Consumer complaint received 2025-12-31 00:00:00
Product: Debt collection — Rental debt
Issue: False statements or representation — Attempted to collect wrong amount
Company: Rowland Avenue Management, Inc. A/KA Columbia Debt Recovery, LLC d/b/a Genesis
State: WA

Complaint narrative:
I dispute the accuracy, validity, and enforceability of the late fee and all derivative interest assessed on this account. 

The lease governing the tenancy permits the assessment of a late fee only when rent is not paid by the applicable due date after any contractual grace period. During XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX, however, the standard lease payment schedule was expressly modified by a written Payment Plan Agreement executed between myself and the property owner. That agreement established revised payment amounts and revised due dates for rent during that period. As such, the Payment Plan Agreement, not the original lease rent due schedule, governed the timing of rent obligations. 

Any determination of whether rent was late must therefore be evaluated solely against the modified schedule set forth in the Payment Plan Agreement. The lease does not authorize the assessment of late fees in disregard of a subsequently executed payment modification, nor does the Payment Plan Agreement impose automatic late fees absent a failure to comply with its specific terms. 

The furnishers own move out summary reflects that XXXX rent in the amount of {$990.00} was charged and that payments credited during XXXX totaled {$2100.00}. Even under a hypothetical application of payments to the earliest listed charges on the account, the payments credited exceed those charges and fully satisfy the rent obligation. There is no configuration under which rent remains unpaid. 

Despite this, a flat late fee of {$75.00} was assessed. No documentation has been produced demonstrating that any installment required under the Payment Plan Agreement was paid after its applicable due date. The materials provided consist only of billing summaries and conclusory entries, without a transactional ledger reconciling actual payment dates against the modified schedule. 

Additionally, prior to move out, rent for XX/XX/XXXX through XX/XX/XXXX was paid directly to the landlord through the XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. The program determination confirms that these funds were issued for rent only and were required to be credited to the tenants account. Accordingly, no rent arrears from those months could exist at the time of move out, and any assertion that a late fee arose from unpaid rent during that period is factually unsupported. 

To properly assess a late fee under the lease and the Payment Plan Agreement, the creditor must demonstrate, at minimum, the specific rent installment allegedly unpaid, the exact due date governing that installment, the date payment was received, the lease provision authorizing the fee, and the method used to calculate the amount. Absent this information, the late fee is not substantiated. 

To the extent the furnisher or collector asserts that the late fee arose from a prior month, that assertion does not cure the defect in verification. The documentation does not identify any specific prior month in which rent remained unpaid, does not itemize a late fee assessed contemporaneously with that month, and does not demonstrate contractual authority for the fee to survive subsequent payment. Payments credited in XXXX exceeded any balance carried forward and necessarily satisfied any prior rent obligation. 

To the extent the furnisher or collector asserts that the late fee arose during the period governed by the Payment Plan Agreement, that assertion likewise fails absent installment level proof. The documentation does not identify any missed installment, does not identify a missed due date, and does not reconcile payment dates against the modified schedule. 

The move out summary further includes a line item labeled only as Fee in the amount of {$27.00}. The documentation does not describe the nature of this charge, the date it was incurred, or the lease provision authorizing it. The lease does not permit the assessment of unidentified or miscellaneous fees absent express contractual authorization. Without identification of the specific purpose of this charge and citation to the applicable lease provision, the {$27.00} fee is not verifiable as accurate or legally owed. 

To the extent the furnisher asserts that payments were applied to charges other than rent prior to satisfying the rent obligation, verification requires production of a payment application ledger showing the order of application, the balance of each charge before and after application, and the contractual authority for that application order. Absent such reconciliation, any assertion of unpaid rent or late fees is unsupported. 

Where any alleged rent delinquency has been fully cured through subsequent payment, any associated late fee must be expressly authorized to survive payment. Otherwise, it is extinguished upon cure. A late fee may only be assessed once per qualifying default and may not be duplicated, rolled forward, or compounded absent express contractual authorization. Charges may not be retroactively recharacterized to create or support a default that did not exist at the time payments were made. 

The collection agency has further asserted interest accruing at XXXX percent per annum. Interest is derivative in nature and may not lawfully accrue unless the underlying principal balance is accurate, enforceable, and properly verified. Where a balance consists of disputed or unverified charges, interest may not accrue until accuracy is established. Neither the lease nor the Payment Plan Agreement authorizes post move out interest on disputed residential lease charges. 

Attached to this complaint are copies of the lease, the executed Payment Plan Agreement, the move out summary, the XXXX program determination, account statements, and collection correspondence. Verification of this account requires reconciliation of the controlling agreements and complete transactional ledgers, not reliance on summaries alone. 

Accordingly, I request strict verification, including a complete transactional payment ledger, a payment application ledger, documentation of due dates under the Payment Plan Agreement, proof of any missed installment, citation to the lease provision authorizing the late fee, and documentation authorizing any interest assessed. If this documentation can not be produced, the late fee and all derivative interest are not verifiable as accurate or legally owed and must be removed from the account balance and from any related credit reporting. 

This dispute is submitted solely for verification purposes and does not constitute an admission of liability, acknowledgment of ownership of the debt, or waiver of any rights.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation