OK I live in a mediocre-at-best apartment in the lower part of Northeast Philly. It's a neighborhood that is not bad by any means, but has seen better days. I got the apartment on my own back in May 2005, and my lease expires April 1st 2006. At the lease signing, I was required to pay 3months rent upfront because I lacked rental history. Unlike most of the deadbeat derelict tenants in my building, I've always paid my rent on time. I am very credit-obsessed and conscientious about paying bills.
Two months ago, our building-full-o-deadbeats got sold to a different rental company(probably b/c the old management got tired of "pulling teeth" each month just to get some of the tenants to pay their rent). These new landlords are so nonexistent, it's at the point that I'm convinced they are mere robots. There is no rental office in our building, or there is, but is abandoned these days. The mailing address for the rent is a mere PO box in NJ, 2hrs from the apartment. The office phone number is a Philly area code number, but no one ever answers calls during business hours, or even checks messages(voice mailbox is ALWAYS full, I can't even leave a message!!!) Sound shady?
On January 28th, I sent out a money order for the rent amount to the NJ PO Box address. I had until February 5th for it to be considered "on time." On late afternoon of February 3rd, I get my rent "returned to sender" with a stamp saying "insufficient address." I tried frantically to call the rental office and explain what happened, notify them that the rent was on its way, confirm the mailing address, etc. I left a message asking them to call me back "immediately." I called 10000times in a stalker-esque fashion, never got a hold of ANYONE, never a return call, and as of Monday the voice mailbox was full again so I couldn't even leave another message. I've done everything I could to find out how I can get in touch. I notified the old management, they said they have "no idea" anything about how to reach the new management. I even tried contacting legal courts to file a tenant/landlord complaint for "landlord negligence," so that I could use this as evidence in court that I attempted to contact them if they try to sue for unpaid rent; but all I got was the "ringer," calling like 12 numbers and each time being pawned off to someone else and then wasting all these cell phone minutes. At this point I'm not comfortable re-mailling the rent, what if it gets returned to sender again, thus delaying more time...or worse, what if it gets lost? I only want to hand in the rent to them personally so I know that it reaches their hands. But I can't get in contact with them. I spent literally hours yesterday afternoon, making calls, crying my eyes out, and worried about what if they evict me. Because they've had so many problems with tenants not paying rent, they put up big lawsuit notices on the 10th of the month, and hang these in the front doorway to humiliate the delinquent tenant in front of everyone else. I severely fear getting taken to court for something that I never intended to happen.
I DIDN'T MAKE RENT PAYMENTS ON TIME ALL YEAR LONG, JUST TO DEFAULT ON RENT AT THE LAST MONTH. TRUST ME, IF I WANTED TO PAY RENT LATE, I WOULDA PAID LATE ON A MONTH THAT I WAS MORE IN NEED OF THE MONEY. IF I WANTED TO GET EVICTED FROM THIS SHITTY WHITE-TRASH/BLACK-TRASH APARTMENT BUILDING, I WOULDA MOVED OUT MONTHS EARLIER AND SAVED MUCHO DINERO IN CAR INSURANCE BY DOING SO. This just doesn't seem fair at all. I probably care the most about getting my rent paid, than anyone else in my building. I have the fucking money, obviously I meant for it to be on-time if the Money Order and envelope postage was days before the rent due date, all I wanted to do was pay my fucking rent and move outta this dump when my lease is up in April. At this point I'll probably be taken to court and have to pay all these late fees/court fees for something that isn't my fault. All because they are being ignorant/negligent and not allowing me to get in contact with them. My credit means a lot to me, the last thing I need is to get sued/evicted and get a public judgment on my credit. I spent literally all day yesterday crying to friends about this.


) Sound shady?
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I believe you Dottie and you have my support

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