Outstanding checks for hangar rent. Any ideas how to handle this?

Country Flier

Country Flier

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So I'm having a little problem (admittedly, not a huge deal) with my hangar rent checks not being cashed. My airport is owned / run by the township where it is located. I've had a hangar there for many years. For most of those years, the FBO handled the hangar rent (it was part of the FBO agreement to "manage" the hangars). Since I love "hangin' at the hangar" and go there several times a week, I would always just physically hand my rent check to the FBO. Saved a stamp, and I knew it was received. Usually then, the check would be cashed within a couple of days after that. Worked great!
About a year ago, the FBO ran afoul of the township, and they are now in a legal battle, w/FBO suing township, township trying to evict FBO. The township has taken over managing the hangars, and I have to pay the township directly now. They will not let me pay in advance (I've asked). They will not let me hand deliver the checks (I've asked). I MUST mail them....ok, that in itself is no biggie I guess, except for this: the township then takes several months to cash each check.
I know some might be asking, "what's the big deal?" Well...#1, I never know if they have received my rent. #2 My checkbook hasn't been in balance in months. #3 Who, in this day and age, only takes a check anyway? (My hangar rent is literally the only check I write anymore).
Over the summer I called the newly designated airport manager, who said its the township's fault. I called the township supervisor, who said its the airport managers fault (and then a little later I got an angry phone call back from the airport manager yelling at me that he was now "in trouble"...whatever, I yelled back at him to do his damn job, not that it changed anything as a look at my account shows I have two months of checks not cashed as of today).
I'm seriously thinking of just no longer paying rent until they start to evict me...then I'll either move to another airport (lots of open hangars around this area, although much higher priced) or just pay the rent in arrears.
Sorry so long, but anyone have a better idea?
 
Country Flier said:
So I'm having a little problem (admittedly, not a huge deal) with my hangar rent checks not being cashed. My airport is owned / run by the township where it is located. I've had a hangar there for many years. For most of those years, the FBO handled the hangar rent (it was part of the FBO agreement to "manage" the hangars). Since I love "hangin' at the hangar" and go there several times a week, I would always just physically hand my rent check to the FBO. Saved a stamp, and I knew it was received. Usually then, the check would be cashed within a couple of days after that. Worked great!
About a year ago, the FBO ran afoul of the township, and they are now in a legal battle, w/FBO suing township, township trying to evict FBO. The township has taken over managing the hangars, and I have to pay the township directly now. They will not let me pay in advance (I've asked). They will not let me hand deliver the checks (I've asked). I MUST mail them....ok, that in itself is no biggie I guess, except for this: the township then takes several months to cash each check.
I know some might be asking, "what's the big deal?" Well...#1, I never know if they have received my rent. #2 My checkbook hasn't been in balance in months. #3 Who, in this day and age, only takes a check anyway? (My hangar rent is literally the only check I write anymore).
Over the summer I called the newly designated airport manager, who said its the township's fault. I called the township supervisor, who said its the airport managers fault (and then a little later I got an angry phone call back from the airport manager yelling at me that he was now "in trouble"...whatever, I yelled back at him to do his damn job, not that it changed anything as a look at my account shows I have two months of checks not cashed as of today).
I'm seriously thinking of just no longer paying rent until they start to evict me...then I'll either move to another airport (lots of open hangars around this area, although much higher priced) or just pay the rent in arrears.
Sorry so long, but anyone have a better idea?
Click to expand...

Just use your bank’s auto bill pay service… mine is free….same amount paid each month to the same address. If it takes them forever to cash the check the bill pay service gets extra interest; it leaves your bank when the payment is made. No paper checks, no stamps, no hassle.
 
Brad Z said:
Just use your bank’s auto bill pay service… mine is free….same amount paid each month to the same address. If it takes them forever to cash the check the bill pay service gets extra interest; it leaves your bank when the payment is made. No paper checks, no stamps, no hassle.
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Hmmm, so how exactly does this work? Does it send them a check? I've asked, several times, for alternate payment methods such as CC, direct bank transfer, etc...the township refuses to accept anything but a check.
Edit: they refuse everything but a MAILED IN check.
 
