Apartment update - extreme frustration edition

[eveglass]

You might remember, the last time I spoke about the apartment, that the woman from the landlord company had told me to go pay the first month's rent to the concierge to make everything official.

So tonight I went off to the apartment, chequebook in hand. Got there at 6:45. Rang the buzzer for the concierge. No answer. A nice tenant opened the inside door for me. I went upstairs and knocked on the concierge's door. No answer.

Fine. Maybe he's out for dinner or something. I went off to walk around the neighbourhood for an hour.

Came back at 7:45. Buzzed the concierge. Just as I was giving up hope that anyone would answer, I was buzzed in. Went upstairs. Met the concierge.

Small problem: not only did he have no idea that I was the new tenant for apartment 5, he had no idea there was a new tenant for apartment 5. "Sublet?" he asked. "No, lease transfer," I answered. Apparently no one at the landlord company thought to inform him that I'd be coming, or even that the lease was being transferred.


Fine. No problem. He got out his receipt book, I pulled out my chequebook. He started filling out a receipt and I got as far as the date on my cheque before he said, "Oh, we don't give receipts for cheques."

Fine. I'd actually read something just like this recently on the Montreal LJ community, that landlords don't give receipts for cheques because the cheque itself is a receipt. I tell him that I understand, and keep filling out the cheque.

I get as far as the "pay to the order of," when he starts getting uncomfortable. I finally figure out that apparently they only take cash.

Little warning bells start ringing in my head. The landlord company hadn't said anything about only cash. On the other hand, the woman was a bit hard to understand, so I may have missed it.

Only cash, huh? Yup, he says. Apparently he expected me to whip out over $700 in cash. Well, I don't really carry around that kind of money, but fine. There's a branch of my bank up the street and I just checked today that my withdrawal limit is more than $700. I offer to go get the cash and come back. Well, he says, he's just going off to work. Could I come back tomorrow? He might not be there tomorrow, but his wife will be, and she'll handle it.

Fine.

I leave. I make a mental note to call the landlord company tomorrow and find out about this whole "only cash" thing. Also to double-check that I'm not, in fact, signing a new lease and could they please email me the current lease so at least I have the whole thing in my files?

I want just one thing at this apartment to go smooth. I'm getting really, truly stressed out.


Edited to add: My experiences with them notwithstanding, the landlord company has a very spiffy website. You'd think with that good a website, they'd have the money to hire someone better to answer the phones. [/bitter]

Comments

[hoppibadge.livejournal.com]

I have never - ever - heard of a landlord that doesn't accept cheques. Landlords cannot ask for a deposit or advance payment of rent. They can ask you for a postdated cheque payable on the first of the month that you will be renting and to the order of the landlord.

There is a standard document from the Regie for the lease transfer, but it must be accompanied by a copy of the lease that is being transferred.

[eveglass.livejournal.com]

Right. I'm going to call the landlord's office tomorrow and find out what's going on in terms of this whole "no cheques" thing. My mom met with the concierge's wife, who apparently seemed quite competent. Her husband, whom I met, not so much, though admittedly that might have just been because I caught him off-guard when he was getting ready to go to work.

I signed the standard lease transfer from the Regie, but haven't received a copy of the actual lease yet. I'll tell them to fax it tomorrow, having just realized that we do, in fact, have a fax machine at home.

In any case, I'll figure it out tomorrow.

[hoppibadge.livejournal.com]

It's hindsight, I suppose, but you should have been provided with a copy of the lease at the time you signed the lease transfer. Without a copy of the lease, you really have no way of knowing the terms of the contract you're transferring to your name.

Good luck. It could be that all will be fine. I do agree with terheyt that the attitude and competency of the landlord and concierge is hugely important to a good quality of home-life as a tenant.

It's not too late

[terheyt.livejournal.com]

I've found that the biggest factor in having a great apartment is friendly, helpful, accessible landlords. If you're getting this much trouble over just giving them money, can you imagine what will happen if something goes wrong, like a plumbing problem?

Seriously, go look at some other apartments and at least give yourself the mental breathing room of options. Delay on handing over that $700 (it sounds like a convincing case of "missed connections" won't be hard to put together).

Stay with this one because this is a perfect place where you feel comfortable, not because you feel trapped and this is your only way out. Where you live is too big a part of your life to be unhappy with it.