I feel sory for your friends. If this really happened to them. But remember you are only listening to one side of the storey. I also rent a basement sweet because the rent is cheap. I almost did not rent it because of what the previous tenants told me about the owner. But I really needed a cheap place to live so I took a chance. I sure am glad I did this because the owner is really nice to me. I did pay my rent by cheque now I pay by cash. I got a check from my friend because I lent him some money for school. I put this check in to my bank. The bank ended up charging me money for the checque because my friend did not have enough money in his account to pay for the cheque. I did not know this information right away because the bank lady told me personal cheques some times take time to clear through the accounts. Now I under stand why my old owner did not like personal cheques and wanted cash. He told me he has had problems with some people giving him cheques when they had no money in the bank. I thought he was telling me a lie. Now I beleve him because it has hapened to me.