What is required proof of payment for the State of California? We paid
a heating/AC contractor to fix a heater in our home and have provided
the receipt we received to our landlord who insists this is not proof
of payment.  We paid directly by credit card so there is no cancelled
check, and we obviously are not going to give our landlord our
electronic banking informaton.  Which begs the question, what is the
legal definition of proof of payment for the State of California?

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Clarification of Question by tm9-ga on 08 Feb 2006 01:38 PST

BTW, our landlord did not specify what he did want.  He just returned
our letter and the copy of the receipt  (stamped "paid" with the date)
we gave him from the heating/AC contractor and scrawled on the back,
"This is not legal proof of payment.  The receipt does not have a
check number, there is no itemization... etc."

It seems petty to ask POP specifics, but we are trying to go by the
letter of the law owing to our current situation.

In our two months of tenancy we have:  1) Already received a favorable
court order preventing access abuse, 2) Endured a vicious mediation,
3) and are now trying to move in the next month.

Suffice to say a retired slum-lord was not the relationship we wanted
for our first home rental as newlyweds.  (A fact that did not pop up
on any of our purchased background checks).

Your landlord is full of hot air.  Did he specify the format in which
he wants the POP?

The receipt should be adequate, however, let's try some overkill...

Call the contractor, explain the situation, and ask for a letter, and
a copy of their work order showing your address as the service
address, and provide these to your landlord, along with the credit
card statement showing the charge. You can black out your account
number, but leave your name and address visible.

If that fails, the next step is small claims...

OR . . . photocopy the credit card statement, "redact" the sensitive
information by taking a black magic marker and crossing out the
account number, etc. and submit that along with the receipt. I'll bet
there isn't a court in the land that wouldn't accept that.

The POP stuff is a no brainer

- just wait until you see your landlord eating your deposit for depreciations

One can do interesting things with an engagement ring on a bath or glass
- but I would limit it to the value of your deposit

To be honest, he will be glad to see the back of you, his ilk prefers
natural born victims, rather than people who fight back.

I think it really depends on what your motivation is. Are you looking
to get a refund of your repair cost in cash? If you are planning on
moving next month you might want to deduct the cost from the last
months rent, if the landlord files for an eviction you should have no
problem getting the court to accept a receipt from a licensed repair
company. It does not sound like you are getting a good reference from
this guy anyway. www.MyEasyForms.com