How would you handle this?
 

Tenants have moved out of our condo and left the condo in reasonable condition. One week ago I refunded the damage deposit cheque to them at an address that was stated in an email to me from the tenant.

A week later namely this morning I emailed the tenants to see if they had received the cheque sent in the mail. The tenant said that was the wrong address and admitted it was her fault as she had given me the wrong one. She said to put a stop payment on the original cheque and send her another cheque less the stop payment cost.

So my thinking is this.
Said she is sorry but.....

have not responded to email yet as I am mulling this over.
Would like the ex tenant to go to the place I mailed it to to see if they can retrieve my stop payment cheque. Is this reasonable? Otherwise my cheque is floating around.
Bank does not guarantee that the cheque will not be cashed.
I expect her to pick up the new dd cheque from me personally. I will not be mailing her a cheque again(once bitten twice shy).
Your thoughts are always appreciated!

What's a cheque?
I'd put a stop payment on the original and wait 30 days, or until she complains, to send a replacement. If you put a stop payment on the Czech, why would the bank then cash it?

Overall, were these good tenants?
If so, consider putting out the extra effort out of goodwill.
If not, let them go find the check or suck it up. Technically, you wrote them the check and mailed it to the address they provided. If something happens, it is their oversight.

Not telling you the new address might be a mistake on her part.
Not telling USPS her forwarding address speaks of numbskullery, or potential deceit.

Cancelling it would be the prudent thing to do right now.

It's been several years - but my BIL's company put a stop payment check on one of their vendors that had ended up not "performing." All was well until about 6 months later when the vendor cashed the check. Did you know stop payments are typically valid for (only) 6 months?

A cheque is a check.

Yes I have put a stop payment on it.

I will check into how long the stop payment is valid for. Thanks for all the above comments. All are good points.

If the stop payment on the check is permanent then I wouldn't worry too much. But I'd still wait a while.

If it turns out the check is not definetively dead, such as MBAtarga suggest, I would inform the tenant the check has been sent, that it cannot be stopped (for more than 6 mo,whatever...) and she needs to find it. If she can produce/ turn over the stopped check to you, you can write her a new one, otherwise, let her own her own problem. Also- If the check if not in fact dead, get some real legal advice. I didn't even stay at a hotel 6/8 whatever last night!

Who you callin "you guys" eh!

Colour, fibre, clique, we've got it all up here :D

Is she wiling to go to the wrong address and find out what the deal is? Like, what did the wrong address residents do with it, etc.?

We had a former employee say he lost his paychecks and got new ones. 6 months to the day the "lost" checks were cashed. $10K worth.

I agree with you. As mentioned above it is her mistake so she should correct it. Namely she should go and find my check at the address which she originally gave me. The check is stopped at my bank by myself. I am not about to send her another check at another address.

I have googled streetview for both the addresses and they look like questionable places to live. One is a liquor store and the other is the back of a building that looks commercial.

Interestingly enough this gal works at a bank and I would think that she should know about details of banking and being accurate about addresses. Okay so I am paranoid about this because of possible scams.

So I will let her make the next move. I will not contact her. I will not send her another check. It is her mistake she gave me the wrong address. I will see what happens when I don't send her a cheque. I will update when I hear something!:eek: