State: MN
I am currently serving the last month of my tenancy, and was just notified on the 5th of the month that my rent is late.
Confused, I called the landlord to clarify, as security deposit and month's rent were paid prior to move in, and last month's rent was broken up over the following two months. This was all written into the lease agreement.
The landlord claims that they never received the last month's payments, and I payed them with money orders to facilitate the pooling of money with a roommate. Of course I did not retain the receipts for money orders (lesson learned).
However, when the roommate moved out in September 07, the landlord drew up a new lease agreement excluding said roommate and indicated security, first and last months' rent had been paid.
I have since provided landlord with my bank statements indicating cash withdrawls for the exact amounts that were due, on or about the dates that they were due according to the lease.
My queries are thusly:
1. Does the signed lease agreement indicating "paid" serve as a legal receipt?
2. If the payments were not received by the landlord as spelled out in the lease agreement, are they not required to notify me at that time, or can they wait until the end of the 1 year lease and demand last month's rent at that time?
I assured them that I am not trying to get out of paying rent, but am positive that it was paid. I have the funds available, but have a hard time paying again on principle.
Thank you in advance for any assistance you could lend.

