Landlord tried to Charge my Rent Twice and is Now Charging Fees

Location: Pittsburgh, PA

Oh boy, this ones messy.

For starters, I am a good tenant. I have never (literally never) missed a rent payment, my credit is somewhere in the 700 range depending on when you look (despite me being a fresh graduate, I turn 21 this month), I am not noisy (I work at night and sleep during the day), I have good relationship with all of my neighbors -/ literally anything I could even think of being a problem, I have tried to solve. I clean up trash the people who live behind and above me leave, I plant flowers outside so the house looks decent -/ I do everything imaginable to make what I hoped to be a temporary apartment look like a home.

And I haven’t really had any issues with my landlord – UNTIL THIS MONTH. Oh my god, even thinking about this is about to make my blood boil. My rent is 675 dollars, paid on the first of the month, with an added convience fee of 3 dollars, and my water, sewage, and trash bill is 75 dollars, for a grand total of every month being responsible for 753 dollars – again, I have NEVER not paid this amount.

So on the first of the month my landlord tried to charge 1428 to my bank account. Why? I don’t know, it was a double charge, I’ve asked numerous times, they haven’t responded to me (they do not often respond to me). I have an auto authorization limit of 760 dollars on my account to prevent them from taking out any more than 760 dollars -/ because, well I DONT PAY THEM ANY MORE THAN 760 DOLLARS A MONTH BECAUSE THAT IS WHAT I AM LEGALLY REQUIRED TO PAY. So my bank account doesn’t authorize it.

Now, come the 5th, they have charged me a 100 dollar “late” fee -/ which, my rent was not late, I submitted a payment in my buildings online portal for my rent amount AND a returned payment fee of 50 dollars for not paying the 1428 dollar bill they tried to charge on my account. I told them I wasn’t going to pay any fees because this is a problem they have done, and they said they can remove the 100 late fee as a “courtesy” but the 50 cancellation fee will still apply -/ and when I said I was not going to pay either fees because this is their fault, they said that if I dispute this further, they will be unable to to remove the 100 late fee as well.

Now, let me share the part of my lease that’s relevant: the rent payment part. PLEASE NOTE THOUGH; I DID NOT HAVE ACCESS TO MY LEASE UNTIL SEPTEMBER 4TH — IF YOU’RE READING THIS THE DAY I POST THIS, THAT WAS Y E S T E R D A Y — and I ONLY have access to it now because I requested it via text – mind you, she never responded to my text when I asked her if fees would be applied and I couldn’t look at the lease -/ I HAD ZERO ACCESS TO IT. Specifically the part my landlord is citing to me is F and G: tennant agrees that all payments will be applied against outstanding additional rent that is due before they will be applied against the current rent due, when there is no outstanding additional rent, prepayment will be applied to the months rent that would be due next; and tenant will pay a fee of 50 for any payment that is returned or denied by any financial institution for any reason, if payment is returned of declined, the grace period does not apply and late charges will be calculated from the due date. Any late charges will continue to apply until a valid payment is recieved.

the EXACT screenshot of my lease

TLDR; I didn’t have access to my lease for MONTHS -literally my entire tennancy until YESTERDAY – but my landlord charged my account multiple times, and it was declined because I didn’t authorize them to take multiple payments out, only the amount that I owed them (and I added an extra little bit in there too to make sure my ass was completely covered). I made sure my rent was paid ON TIME (I made sure that my rent was posted AND I HAVE A RECIEPT FOR IT on AUG 3RD) and I am being hit with a late fee of 100 dollars and a returned payment fee of 50 dollars because I didn’t authorize them to take out the money. Someone tell me what to do because frankly this situation has caused me SO much heart ache.

RELATED COMPLAINTS WITH MY LANDLORD: I mentioned I’m a good tenant, but I didn’t share how absolutely shitty my landlord is. My landlord came into my house without my consent while I was on vacation. She moved my bike, she moved my tables -/ and the only reason why I know this is that my neighbor let me know -/ I WAS 5 1/2 HOURS AWAY. And NOBODY contacted me. My banister outside is made out of wood -/ it gave my disabled mother splinters. Grass grows in between the cracks of my tiles outside, making it SUPER hard to walk on. Glass is shattered all throughout my flower bed, not even sure how that happened but it’s there. There’s cracks in my doorstep, making my house super hard to get into. THERE IS GARBAGE EVERYWHERE. EVERYWHERE! IF I DO NOT CLEAN IT UP, IT STAYS THERE. The upstairs neighbor moved out like a month ago, theres ants infesting her apartment from rotting meat, who wakes up with ants crawling on her? Me. I do.

And then I get charged fees for not authorizing them to take double my rent out.

PLEASE ask me questions if you have any. I have so much to talk about and it’s so exhausting because I literally do not know what to do, and I know they’re taking advantage of the fact I am young but, fuck, I am so over it.

Happy birth month to me