I wonder if landlord's knew how difficult it is for the tenants to pay rent?
By cream97
@cream97 (29087)
United States
March 8, 2010 12:52pm CST
Our rent is now due. My husband is sick and he is the only adult that is bringing income into our household. The money that I make is not enough to pay any major bills at all. I can't do anything. Our rent is $550.00 a month. And we got a letter on our door specifying that we now owe, $555.00 as of today. My husband works really hard to pay these bills in our home. He is doing what he should be doing. I know that many people find wrongful ways of paying their bills. But my husband has proven to be a man that does what is right for his family. I can't really work because of me having an Herniated Disc in my back. I wonder if my landlord realizes that we are struggling to pay our rent. Behind closed doors she has no idea how stressed out I am right at this moment. I am having a very hard time dealing with so many issues that is going on in my life. I feel so empty and tired. Evicting us will not solve anything. I know that she is just doing her job because of whom she works for. But it is a strain to me to have to figure out when our rent will be paid. My husband told me that he only needs $97.00 more to add with the other portion of the rent. Once he does that, he will pay this all in full, plus the few days of extra late fees. We have been late a couple of times, but we do our best to pay the rent here. If we don't pay the rent by the 11th of this month, then she will initiate an eviction for us. I just wonder if landlord's knew how hard it is for us, tenants, to have to pay the rent. We want to pay, we never fail to pay. Failing to pay, only means, that we refused to pay rent. But if we are just having a hard time paying the rent, what does that make the situation then?
My landlord does not except partial payments for rent. They used to do so here, but that has changed. How do you all feel when it comes to paying your rent? Do you think that landlord's have no idea how hard we have to struggle just to make ends meet in our life?
My landlord does not except partial payments for rent. They used to do so here, but that has changed. How do you all feel when it comes to paying your rent? Do you think that landlord's have no idea how hard we have to struggle just to make ends meet in our life?10 people like this
29 responses
@dawnald (85146)
• Shingle Springs, California
8 Mar 10
Same as the mortgage and the power company and etc. etc., they are all run by people, and sure, they know how hard it can be, but they run their jobs based on rules, and sometimes the rules are harsh. I hope you guys manage to come up with it in time...
As for the herniated disk, well, I had a really bad one and somehow I managed to work a desk job through it all. I found something that really helped, to where the excruciating pain I used to have is down to a tolerable ache. I know you don't have much money and this almost certainly won't be covered by insurance, but see if there's a chiropractor in your area who uses a device called "the disk pump". It could be a huge help.
3 people like this
@ausgc21 (340)
• Australia
9 Mar 10
I'm sorry to say, but it is not the landlord renting a place to tenants who have trouble paying the rent, but rather, it is the tenants renting a place that they can afford. If the landlord is renting the place with some amount that no tenants in the world would even consider moving in, that's when landlord nagotiates with his/her client and put down the rent.
Let's see it using another example - you've were very hungry and walked into a restaurant, had some nice food, but realised that you did not have enough money to pay. Do you think the restaurant should give you free food and let you go? Off course, I do personally think it would be very very kind and beautiful thing to do so. Although, the capitalist society is not so kind to us when it comes to money. Some one have to pay the money you did not pay, and to put a hand up for such role is not easy. Please think of what you had been doing in the past when you saw someone poorer than you on the streets. How often did you have a courage to go up to them and offer money from your free will? At least for me, it is not that easy thing to do.
Now, let's put aside all the mentally business. No matter what the theory is, 11th is just around the corner... If it is $97, then perhaps, why not consider paying by credit card? If not, I would try borrowing money from my friends and families. The landlord is just a stranger to you after all, but surely your firends and families are not strangers. In another word, if your friends and families won't help you, then landlord, the stranger, can't be expected to be of any help I believe...
As a person with such a generous personality who kindly cares about your family so much, I believe you surely have someone who is willing to help you out.
I wish you all the best.
