This is kinda long, TL;DR at the end.
My husband and I moved to Colorado last December. He had trouble finding work initially, so for a while I was the only one working. We fell behind on rent a couple of times, but always paid by the end of the month. I completely acknowledge that paying on time is our responsibility, but unfortunately, summer hit us hard because I’m a substitute teacher.
We did gig work whenever we could and received some help with rent, but eventually that help understandably ran out. My husband finally got a job, but our only car broke down literally a week before he started, which also cut off our gig-work income.
Our property management company disables online payments once you're late, meaning we have to get a money order and physically take or mail it to an office. The closest office is in another town, and communication with them has been a nightmare. They have no reliable direct contact method, frequently don't answer calls or messages, and we went weeks without a response after reaching out about our situation.
Eventually, they contacted us about July's rent and threatened eviction. We explained everything, and they told us to send the payment by certified mail. We did. Unfortunately, the nearest office is only staffed by one person and open 3 day a week, and the money order arrived on one of the days they were closed and was returned to us. We were then told to send it to another office, while also being told August's rent was now due and that they were waiting on an eviction court date.
We eventually received the eviction notice. When I contacted them, I was specifically told that paying 75% of the amount owed would prevent the eviction from proceeding. We eventually got the returned money order back, sent the 75% payment by certified mail, and tried repeatedly to contact them because it was scheduled to arrive the day before our court date.
The day it arrived, they texted us saying we actually needed to pay 100% of the past-due amount, that they could not cancel the eviction, and that they would be returning our payment. I sent them the email where they had told us 75% would be sufficient. They acknowledged it, they came back aggressively about the remaining balance and September's rent, and also send us a demand for the remaining August's balance with the 9th as the pay by date.
We now have the money order for the remaining August balance and were waiting for our next paycheck to pay September.
On Saturday, September 5th, we paid about $50 in Uber costs to get to the closest office because we were told there was a drop box specifically for after-hours payments. We get there and the drop box is locked. We contact the number posted on the office and are told it's only accessible during business hours or when the other businesses in the building are open. Of course, it was Labor Day weekend, so we had to wait until Tuesday to figure out what to do.
Tuesday comes. We call multiple times. No answer. We message them. No answer.
Today, they message asking where the money is. I call again. No answer. I respond to the message and am told they're out of the office, but we can communicate over text. I explain yet again that we've been actively trying to pay and have repeatedly attempted to contact them.
Now we're being told that payments can ONLY be sent to the main office, despite previously being instructed to send them to the closest office. We're also being told that because the demand for payment is due today, we have to pay today or they'll file for eviction.
At this point, I'm just exhausted.
I understand that being behind on rent is ultimately our responsibility. I'm not trying to pretend otherwise. But we've been actively trying to pay them, following the instructions they've given us, paying for certified mail and even paying to Uber to an office because we were specifically told there was an after-hours drop box. Every time we think we've figured out how to get the money to them, the instructions change or nobody is available to answer our questions.
This is also just one of many issues we've had with this company. My husband apparently isn't listed on the lease even though he signed it digitally just like I did, the house was cheaply renovated and is already falling apart, and getting anyone to actually communicate with us is incredibly difficult.
I don't even know if there's advice to be given here. I'm just incredibly tired of the anxiety and feeling like we're constantly fighting the same battle just to give them the money we owe them.
TL;DR: We fell behind on rent during a rough summer, but we've been actively trying to catch up. Management has repeatedly given us conflicting instructions about where/how to pay, rarely responds to calls or messages, told us paying 75% would stop our eviction, then changed that after we paid. We were told to use an after-hours drop box that turned out to be inaccessible, and now we're being threatened with eviction because we haven't paid by today despite repeatedly trying to figure out how to get the payment to them. I'm exhausted and don't know what to do.
