Q. My landlord will not give me a formal receipt upon payment of rent. They say that they do not give receipts. The only thing that they will do is initial the carbon copy of a check or the stub of a money order. Isn't it required by them to give me a receipt of some kind? The reason I am so concerned is because I have been living here for 6 months and have received 2 eviction notices for not paying rent, which I did pay. The only thing that saved me was having a photocopy of my money orders that they stamped. But now they will not even do that! I am afraid that their bad record keeping will cause me to get another eviction notice and the initialed stubs of my money orders will not hold enough significance to back up my payments.

Good business practice dictates giving receipts for rent. Unfortunately, some landlords do not engage in good business practices. How do you protect yourself from this situation? The easiest way to protect yourself is to pay with a check. Keep a copy of the check as well as the original check when you receive your bank statement. If you must, take a friend with you to witness the landlord's acceptance of your check. It is mind-boggling that landlord's engage in this type of practice. Most likely, they are trying to get rid of you in order to move a higher paying tenant into your apartment.

If you cannot pay with check, keep a xeroxed copy of your money order and bring a witness with you each time you pay rent. Have your witness sign a document indicating that he watched you hand your money order over to the landlord on a specific date at a specific time. After paying your rent, send a letter to your landlord indicating that you paid rent of a certain amount on a specific date and that this letter is confirming that transaction. If you go to court to fight an eviction, bring the witness and the documents he or she signed as well as the letters and copies of the money orders.

And above all, don't ever pay with cash.