@mslena75 (561)
• United States
9 Mar 10
I think it depends on what kind of set up your place has. We rent from a company, and I was surprised to learn that they have been really understanding for people that are getting behind on bills due to the economy being so poor. People are losing their jobs right and left, and there still doesn't seem to be an end in sight. I have been in financially straining times before, so I can understand how you are feeling. Is there perhaps someone that you know that could float you the $97? Have you tried talking to them to see if they can let you make it up? It doesn't hurt to ask. At the end of the day, it costs them much more to initiate the eviction and go to court than to wait a few extra days for a full rent. I can certainly empathize. I hope it works out for you.
@yushen1008 (357)
• Philippines
9 Mar 10
i know its difficult for you to be on that situation. my heart goes out to you. i just hope you can pay soon. it is really hard to come up with such money to pay all utilities if only one of you has a job. but your landlord should also be considerate enough to take a look into your situation right now.
2 people like this
@cream97 (29087)
• United States
9 Mar 10
Hi, yushen1008. Yes, she should be considerate about out situation but she acts like she is not concerned about what we are going through. She is just looking at how many times that we were late on our rent. Not, how many times that we paid the rent just so that we could continue to live in this apartment.
@jaiho2009 (39141)
• Philippines
8 Mar 10
hello cream,
I never experienced renting a house to live for.
My in-laws had 3 doors apartment before and i knew some tenants who also had some delays with paying their rents,but,i never heard any arguments or any issues with it.
As long as the tenants promised to pay the remaining balance then,it would be fine with my in-laws.
Calculating your rent converted to our denomination is a good sum,it can be lined to those family that earning at least a hundred pesos to afford the apartment you were renting now.
I know you can resolve this problem my dear.
I am thinking,if only 97 of your friends(mylotters)will ever send $1 each from mylot earnings...then,your problem will be fine
Sorry my friend...i can't just help thinking ways to help you...just a thought of it
Sorry my friend...i can't just help thinking ways to help you...just a thought of it @MightyLeo (58)
• India
8 Mar 10
They do understand this but what can be done. These people should understand instead of being professional. $555 why was that for... for paying late? If so them he must be cursed. In spite of knowing about your husband if this is his reaction then he is really an dumb person. Hope your life gets back to normal soon!! :) wish ya luck
@Hatley (163776)
• Garden Grove, California
8 Mar 10
Cream I am sure Leo is talking about your unfeeling landlord for not seeing that your husband is ill and hence cannot work right now. or I guess you said it was a landlady. could you try to talk her into waitingunti your husband gets the money?
2 people like this
@twoey68 (13627)
• United States
8 Mar 10
Many times they don't know the situation, but most of the time, even if they did know it wouldn't make a difference. That being said, you might want to go and talk to her...let her know the situation and at least that way she's kept in the loop.
You might also want to look at other options like finding cheaper housing. My Hubby is disabled and we qualified for disabled housing b/c of it...it really helps with our bills. Our rent is still high but much cheaper then most places here and our apartments are very well maintained.
[b]~~AT PEACE WITHIN~~
**STAND STRONG IN YOUR BELIEFS**[/b]
2 people like this
@cream97 (29087)
• United States
8 Mar 10
Hi, twoey68. I called and informed her that my husband is really sick and that he was sick since Sunday. But she just insisted that we do our best in paying rent before the 11th. She did not say that she hopes that my husband will feel better very soon or anything. It just makes it all stressful to me because, I already have to take care of everything while my husband is sick.
@laydee (12798)
• Philippines
15 Mar 10
I think they do realize that it's difficult for you to make ends meet, but they too have responsibilities and also have troubles making ends meet as well. My aunt is also a landlord and she tells me that when a renter is late on his/her dues, she suffers as well because she has already budgeted the amount for medicines and other responsibilities, which means that if she doesn't or cannot collect on time, then she would not be able to take her medication and that she'd also be late to paying her bills. Unless of course if your landlady is a rich old lady who's only happiness is seeing people hard-up.
1 person likes this
@cream97 (29087)
• United States
15 Mar 10
Hi, laydee. I can understand if a landlord is a private landlord, then if a tenant does not pay on time then of course the landlord will be short when collecting the rent money. But, if an landlord is a public landlord, then this money goes towards paying off of this property. Not the landlord's own personal pocket.