Country Flier said:
So I'm having a little problem (admittedly, not a huge deal) with my hangar rent checks not being cashed. My airport is owned / run by the township where it is located. I've had a hangar there for many years. For most of those years, the FBO handled the hangar rent (it was part of the FBO agreement to "manage" the hangars). Since I love "hangin' at the hangar" and go there several times a week, I would always just physically hand my rent check to the FBO. Saved a stamp, and I knew it was received. Usually then, the check would be cashed within a couple of days after that. Worked great!
About a year ago, the FBO ran afoul of the township, and they are now in a legal battle, w/FBO suing township, township trying to evict FBO. The township has taken over managing the hangars, and I have to pay the township directly now. They will not let me pay in advance (I've asked). They will not let me hand deliver the checks (I've asked). I MUST mail them....ok, that in itself is no biggie I guess, except for this: the township then takes several months to cash each check.
I know some might be asking, "what's the big deal?" Well...#1, I never know if they have received my rent. #2 My checkbook hasn't been in balance in months. #3 Who, in this day and age, only takes a check anyway? (My hangar rent is literally the only check I write anymore).
Over the summer I called the newly designated airport manager, who said its the township's fault. I called the township supervisor, who said its the airport managers fault (and then a little later I got an angry phone call back from the airport manager yelling at me that he was now "in trouble"...whatever, I yelled back at him to do his damn job, not that it changed anything as a look at my account shows I have two months of checks not cashed as of today).
I'm seriously thinking of just no longer paying rent until they start to evict me...then I'll either move to another airport (lots of open hangars around this area, although much higher priced) or just pay the rent in arrears.
Sorry so long, but anyone have a better idea?
Click to expand...
Brad Z said:
Just use your bank’s auto bill pay service… mine is free….same amount paid each month to the same address. If it takes them forever to cash the check the bill pay service gets extra interest; it leaves your bank when the payment is made. No paper checks, no stamps, no hassle.
Click to expand...
My banks bill pay does it two different ways when they have to send a paper check. Sometimes they deduct from the account immediately and send it. Sometimes they send it and then deduct when it's cashed. I can't find a logic in when they do it one way or the other. If they do the deduct and then send, there is no feedback on whether not it has been cashed without calling and have them trace it.
 
Check your online banking site. Our bank will, for some payees do a direct payment. I assume it's just a bank to bank transfer. This for larger payees such as large utilities. Smaller lesser known things or to pay individuals they mail a check and it takes a few days. For the larger utilities, credit cards, etc... that offer ebills, you can set it up to pay a fixed amount or to pay the balance, or some other amount....and you can even set it up to pay on the due date or a set number of days before....
 
My credit union sends a paper check (to smaller businesses that don’t accept electronic transfers) but it works as if I’d sent it, it’s never deducted from my account until the receiver cashes it, so in your boat I’d have the same problem. That is really bizarre that a township doesn’t know how to accept money and or cash checks in a timely manner. Can you write “Void if not cashed within 20 days” or something on the check?
 
Country Flier said:
No.
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Not properly handling public funds is really stupid. If State Auditors were reviewing the township’s records they would cite them for that irregularity.

I’d show up at at Township Trustee’s meeting and ask them why their procedures are so screwed up.
 
Sounds annoying. We have issues with our county water service- they only send out bills on little postcards which frequently get lost in the mail(I get my neighbor’s now and then). They offer no online or credit card payment options. To make it worse if you’re behind they notify you via a robo-dialer which doesn’t always leave a voicemail so you may not ever get notified(they do this for boil orders too, yay).

So, shortly after moving in my water got shut off with no notice. Drove into town to pay it, the number of signs they had up basically saying nothing is their fault is telling as well as the attitude of the office workers.

Usually my prompt to pay a bill is… you know, getting a bill to pay. Now I have a monthly reminder in my phone to make sure it’s been paid by the due date. This is my only bill that isn’t just automatic or online and it drives me nuts.
 
