Renter Discovers She's Being Evicted After Sending Her Rent Money To The Wrong Person For Over A Year
Make sure to check the spelling of Venmo usernames VERY carefully.
fizkes | Shutterstock A woman found herself in a sticky situation after belatedly learning that she hadn't actually been paying rent for the last 13 months.
She learned that she was being evicted after sending her rent money to the wrong person for over a year.
In a TikTok video, content creator and law student Kody Lynn Morgan opened up about a harrowing experience that she's currently facing with her landlord.
"Put a finger down if you've been Venmoing your landlord for the last year for your rent, your security deposit, all that, and you just found out that you've Venmoed the wrong person for the last 13 months," Kody began in her video. "You've actually never venmoed your landlord."
The unfortunate incident meant that she'd never actually sent her landlord any rent money for the last year, and the person that she had been sending money to never reached out about the unexpected payments they received. Her landlord also never said anything to her about the lack of payments.
When her landlord finally realized he never received her rent payments, she owed him an estimated $18,508 — money she already sent to a random person on Venmo.
She since learned that it was a financial advisor living in Ohio whom she'd never met and had zero contact with who was receiving her money. She was able to reach out to him but was told that he didn't have access to any of the money because his addict sister had spent it all.
As a result, she was scrambling to move out of her apartment within a week to avoid getting evicted, and her landlord was planning to file a lawsuit against her for the rent money she owed.
Kody posted several follow-up videos, providing more details about what happened.
She explained that everything came down to a simple misspelling.
It turned out, Kody had gotten one letter wrong between her landlord's name and the random person she sent the money.
When she first moved in, Kody was responsible for sending a security deposit and the first month's rent. After sending it, she texted her property manager that the money was sent and she was immediately given the apartment keys without anyone verifying if her landlord actually received the money.
For the next 13 months, Kody continued to pay the wrong person her rent money, and it wasn't brought to her attention until recently when she got a text from her landlord that one of her rent checks had bounced. Kody admitted she was confused since she didn't write rent checks but sent the money through Venmo.
While the initial issue was a mixup, it brought the real problem to her landlord's attention.
She immediately went to Venmo and requested all of the money back that she'd mistakenly sent to the stranger, explaining the situation. Unfortunately, Kody was only sent back $1,300 — the equivalent of one month's rent. Turns out, using Venmo as a means to pay and collect rent is a bad idea for both landlords and tenants.
The app is designed as a tool for peer-to-peer payments and doesn't afford the same protections as payment through a bank or designated property management app designed for the specific needs of real estate transactions.
She was able to get on the phone with the man who received her money, and he claimed that he thought the monthly payments were from the estate of a family member who recently passed away. Internally, Kody was suspicious of his explanation, as she had described the payment on Venmo as being for rent.
He explained that multiple people have access to his Venmo account, including his addict sister, who he claimed spent the money that Kody sent him. To rectify the situation, he told Kody that he would be able to pay her back but that it would be a slow process, which, unfortunately, didn't work for her since her landlord needed the money ASAP.
While she hoped her landlord would be accommodating under the unfortunate circumstances, especially since it took him over a year to realize he wasn't getting paid, that wasn't the case. She received an email saying that she had 60 days to pay half of the rent she owed but that he wanted the other half immediately.
"I am livid at this. I'm so horribly offended. I understand he wants his money. He should have been receiving his money for the last year," Kody said. "At this point, it's their mismanagement of funds and disorganization that's resulted in us going 13 months without anybody receiving payment and me paying the wrong person."
From the get-go, Kody's landlord should have confirmed that he received her rent payments. As many commenters pointed out, the fact that neither he nor her property manager noticed the lack of money for the last 13 months is their issue. Kody's mistake was an innocent one, and at the end of the day, her landlord and property manager are the ones responsible for keeping track of rent payments.
In the end, Kody moved out of the apartment as both her property manager and the landlord refused to accept her settlement offer to pay them the money she was slowly receiving from the other man she'd accidentally paid. Now, they're moving forward with a lawsuit that Kody is confident will work out in her favor.
Nia Tipton is a Chicago-based entertainment, news, and lifestyle writer whose work delves into modern-day issues and experiences.