Location: Michigan Is that legal in Michigan? My understanding was that as long as I’m paying them with a legal instrument it should be accepted.
Location: Michigan Is that legal in Michigan? My understanding was that as long as I’m paying them with a legal instrument it should be accepted.
Comments
Yes it’s legal unfortunately. Most apartments these days require payment through an online portal or payment system you can use at a place like a grocery store where you can pay your utility bills with cash. Most do not accept cash or checks of any kind.
Edit: Don’t know why I’m being down voted. You can Google it and see in 30 seconds there’s no legal requirements for them to accept checks of any kind.
What does your lease say about payment. I’m not sure about Michigan but most states require the landlord to have alternative fee-free payment methods. Check your states laws!
In general, they can only require you to use the portal if your lease says they can require it.
No matter what they call it, the extra surcharge is is rent, and they cannot increase your rent during the term of your lease.
Page 4: https://www.legislature.mi.gov/publications/tenantlandlord.pdf
Your lease must state how you can pay rent
I live in Michigan and had something similar happen- does the portal work fee-free with a direct debit from checking account? That was the only way I got around it instead of using a debit card.
In my state they can force you to use the online portal, but they must still offer a fee free way to pay rent. In my case it’s what they call an “e-check”.
A lot of people say this but these portals usually have an option called ach or e-check which is where you use your checking account’s routing number and account number to directly debit the funds (same as a check basically) this option will be free.
I perfer paying digitally but my complex was charging a fee so I paid by check till they dropped the fee