Lindberg said:
When you balance your checkbook, you should account for outstanding checks. It's still balanced.... But who balances a checkbook in this day and age?
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I don’t balance the paper register anymore, I don’t even record transactions there except the rare occasion I write a paper check. The real register is digital and easy to balance, it does the math for me. But even then if a check doesn’t come through in a timely manner it bothers me. It’s hanging out there unresolved. Did it get lost in the mail? Did my nephew not get his birthday check? I’m sorry for all the times as a youth I took too long to cash my aunts’ birthday checks.
 
So let me add to the discussion of the Bill Pay option through your bank/credit union. I pay a number of bills this way because I hate the old check method, but some people, as you mentioned don't take CC or other payment methods. (I pay my club dues/flight costs, rent, vet bill for the farm, etc. using this method.) So here's how it works:

1. Enter the Payee information - Name, address, and if applicable account number
2. Select payment amount - My trash bill is automatic, but obviously my flight costs vary month to month
3. Select payment date - IMPORTANT: This is the day the money will come OUT of your account, not necessarily the date that your payee will receive the payment. If it needs to be in by the 1st, make the withdrawal date the 27th or so. Also, make sure that if payday is the 28th, your payment doesn't come out on the 27th.

This has several benefits:
1. Your registry stays balanced because the money is already removed from the account on the front end, rather than waiting until the payee cashes it.
2. If there's an issue and the payee doesn't receive the payment, any late fees may be defrayed by the bank if you submitted it in time and the check legitimately got lost in the mail (not the old "it got lost in the mail" excuse)
3. You don't have to keep buying checks. The bank puts it out professionally and makes sure that it gets where you told it to go (side note, I put the wrong address on one payee and it went to the "wrong" address)
 
Get new checks.

Have "VOID AFTER 90 DAYS'' printed on the checks and make sure your bank will actually honor that date.

Since you have to mail it in, send them with signature required at delivery.
 
Zeldman said:
Get new checks.

Have "VOID AFTER 90 DAYS'' printed on the checks and make sure your bank will actually honor that date.

Since you have to mail it in, send them with signature required at delivery.
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Checks are not valid after six months. Implementing a 90 day limit wouldn't really be necessary... just an extra restriction.
 
Bob Noel said:
Checks are not valid after six months. Implementing a 90 day limit wouldn't really be necessary... just an extra restriction.
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And it wouldn't vitiate the obligation to pay rent, it would just require the OP to write an additional check....
 
Lindberg said:
And it wouldn't vitiate the obligation to pay rent, it would just require the OP to write an additional check....
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Correct, but the check writer could push that the rent was paid but the check receiver failed to cash the check in the time required, just to be troublesome. It just takes a phone call to the bank to accept the check in question so the receiver will have to re-submit the check, no second check needed.
 
As mentioned use your bank's bill pay service. You initiate everything online and can even set up auto payments so You do not even need to submit each month. If vendor you are paying is not set up for direct payments they send a paper check but it is out of your account with a record of payment.

That is much different from allowing vendors to pull from your account directly...NEVER do that, always use the bill pay system to push out payments that you initiate.

Checks are actually a HUGE security risk with your account # and routing number out there for the world to see...and the paper is worthless...now checks are scanned and it is all digital processing.

I have not written a check in years.
 
NealRomeoGolf said:
I guess we need a lesson on what it means to balance a checkbook...

Sorry, accountant. Couldn't let it go.
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Sigh...the nits that are often picked at this website...Sorry, I should have said "reconciled" not "balanced". Better? LOL Maybe "balance doesn't equal actual" or something...I'm just a doctor, not an account.
 
I borrowed a hangar for Sep/Oct in parallel with my annual.

(I park in a shade port at this time. Soon to be promoted?)

The person to whom I sent the checks hasn't cashed them yet. I don't care.

If he does before April 2022, we don't have anything to talk about. If he muffs it up, we do, if he bothers to reach out.
 