@sid556 (30960)
• United States
9 Mar 10
Hi Cream,
I know that some of them do actually realize that it is difficult to come up with rent each month. Do they care? Not so sure that they do. They just want their money as it is their form of income and what they use to pay the taxes on the property. Most of the rents around here are 800.00 to 1000.00 per month with nothing included. It's ridiculous. I am lucky in that I'm in subsidized housing. My rent is close to what you pay and I understand how you struggle. I have only my income in which to pay the bills and the rent. I figure that above all, I need to pay my rent each month. Nothing else much matters if I'm homeless. Like you, I had trouble keeping track of everything and still making sure I had my rent on time. Sometimes I cut things uncomfortably close. So what I did was divide my total rent by 4 and each week when I get paid, I set that amount aside and don't touch it for any reason. The rest of the money is put in an account to be used for other bills, groceries etc. I pay my bills on line through my bank and that helps me to see exactly what I have and what I can spend. Not sure if this would work for you or not. It helped me a lot and reduced the stress of the rent being paid a lot.
@cream97 (29087)
• United States
10 Mar 10
Hi, sid556. Thank you for your advice. My husband pays all of the bills here. He keeps up with what needs to be paid. I don't sometimes like the way that he pays his bills. I have asked him to let me keep up with all of the dates so that he won't miss any payments. But he never answered me. I think that he wants to be the man and pay every bill when he feels like it. I am the type of person that can keep up with what needs to be paid vs what does not need to be paid.. But, I am not the one that has the money to pay the bills, only he does.
@pastorkayte (2255)
• United States
9 Mar 10
I dont know where you live, but in the US she cant initiate eviction on missing one payment, you have to miss at least 3 payments and get a five day notice then they would have to give you a pay or quit notice, then they have to do a eviction process which is both expensive and time consuming, then the court gives you time to find a place, and if they accept any money from you the whole process starts all over from the date they accepted the money, if I were you I would offer to give what you do have which starts the process over. Then pay when you have the rest.
@pastorkayte (2255)
• United States
9 Mar 10
Again if you are in the US, tell her to evict you, if you are in another country you may not want to but if you are in the US tell her to evict you, she knows she cant, see the thing is that the court is not going to evict you like that and some landlords try to scare their lower income tenants and I think that is just wrong. But you have rights and you tell her either you take what I have, wait for me to get it or evict me. Trust me Evicting you will cost a lot more for her than you owe her.
1 person likes this
@pastorkayte (2255)
• United States
9 Mar 10
Oh and tell her you did not miss the three payments yet but if she keeps bothering you, you will have to start saving your money so that when the three payments are late you have a chance to move so you cant pay her at all. Dont actually do that because you really owe her but it will make her lay off, some people just are rude and mean and if you have never been late you dont have to deal with it. Learn your rights and look up the rules on eviction in your area. If I find it I will write it here.
1 person likes this
@3SnuggleBunnies (16374)
• United States
8 Mar 10
I'm sure they do know. The difference is who owns your home...is it a couple using it as an investment property who may be more reasonable to talk with an investment or real estate investment company. Sadly the 11th is right around the corner. ((hugs)) I hope you can come up with the $97 in time.
2 people like this
@shamsta19 (3224)
• United States
9 Mar 10
Our landlord never knows, but at the same time he has his own burdens, and I understand that too. They have "rent" to pay and maintenance but overall they are still making more money than the tenants. I couldn't imagine being a landlord in this recession right now. I recently had to move because of not being able to pay the rent. I know I was stressed out because you start feeling insecure of oneself. Like I failed somewhere and now I cannot afford the roof over my head. It wasn't the end of the world and the move actually proved to be profitable but it was going through it that hurts a little bit. If the landlords knew half of the struggles we went through maybe they cry too. My previous landlord was very gracious in allowing us to make partial payments for almost a year and even lowered the rent for our entire apartment complex while we were going through stressful economic times (2008). In the end we had to move on though. I fear now we may be in for the same ride again if things don't pick up soon..
2 people like this
@red_amethyst (3518)
• Philippines
30 Mar 10
Hello cream,
This was posted three weeks ago, and the 11th day came already. I wonder what happened, maybe I can look to your newer discussion.
