Can my landlord open an envelope that was addressed to me and then take the contents?
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Can my landlord open an envelope that was addressed to me and then take the contents?
On 10/27 my employer’s bank sent my labor check to my residence. As of 11/05 it had not arrived to my mail box, my employer requested a second check from the bank me sent. As of 11/09 I still had not received this piece of mail. On this day I told my apartment office that I was missing a check, and therefore rent would be late. On 11/15 my employer informed me that the 10/27 check had been cashed. I was confused since I was not the one who cashed it. We assumed someone had stolen the check. My employer contacted her bank and they found out that the UDR/Portico were the ones who cashed the check. It appears that this envelop/check arrived in the Portico office at 11/10 – but that is
still to be determined. The envelop was addressed to me, with my address. My employer had failed to
add my apartment number on the envelop. However, it was addressed to my name, and not UDR, Portico or a staff member. I was never notified that this piece of mail arrived in the apartment office.
The envelop was then opened by the staff. There was an unendorsed check inside addressed to me. This check was then placed in a pile and listed as a payment to portico. This check was never signed
over to Portico. This check was never endorsed by me. This check was then cashed as a rental payment towards my rent account. The morning of 11/15 I asked the office is perhaps there was an envelop with my name on it. The building manager said no, and that she had not seen anything with my name on it. I found out in the afternoon of 11/15 that this was false. They are stating that they opened the mail because it didn’t have an apartment number on it and that it was
Asked on November 16, 2017 under Real Estate Law, Maryland
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 7 years ago | Contributor
You can't really do anything except receive the funds back, which they have evidently offered: take them up on the offer. In terms of monetary compensation, all you are entitled to is the money they took; if they are willing to give it back to you, there is no point in suing, because you won't get anything more than you are being offered.
In terms of a criminal case, you could try to file a police report, since it is a crime to knowingly open another's mail or negotiate their check--but it's not a crime if it was an innocent error (e.g. human error) and it is unlikely (especially since they are wiling to return the money, implying strongly that this was a mistake, not a crime--criminals generally don't return what they stole) that you can prove that any person there knowingly did this.
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