accused of not paying rent

i have had it with the leasing situation i am in. i moved to arizona from ohio oct. 1 started having problems in the very beginning that have not been addressed by landlord. now they are claiming no payments of rent. i have faxed, mailed and email copies of bank statement along with certified check to the landlord. i have never leased before i thought a certified check was like a money order. i had to pay an extra 9.00 fee to pay my rent this way. after i called the police on his wife he has now taking me to court claiming eviction for non-payment of november rent. not only did i pay november i also paid december. i have a receipt the bank gave me to keep that the certified check was attached too. thats all i have i do not have the check because i mailed it to the landlord. what should i do now?

[OHlandlord]

Send copies of the receipts to the LL to prove you sent him the money. Keep the originals so you can show in court. Ask if he has received them. Also, contact the bank to see if these checks have been cashed. If he cashed those checks, get a statement from the bank saying so. Send him a copy of this too, but keep the original statement from the bank for court. If these checks have not been cashed, they may have gotten lost in the mail somewhere. See if the bank will re-issue those checks and let the LL know that you have sent them, they were lost, and that the bank is re-issuing them to him.

If he continues to claim non-payment, show up in court with your receipts and the bank statement. The judge will not listen to his arguements when you show this eviodence and it will be dismissed.

Certified bank checks are great. The receipt shows that you got the check from the bank for the rent amount along with the date it was issued. The bank can track those checks to see if they were cashed. Certified bank checks are always good checks (no chance of a bounced check with them). That's why many LLs insist on any checks being this type. (We get tired of bounced checks from personal accounts!)

thank you very much. it was a certified check. i agree this is the only way i accept checks from my tenants also. thanks and happy holidays