Anyway, paying rent is really difficult. But we have no choice as we don't own a house. Me and my family are just renting a house right now, and I hope I can have my own house. The rent is eating almost half of our income monthly. And its hard to manage other expenses when only half is left. Though, our landlord here are more patient. Some tenant would even have three months over due and the landlord would not force to evict them.
I am hoping that you are able to raise the $97. Take care
@cream97 (29087)
• United States
30 Mar 10
Hi, red_amethyst. My husband paid the rent that Sunday before Monday. Our rent is due in advance. We was only just a week late on our rent and if we did not pay it then the manager would do the eviction process on the 11th which is that following Monday. I felt that we was not all that late. Like you have mentioned in this discussion, that tenants can be three months behind and the landlord would not force them to move. It is different here where we are living at. I think that he new boss makes this decision. They should try to be more lenient with people, especially the ones that are working hard at trying to make it. We are not being lazy but at least I can say that my husband does go out to work each and everyday. Some of these guys that live out here, stand loitering around all day long. They don't work at all. They look normal but they just watch people leave their apartment all day long, which can be very annoying. I wished that some people could see the hard working ones vs the ones that are just plain lazy with no shame.
1 person likes this
@lovinangelsinstead21 (36850)
• Pamplona, Spain
23 Mar 10
Hiya cream,
Hope your situation has settled more now. I think that those landlords know alright but they are not interested in anything except seeing the money that goes in their pockets. If she was so considerate she would have let you pay at least some of it till you got into better conditions.
This is what the Bank does to you now if you can´t pay extra interests and more interests. They forget that they can find themselves in the same situation in a very dire situation.
Many months we have been like this too as we are self employed so we don´t have any fixed wage coming in amd the sigh of relief when we are able to scrape the money together. I have been so near to being there myself too. Take care now.
1 person likes this
@gabs8513 (48686)
• United Kingdom
16 Mar 10
The Thing is Cream all they care about is their money
There are a lot of People struggling and no the Landlords are not bothered well not all of them, but where you are living it sounds to me that it is not a nice Place
I hope you are able to pay your Rent
1 person likes this
@ronaldinu (12422)
• Malta
9 Mar 10
I understand that you cannot go working outside cos of your herniated disc. However can you seek a real on-line job such as teleworker? I know that finding a job is not easy in this date and time cos of the economic crises but one must keep trying. Can you seek help from the social services? Can you find cheaper rent? Are there any places with subsides rent in your country?
I guess the landlord is there to make money. Unfortunately all they see is dollar notes and sometimes they fail to see their tenants as human beings who can fall sick or get unemployed.
I owe my home. I had to have a big sum of a mortgage (which I am still paying) and it is automatically deducted from my bank account. If I fail to pay the mortgage three months consecutively they will evict me out of my own house and the bank will take possession of the property.
1 person likes this
@scarlet_woman (23463)
• United States
9 Mar 10
i think on average,most landlords don't care if someone's having a hard time.
especially the ones who have a mortgage on the places they rent to other people.
but you can get help from some churches and also the salvation army-they have funds to help people in need.they will usually give you a one time help if you explain your situation if their budget for assistance hasn't been used up for the year yet.
1 person likes this
@JenInTN (27514)
• United States
9 Mar 10
They know alright..they just don't care about that stuff. It's about the money. I can't understand why they son't take partial payments for rent though. That could buy you a little time and pay part of what you owe in case the landlord had a bill going out theirself.
1 person likes this
@Java09 (3075)
• United States
9 Mar 10
I feel for your situation,but I must say that landlord's do not care what's going on in your life,they just want the rent money.I would not know what to do if it were me.Usually the landlord's use the money to pay mortgage on the property,so I don't think they would be very understanding if you don't have their money.I think if this happened to me,I would go to the homeless prevention.They help pay your rent if you're facing eviction.maybe try rent asisstance program.There has to be resources in your area that will help you out.
1 person likes this
@Professor2010 (20162)
• India
16 Mar 10
Hello you are right, as you have problems, he too may have, he has to pay the elecrticity, water dues, taxes etc, might be refunding the loans from bank for the construction of this home, it is better to sit together and solve this problem
Bhuwan
1 person likes this
