Landlord/Renter question

[nullh2o]

Heres a change of pace from the yankee death threats etc:

Yesterday my girlfriend met with the owner/landlord of an apartment she really wanted to rent. The landlord had already ran the credit check & found it satisfactory. At that time the landlord mentioned that she had another prospective tenant who was willing to pay a higher rent. Given that news my girlfriend said she was extremely interested & was prepared to write a check on the spot (for the required security deposit & prorated rent for the first half month). The landlord agreed to this, accepted the check & had my girlfriend sign the lease agreement. the landlord did not sign, saying that she had not yet been able to contact my girlfriends current landlord (she had spoken to work references) & would do that today, & if the reference was good "the place is yours".

Today my girlfriend received a phone message from the landlord with some vague excuse that her husband looked over the credit report & found "an old address that did not match up with the rental application blah blah blah". The landlord had spoken to my girlfriends current landlord earlier & the conversation went well (the current landlord is a personal friend) so this was obviously not the reason. As the landlord had already reviewed the credit report & verbally accepted agreed to the lease based on a single condition, I suspect the "mis-matched address" is simply an excuse when they simply decided to rent to the tenant who offered more money.

Does this technically sound like the landlord broke a rental agreement? I find her actions very questionable & unfortunately they have caused my girlfriend to turn down 2 other apartments since verbally agreeing to the lease yesterday & hearing this message today. What should/can we do? This is in CA. Thanks!

[genrex]

It would be good to take the bast@rds to small claims court. It's not just the principle of the thing or the money; it would also serve as a deterrent to stop their abhorrent behavior. I think they've done this to other people already, and this kind of behavior can really hurt people.

What I would like to know is, after you win in small claims court, how do you collect? What legal mechanism can be used to collect the money?

[nullh2o]

I think with small claims court some form of 'damages' would have to be proved. There aren't really any obvious monetary damages. Arguably the landlord has caused my girlfriend to miss out on her second-choice apartment (she turned it down after signing this 'lease') & if a similar size & quality apartment in the same location is more expensive then that would be the landlord's fault.
The wife-landlord sounded like a nice person- their meeting yesterday was very pleasant, hence the phone message today came as a complete shock to my girlfriend & was very upsetting for her. I'm willing to bet the husband-landlord decided to go for more money & made the wife veto the verbal agreement & signed lease.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

The "credit report" crap is a big game used out here to screw everyone that walks in the door for 30, 40, or in some cases as much as 50 bucks. I've been told by a friend of mine that's an apartment manager that they only pay a $7 fee for a "blacklist" check on a regional online service and if that comes up clean, they'll rent it to you. They pocket the rest of the money.

Another game they'll play with prospective tenants when there's no vacancy is the "here fill this out now (and pay the fee of course), and when there's an opening you'll be first on the list". They never call.

This is also for an "established" management company. Trust me, it's a game.

[nullh2o]

Ironically the landlord didn't charge a fee for obtaining the credit report. Very unusual for here.

[turbo6bar]

nullh2o, I feel the landlord was wrong. The day I have the lease signed is the day I collect the deposit and first month's rent, and the tenant gets the key.

My advice is to drop the matter, and I'm not saying this just because I'm a landlord. It just isn't worth the worry and aggravation. If the described landlord rented to another person for higher rent, he/she just traded in some karma for a little extra cash. That isn't good.

nullh2o, are you in a hot rental market?
Jürgen

[Eric 951]

Well, a contract is an agreement between two parties involving some type of consideration(in this case, the rent check).
Since a verbal agreement was established along with the land;lord's acceptance of the check--you could pursue the matter. I would have to check in CA, but in most states, a verbal agreement is the same as a written agreement(especially since money changed hands and you were a witness) and this caould be considered a breach of contract.
Realistically though, it is not going to be worth your time and will break down into a "he said, she said". Although if your GF has a copy of the lease agreement with her sig. on it, your case is bolstered. It all depends on how much hassle you are willing to go through.
Or, you could forget it, find the lady's car and dump sugar in the gastank.

[rcm]

Drop it. Move on, we do not need anymore crap tying up the corts systems. Nothin' personal at all. It just seems to me it's not worth it.

[304065]

You need a lawyer to tell you whether you have a valid lease based on the oral agreement.

If it were New York City, and the apartment rented for $10k/month, it might be worth the time and expense to look into further.

More likely, though, you would just spend time and money to compel specific performance of a lease with someone who is an obvious sleazeball. In the end, it may turn out that you dodged a bullet-- you sound pretty pissed and I know that's not much consolation.

[Z-man]

Whatever the outcome, I wouldn't rent from this landlord: if he's back-pedaling and lying to yuo now, imagine what will happen if there's something in the apartment that needs fixing.

It is unfortunate that he's lying to cover the obvious - he went with a renter willing to pay more $$.
-Z .

[Iggy]

You are correct that the landlord acted improperly, but you're going to spend a lot of time and aggravation if you decide to take him to court.

Consider yourself lucky you avoided having such a crappy landlord. If you DID get the apartment, we would have been getting messages here about how you got screwed on your security deposit, rent increases, etc.

Time to move on.

[rammstein]

As a newly licensed agent in Taxachusetts, I can tell you that an oral agreement, while not illegal, is not enforceable (in this state anyhow).

However, the landlord did accept the check. That sorta throws a monkeywrench into things. Anyhow, I wouldn't bother with litigation. You don't stand to gain much, and its too much aggravation IMO.

Just be happy that you found out the landlord is a dirtbag BEFORE living there. In a way, you got lucky.