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First things first. What does your lease say about the method of rent payment?
If it gives you the option of paying by personal check or it's silent on how it's to be paid, under TX law they cannot change that (except if you bounced checks) without doing an amendment which you much agree to, or they have to wait for lease renewal to change the terms. They don't get to make a change to the lease on their own.
Additionally, if the lease has no provisions on the method of lease payment, under the same TX law, you can hand them cash and they are required to accept it and hand you a signed written receipt for the rent payment.
Fee or not, I would still pay online and just consider the fee as part of the rent. It will save all that running around, and you'll have proof of payment.
THE REcipient pays the fee,not the sender,what portal are you using??
you can get money order cheap at grocery store.
or postal order at the post office,even money order from the bank cost may be $5.
More and more merchants would not accept personal checks,our neighborhood auto mechanic has a big sign now.
Things are dicey out there.
what about paying via ACH,automated clearing house,you go to your bank account online and pay your landlord .you would need his bank account number and routing number,it is free and you have proof you have paid
If you have been required to use a money order to pay rent, what extra steps do you take to ensure that your landlord does not "lose" or say they didn't receive it.
Photograph it before you tear off the stub. Save it on your phone and computer. Print out a copy on paper and file it away.
Depending on where you buy it you might be able to go online and confirm that it was cashed and take a screen print of that as well.
1st thing (as mentioned above): Read the lease.
Mine is a "standard-form" lease and includes a paragraph on acceptable methods of payment, specifically includes personal checks (as delivered by stated means, IE: by hand, mail, etc.). And has a subparagraph about bounced checks.
Next: like you (the OP), I can pay on-line, with a ridiculous cc payment fee. OR pay on-line via bank-to-bank transfer, where I give them my banks routing number and my account number. I had been refusing to do this because of substantial concerns over my loss of control by that method. Once you allow that connection, you can NOT end it unilaterally. IE: if I move and the on-line payment service keeps taking that money, my bank's policy is that I have to go against the service. The bank won't honor my instruction to break that connection.
There is a way to end-around that huge cc fee or security risk. A "cut-out-account"
Find a bank that lets you open a savings account with no annual fee, and a reasonable (say $50 or less) minimum balance and doesn't charge you for your bank-to-bank transfers. Open that account as a one-purpose account, where you feed it your monthly rent payments via bank-to-bank from your main bank. and then let the on-line service pull from this new account. When you move you just close that account.
You may have to look a bit for a bank that is this flexible for the new account. My main bank had a huge minimum balance for any new accounts, but I found a small and local credit union that was very suitable.
It would basically be handing it to them. Just concerned because other tenants have told me that " money orders" are being lost and applied to wrong accounts. I wish they would just take the friggin personal check but then again it is not my property, haha
Then have them sign a receipt. This is not at all unreasonable to ask, and some places will do it anyway (it's CYA for them as much as you).
no one would want to spend $40 for a cashier check to pay his landlord.There is also Venmo
My kids pay their rent with Venmo - pretty much an industrial wide thing now.
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