paid through Sept 2018 with an approximate $300 credit for the month of October 2018.

    I was served with a three day notice a few weeks ago. This is when I found out that the bookkeeper decided to remove the $800 payment from Nov 2017, for which I have a receipt. To be clear, the receipt was emailed to me from the bookkeepper and is completely filled out with my name and address. I was NEVER told that this was a mistake until I called to see what was going on. I was told they meant to apply the payment to another tenant, even though that leaves me with no credit from the FRRP and I was still in the program then. Apparently, I was also charged several late fees during this time frame due to the removal of the credit.
    Incidently, the apartment complex was about to be sold the same month the bookkeper decided to remove the credit to my account and nullifying my receipt (without EVER notifying me).

    Is this legal? Can a tenant receive a receipt for payment and then be told several months later that it was meant to go to another tenant (even though the receipt was emailed to me, has my name, address, phone number, etc in the receipt and there was no notification that it was a mistake)? Considering this is a payment from an agency, I do not have canecelled checks or anything of this nature. I have also since learned they were charging me $70 late fees every month the agency sent the check and it arrived on the 2nd of the month. That is not as big of an issue, but just curious if late charges are applicable in situations like this.

    I would appreciate any advice anyone can offer. If they file an eviction against me (which is likely as each day passes) will the receipts I have be acceptable to a judge?
    I will happily post a link to my spreadsheet for all payments I have receipts for if anyone is interested in looking at this more in depth.
    Thank you in advance for any advice or help you may offer.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Sep 2005
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    Default Re: Can a Landlord Revoke a Receipt for a Rent Payment, 9 Months After Issuance

    The issue here is whether or not you are current in your rent. If you go to court and claim, "I thought somebody made a payment on my behalf, because I got a receipt for the payment," and the landlord says, "We issued a receipt by mistake, no payment was received, and that money is still owed", then the court will have to figure out which story is correct. If the court concludes that the receipt was issued in error, you will be held accountable for the unpaid rent.

    If your rent is being paid by an agency, the agency will have records of the payments that it made on your behalf.

    Late fees may be assessed if you pay your rent late. Florida does not impose a statutory limit on the amount of a late fee, but the amount must be reasonable under the circumstances. If the agency that is paying your rent caused you to incur late fees through late payments, that is something you should discuss with the agency along with a discussion of how to ensure that no further late fees are incurred.

    It does not seem likely that the agency skipped your rent payment for a random month, when it is supposed to make a payment toward your rent every month. What's the back story?

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