If my landlord lost my money order, am I responsible for any late fee?

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If my landlord lost my money order, am I responsible for any late fee?

My landlord lost my money order I gave her the stub number and she herself called and verified that the money order was not cashed. So I went stopped payment on it and paid a fee for that. I gave her a copy of the stop payment letter showing that it would take 4-6 weeks for a refund. She’s now trying to charge late fees since it took over a month to get a refund. When the money order was mailed to me I deposited the it and gave her a check with the attached letter showing the date the money order was received.

Asked on January 24, 2012 under Real Estate Law, Florida

Answers:

FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney

Answered 12 years ago | Contributor

If you actually gave your landlord a money order for rent and the landlord lost the money order, you should not be penalized with a late fee due to the landlord's carelessness assuming you paid the money order before the late fee assessement became due.

I would personally speak with the landlord as to what happened and follow up with a written letter confirming the telephone call confirming that the delay in depositing the rental funds was caused by the landlord's loss of the money order and not you.


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