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We listed our rental on Tuesday, September 1. Thursday, September 3 we found a renter we loved and he signed a lease, gave us the deposit monies and we handed him the keys. He was to occupy the home the following week. The next morning, he called and said he got a job offer to move to Dallas. He asked for the next 3 days to fly down to Dallas and decide if he liked it or not, and asked we hold the rental. We agreed. He called the following Tuesday and he said he was going to be moving and not renting the home.
I said we understood and that we would discuss what amount we needed to charge to let him out of the lease. He emailed us and begged that we not charge him anything, that it was only 24 hours after he signed the lease.
We agreed to $150.00 charge and he was to return the keys. He dropped the keys and check off over the next few days, but it wasn't until today that we realized what he had done. He wrote VOID on the back of the check and has since disappeared from the face of the planet. He won't return calls, texts or emails. my husband is furious as am I.
We are thinking of taking him to small claims court for the full amount he owes us, not just the $150.00.
What's "the full amount he owes us" besides the $150? Do you have a duty to mitigate in your state?
If it were me I would just move on and get it rented as soon as I could. Sometimes you just need to cut your losses and move on. You could still get it rented for October. Sometimes fighting it is more of a pain than it is worth.
It's people like him who make it hard on honest, good renters. If people wouldn't do shady crap like that, landlords wouldn't have to charge huge fees and deposits.
In regards to court, I would weigh if the effort is worth the return. It might be better to just write it off as a lesson learned and move on.
If we stuck to the lease (From what I've read,in Pennsylvania, there are no loop holes. Once they sign, that's it.) he would owe $1,550. There is no duty to mitigate in PA, but we can't collect rent twice.
If we stuck to the lease (From what I've read,in Pennsylvania, there are no loop holes. Once they sign, that's it.) he would owe $1,550. There is no duty to mitigate in PA, but we can't collect rent twice.
Move on. If he is out of state service is difficult to impossible. I would also be skeptical that you can nail him for more than the $150.
We didn't give him the keys on the first day of meeting. He saw the rental twice before that week and signed the lease on the third day. We had already run a background/credit check. He is a veteran and everything on paper looked amazing.
You have only lost a few days of rent. Why are you trying to screw over a veteran? Let it go.
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