There is a certain apartment in downtown Halifax a very nice one I might add, that requires a security deposit cheque before you even agree to renting the apartment. They say it is because they only want serious renters and need to do a credit check on you before you rent. So then if you decide not to rent the apartment, the fuckers cash your post dated cheque anyway. Then the fucking bank says it is not up to them to read the date of the post dated cheque (September) and cash it anyway. Then they charge you an NSF fee. The person responsible for cashing the cheque doesn’t seem to answer the phone.
This article appears in Jul 17-23, 2008.
Sorry to burst your bubble but when applying for an apartment and putting a deposit to hold the apartment and if YOU decide YOU don’t want it they have the right to keep the deposit, it’s in the tenancy act…..If THEY back out THEY aren’t intitled to keep it
Jenn is right, that is the standard everywhere. BUT….if it was a reputable company (obviously not), they wouldn’t have attempted to cash it before the post date — they seemed to know what they were doing. Make sure you spread the word to your friends about them. (not here, but by word).One thing you can do, because the cheque was post dated, is go after the bank for the NSF charges. They can NOT charge you NSF charges when they are at fault for cashing it before the post date. They would lose that battle. Sorry this happened — hope you find a place you’re happy with. There are too many dishonest landlords…sometimes it takes a sting to make you be more careful and make sure this is the place you want to live. People are greedy and shady. I get references for THEM just like they do for me.
The banks are fundamentally dishonest and the cashing of post-dated cheques is one of their favourite money-makers. I had to let an employee go. Gave him three cheques – one for the pay day that fell on that same day, one for the hours he worked over the last week plus severance, and one for vacation. He mistakenly deposited all three at once. His bank passed them and so did mine (CIBC). His bank hit me for two NSFs at business rate and so did mine. I called CIBC. Huge fight. In the end “not their responsibility” to ensure dates, blah, blah, blah. No refund. Why, do tell, are we required to put dates on cheques if the banks will, do not, are not required to honour these dates?Only the banks have their own rule-making committee (what kind of fees do we want to charge this year? gouge? oh that sounds deeelish) and then get to have it sanctified by government in a rubber-stamp process.To the OP – sorry you got screwed.
I used to work for a bank and in regards to the cheque and the dates that are on them, when you give someone a post dated cheque it is an agreement between you and whoever you wrote the cheque to that they will not cash the cheque until the date that is written on the cheque. When they go to cash it the teller will look at the date and it is up to the tellers discretion to cash it,obviously the client that is trying to cash the cheque wants it cashed immediately so the teller usually will. You get hit with the NSF fee too god damn bad…when you opened your account at the bank you got a Account Opening Package detailing ALL the necessary information….and yes it does tell you about cashing cheques. Not just certain banks but ALL banks have to provide you with this information so you can call the banks shady as much as you like but they lay out all the information to you up front…if your too lazy to read the package or hell even call them before writing the cheque then it’s your fault not the banks fault.
You didn’t move in, though. Those deposits are supposed to be for people who actually rent the place, and if there are major damages that will cost the owner a lot of dough, it comes out of your deposit. If you didn’t move in, you couldn’t have damaged a thing. Not even a “little scratch” in the wall that’s barely noticeable. Therefore, the owner has to pay you back. You can file for a small claims case.
Sorry JJ but the OP can’t file a small claims case, the despoit is to HOLD the apartment, the OP backed out and changed her mind, they have the right to keep the cheque to cover their loss or expenses for the applicant backing out the OP should go to the bank to recoup the charges for the NSF fee for them cashing the post-dated cheque early!!