Landlord failed to cash emergency rent voucher, now trying to collect 6 month later?

Status
Not open for further replies.

Shelly26

New Member
This issue gets quite convoluted, but I'll try to be as concise as possible.

First, I live in the state of Wisconsin.

In September, 2007 I became unemployed and could not make my rent payment. I contacted my landlord, who lives in another city, to discuss what we could work out. He said that because I've been such a good tenant for so long (4 years) that he'd work with me in the situation. Later that same month, I received a 5 Day pay or quit notice in the mail. I contacted him again, and he said it was policy. I knew I wasn't going to be able to make October rent either, so I went to our county Human Services Dept. and requested emergency rental assistance. I was granted $300 to put towards the month of September. I contacted landlord with this information and mailed him his copy of rent payment voucher as well as instruction on how to proceed to receive payment (he needed to sign it and return it to the Human Resources Dept.) I never heard another word from him about it.
Fast forward to the end of October, 2007. I'd finally found a job! I called landlord to let him know so that I could make arrangements to pay all of the back rent I owed. He didn't answer his phone, so I left him a message and requested he call me back. Two days later, he still had not returned my call, so I called again, and had to leave another message. I waited two more days without a response from him and called again, to have to leave yet another message. About a week later, I received notification in the mail that the property was to be taken over by a local property management agency effective Dec. 1, 2007. Since it is only mid November, I was unsure of who I should make the back rent payment to, so I contacted landlord again, with no answer. I left a message requesting information as to whom I should make the back rent payment to, him or the management agency. A full week went by with no response and I called again, left another message.
Now it is Dec. 1, 2007 and I made that months rent payment to the management agency as instructed by the letter I had received. A week or so later I receive a statement of account from the management agency stating that I owed $1475.00! I knew I owed for October, November, full months rent, and a partial month for September, but the amount on the statement included the amount that should have been paid by the emergency rent voucher I sent to the landlord back in September. I called the management agency, and they claimed to know nothing of this rent voucher and that as far as they were concerned, I owed the entire amount.
I called my landlord, and actually caught him on the phone! I asked him if he had ever received the rent voucher and he said that he did. He filled it out and returned it, but has never received payment. I then contacted the case worker that granted me the emergency assistance to find out how long it takes for a check to be mailed. She stated that the copy was never received back from the landlord, therefore, no payment was made. She said she would mail him another copy and that he should return it ASAP. I called landlord back to let him know this information and to let me know if he does not receive it so I can contact the case worker again. I never heard from landlord again.
January 2008, I paid rent to management agency. Two weeks later, received statement of account showing the same amount in back rent as in December!
I called landlord, but no answer, left him a message wanting to know if he had received the 2nd copy of rent voucher. No answer from him.
February, 2008, I paid rent to management agency and informed them that by the end of the month I would be paying the back rent due, less the $300 that should have been received by the rent voucher. I paid all back rent on Feb. 26, 2008 when I received my income tax refund. The management agency took payment from me by personal check and accepted a copy of my copy of the emergency rent voucher, and wrote me a receipt as paid in full.
March 2008, I received statement of account showing I owed $300!! I called management agency and asked why I still owed $300, and was informed that the rent voucher was stale dated and the county would not pay. I've called the case worker twice and left messages to return my call. I want to know what I need to do to have this voucher re-written so that payment can be made. As of today, April 1, I've still not been able to get ahold of caseworker nor landlord.

My question in all of this now, is.. am I still responsible to pay this $300? I feel that I've lived up to my end of the agreements made between landlord and myself and that this wouldn't even have been an issue if the landlord would have returned the voucher in a timely fashion, or contacted me to let me know that I needed to do more to resolve the issue, instead of just letting it slide. Not to mention, I have the receipt showing paid in full, signed by management agency who was hired by the landlord.

Please help!

Shelly26
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top