My parents had a dog walker who did this. Never cashed their checks. I finally had to read her the riot act. And she can't have been making any money, so I don't know why on Earth she would sit on the pay.
 
judypilot said:
My parents had a dog walker who did this. Never cashed their checks. I finally had to read her the riot act. And she can't have been making any money, so I don't know why on Earth she would sit on the pay.
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Seinfeld did an episode about this very thing.
 
I'd probably open another account at a new bank keep enough in there for a year or rent. Write the checks and mail them. Every 11 months check the account and refill monies.

Or send a letter you're putting the rent into an escrow account until they get there act together
 
saracelica said:
I'd probably open another account at a new bank keep enough in there for a year or rent. Write the checks and mail them. Every 11 months check the account and refill monies.

Or send a letter you're putting the rent into an escrow account until they get there act together
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Would the escrow account be a legally viable option? If so, how would you be able to clearly define "getting their act together?"

The new bank account isn't a bad idea. I'd go back as far as they haven't cashed the checks, cancel those checks, put the money in a new account and transfer money monthly into that account where future checks would be written from so that they could cash them at their leisure without it affecting his checkbook balancing.
 
My shared hangar owner very rarely cashes the checks, maybe three times a year. No big deal to me, because I use a separate account for the plane and I don't even look at it much.
 
saracelica said:
I'd probably open another account at a new bank keep enough in there for a year or rent. Write the checks and mail them. Every 11 months check the account and refill monies.

Or send a letter you're putting the rent into an escrow account until they get there act together
Click to expand...
You just gave me an idea...they said I can't pay in advance...how about instead, I mail one envelope, with 12 checks, each post-dated ahead to the correct month, with each month's rent. They can cash them or not...IDC, I've sent them. It would only require one mailing, which I could verify they received by calling.
 
Country Flier said:
You just gave me an idea...they said I can't pay in advance...how about instead, I mail one envelope, with 12 checks, each post-dated ahead to the correct month, with each month's rent. They can cash them or not...IDC, I've sent them. It would only require one mailing, which I could verify they received by calling.
Click to expand...

Registered mail is your friend.
 
Visit the township clerks office monthly and pay in pennies...
 
Country Flier said:
You just gave me an idea...they said I can't pay in advance...how about instead, I mail one envelope, with 12 checks, each post-dated ahead to the correct month, with each month's rent. They can cash them or not...IDC, I've sent them. It would only require one mailing, which I could verify they received by calling.
Click to expand...

When you use your bank's bill pay, you specify the date of delivery. So you can order 12 checks at one sitting, each with a different date. I think you're expecting too much of them to keep track of your envelope and pull out the right check each month.

Have you talked to your hangar neighbors; are they having the same experience?
 
judypilot said:
My parents had a dog walker who did this. Never cashed their checks. I finally had to read her the riot act. And she can't have been making any money, so I don't know why on Earth she would sit on the pay.
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Maybe she didn’t want bother paying self employment taxes.
 
Ive always wondered about that Void After XX Days. Could you set your own date?
Maybe send the check to the township the same as if it were a water or garbage bill whatever, fill in the memo portion and wait for the airport manager to try and balance his books!
futurama-shut-up-and-take-my-money-card-34_be0be82d-676d-46d3-8fa4-7095e8dc9cf7.jpg
 
Van Johnston said:
...Have you talked to your hangar neighbors; are they having the same experience?
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Yes...apparently I'm the only one bothered by this, and I'm now referred to as "the whiner", specifically for calling the township super. I should mention, they all seem to love the new airport manager (why, I honestly have no idea, not that he's a bad guy personally, he's just done next to nothing in his new role but blame others for the airport's problems).
 
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Wait until they lose a check or two and then send you an official Township letter stating your account is in arrears and if you don't pay they'll start adding interest or fines and eventually evict you.
Set up the auto bill pay (sends a physical check every month) like mentioned above and be ready to fire the evidence of payment back at them when they screw up and blame you.
Been there & done that twice and it still chaps my @ss!
 
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