New apartment in Francisville is not ready for move-in (move-in date 7/1) (Philadelphia: apartment complex, leasing)

[FlowJo92]

Hi all,

First time posting here; thanks in advance for your time.

Three apartment towers are currently being built by Walnut Realty Group ([url]https://www.zillow.com/b/1522-W-Girard-Ave-Philadelphia-PA/39.97145,-75.162227_ll/[/url]).

One of their towers was supposed to be ready for move-in by 7/1 (per leasing agreement), but on 6/29 they said "Due to a delay on PECO's end, they are scheduled to provide electric service to your unit between July 6th and July 12th. Until then, you will not be able to stay in the unit overnight."

Construction manager said that all the remaining appliances will be installed on 7/3 and that we can move our furniture in and just wait for electricity to work out.

Yesterday (7/10), some of the appliances like AC, gas range, and washer/dryer weren't there and one of the workers said it won't be ready next Saturday (7/15) either. And the whole site has gravels, dirt, and construction planks (as walkways) so it's nearly impossible to move furniture in. Not to mention construction workers are active during the day.

I called PECO today as well and they said they have no projects currently on that street (one of the workers said PECO is putting transformers in for this apartment complex). The management group has been shady (e.g. lease initially said no pets allowed even though it was advertised as a pet-friendly apartment and rent payment information was wrong; they're both corrected). They even promised a free month rent with the 12-month lease, and that's supposed to be the month of July (we're not getting a month value). Garage (signed up for a parking spot) is nowhere close to being done.

Can I get out of this leasing agreement and get the security deposit back since they breached the agreement (i.e. move-in date)?

Thanks a lot.

[thedirtypirate]

Sounds like you deserve two free months of rent. Ironically I had a similar thing happen to me at a new apartment building in Francisville two years ago. Though that was because the city inspector hadn't come through yet and it was only a single days delay. I feel for you that sucks big time. I'm sure the trolley construction messed schedules up too. That area has been a construction zone for awhile.