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This is my first time posting but I really need some advice. My husband and I decided back in July that we would start looking for a home closer to his work and with a yard for our two dogs. We have lived in our apt for 5 years and decided it was time to move. After looking for a few months we found a perfect home. A cute 2 bedroom with a huge yard and very fair rent.I e-mailed the owner and he e-mailed me back so we decided to go look. We fell in love. Yes the home needed some painting but the landlord told us he would buy the paint and we could paint ourself for a deduction in the rent. We decided to rent the home, the landlord had no lease papers there so we gave him the 900.00 security deposit and he told me he would e-mail or mail me the lease. We were to move in the home August 1st. A week goes by and no e-mail or mail with the lease. It is now July 7th and I gave my 30 day notice to my landlord to move by the 1st of Aug. Finally he calls back and says his mom is ill and he will get the lease out. Another week goes by nothing.Finally we tell him we are driving there which was two hours away to get our money back. He ends up meeting us at a coffee shop and has the lease there and we sign and thought we were all good.The 20th comes around and we try to services signed up in our name and we were told the power and other utilities were already on. So we call him back. He tells us it was the old tenant and he would go in turn them of and put in our name. I thought something was up but my husband trusted him.He was a nice guy. Finally a week before we are to move in I call to make sure all utilities were in place and we were good to go .. Yes they were. The day before we were to leave our apt we had our furniture being delivered to the house and they call us two hours later and tell us people are living there. I was so angry. I call him and he ignores my calls so we drove down there in our car and yes find out people are there but they cant get utilities on because they were in our name. We drove to the police station all of us and found out that this guy dont even own the home and just got out of jail for pulling this scam before. The home belongs to a relative of his and he is to be getting the home ready for sale. We went to his home and he told us every lie possible and come to find out they are two other couples that also are to move in the home.What do we do. The police tolk a report but thats as far as it has gone. The couple in the home have 30 days to move and now we are out 1,800 dollars. Our current home was already rented so now we are forced to pay 300 dollars a week at a motel until we find a new home. We have a signed lease and a receipt for our deposit but I don't know what to do. Any advice pleease
You need to find a new place to rent. This is a police issue now. I guess you could try and take him to small claims court to try and get your money back, but there isn't a whole lot you can do.
If he gets convicted then you will be entitled to restitution, but you might not see that for years.
This is my first time posting but I really need some advice. My husband and I decided back in July that we would start looking for a home closer to his work and with a yard for our two dogs. We have lived in our apt for 5 years and decided it was time to move. After looking for a few months we found a perfect home. A cute 2 bedroom with a huge yard and very fair rent.I e-mailed the owner and he e-mailed me back so we decided to go look. We fell in love. Yes the home needed some painting but the landlord told us he would buy the paint and we could paint ourself for a deduction in the rent. We decided to rent the home, the landlord had no lease papers there so we gave him the 900.00 security deposit and he told me he would e-mail or mail me the lease. We were to move in the home August 1st. A week goes by and no e-mail or mail with the lease. It is now July 7th and I gave my 30 day notice to my landlord to move by the 1st of Aug. Finally he calls back and says his mom is ill and he will get the lease out. Another week goes by nothing.Finally we tell him we are driving there which was two hours away to get our money back. He ends up meeting us at a coffee shop and has the lease there and we sign and thought we were all good.The 20th comes around and we try to services signed up in our name and we were told the power and other utilities were already on. So we call him back. He tells us it was the old tenant and he would go in turn them of and put in our name. I thought something was up but my husband trusted him.He was a nice guy. Finally a week before we are to move in I call to make sure all utilities were in place and we were good to go .. Yes they were. The day before we were to leave our apt we had our furniture being delivered to the house and they call us two hours later and tell us people are living there. I was so angry. I call him and he ignores my calls so we drove down there in our car and yes find out people are there but they cant get utilities on because they were in our name. We drove to the police station all of us and found out that this guy dont even own the home and just got out of jail for pulling this scam before. The home belongs to a relative of his and he is to be getting the home ready for sale. We went to his home and he told us every lie possible and come to find out they are two other couples that also are to move in the home.What do we do. The police tolk a report but thats as far as it has gone. The couple in the home have 30 days to move and now we are out 1,800 dollars. Our current home was already rented so now we are forced to pay 300 dollars a week at a motel until we find a new home. We have a signed lease and a receipt for our deposit but I don't know what to do. Any advice pleease
You got scammed by a CRIMINAL, not by a landlord. Yes, he stole your money. Yes, it's going to hurt a bit as you try to deal with the loss of that money. You may even have to borrow money from friends or relatives. Yes, you should go after that criminal for the money he stole from you, but as someone else said, it may take a while to see it. Keep your chin up as much as possible, and get back to your life.
Take him to small claims, but you will never see your $$. Never give a deposit without a signed lease. I thought you are only out $900.00 for the deposit?
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