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A friend of mine was looking at apartments in Florida this weekend for her student son, they were at one place and filled out what they were told was a no-obligation application but then yesterday the apartment complex called to say they had signed a binding lease and would be held to it (she has a copy of it and yes it is binding, they were told verbally that it wasn't).
The lease isn't supposed to start until August, they haven't put any money down and have no intention of putting their son there. I know that there is no cooling off period in Florida, but what options do they realistically have?
This is a large complex that is typically full of local students, so I have no doubt that they will be able to lease the apartment to some other sucker before August.
I told her to send them a letter by certified mail today saying that they would not be taking the apartment and that since they were told they were signing a no-obligation application, that it should be the end of it.
A friend of mine was looking at apartments in Florida this weekend for her student son, they were at one place and filled out what they were told was a no-obligation application but then yesterday the apartment complex called to say they had signed a binding lease and would be held to it (she has a copy of it and yes it is binding, they were told verbally that it wasn't).
Let me get this straight. Instead of READING the document before signing, they just listened to what a random stranger said and signed anything put in front of them?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lbjen
I told her to send them a letter by certified mail today saying that they would not be taking the apartment and that since they were told they were signing a no-obligation application, that it should be the end of it.
Well there is no harm in sending that letter, but it certainly won't do any good. It's not "the end of it". THEY SIGNED THE LEASE!!! She needs to read the lease and find out what the process is for getting out of the lease early.
A very sticky situation and one which only once again demonstrates that you NEVER sign ANYTHING without properly reading it and understanding it. Unfortunately, Florida is one of the few states where landlords aren't obligated to mitigate their damages by re-renting the unit and can in effect sit on the unit for the entire lease term while collecting rent from the defaulting tenant.
However, there may be an argument here that the contract isn't binding as no money exchanged hands.
My advice to your friend is to wait and see what response she gets from her letter and to go from there.
They read it but the leasing office person was very insistent that it was non-binding. She knows it was foolish but this was her first experience with this kind of thing. I feel really bad for her because it's clear that the person who told her this knew they were taking advantage of her.
They read it but the leasing office person was very insistent that it was non-binding. She knows it was foolish but this was her first experience with this kind of thing. I feel really bad for her because it's clear that the person who told her this knew they were taking advantage of her.
And as I'm sure you know, that has no legal bearing at all. Hope she gets it worked out.
They read it but the leasing office person was very insistent that it was non-binding. She knows it was foolish but this was her first experience with this kind of thing. I feel really bad for her because it's clear that the person who told her this knew they were taking advantage of her.
Your friend should have done her due diligence and read what she was signing. I'm sure they didn't use magic ink or magic paper and those 'binding' terms were there all the time.
Have her write a letter and see what happens...she might need to speak to a lawyer. I bet she reads and rereads everything placed in front of her from now on.
They read it but the leasing office person was very insistent that it was non-binding. She knows it was foolish but this was her first experience with this kind of thing. I feel really bad for her because it's clear that the person who told her this knew they were taking advantage of her.
They obviously didn't read it all the way through. People should ALWAYS read what they sign. This will either be a easy lesson learned if they get lucky and the complex lets it go. Or it will be a very expensive and hard to forget lesson. It really comes down to the morals of the place and if they know your friends financial situation.
If they provided financial information to the complex and the complex knows they have good stable jobs;
they might decide to put down the upfront $400-450 + a few hundred in attorney fees to get your friends money. Since they had no problems lying about the no-binding lease, this is a realistic outcome of this situation.
I'm pretty sure the office knew they could afford it and would probably pay up even if they don't move their son in. Her attorney has been trying to speak with the company but they're not budging. I think it's pretty appalling that they are doing this tbh, it's not like she's trying to walk away from a lease she signed 3 months ago for move in this weekend, it's been a couple of days and the lease is for August, it's really no skin off their nose at this point to do the right thing and let her cancel.
She did read that it was binding but the leasing assistant kept assuring her that it wasn't, she shouldn't have signed it and she knows it.
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