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The lease was discussed and we both agreed to it. I have the texts and emails confirming this.
In a text from 11/19, she said if we could pay one month rent and another month in advance, she would sign another year contract at the same rent. We paid one month that day. On 11/28, she texted me saying she printed out the new lease for 2016 and we arranged to have her drop the lease off in our mailbox and we paid for the next month early.
Her exact text from 11/28 read:"Do you want me to change the lease to be for two years? Or just make another one for 2016. i have made the 2016 already but just wanted to see what you prefer. Let me know and I can email it to you and you can print and sign a copy and when I pick up the check I will sign! Does that work for you?"
I responded that either way worked for us. She responded with: "Ok i printed a new lease out for the year 2016. It is the same as next years (2015) lease. When shallI drop it off and pick up the check". I had the lease signed and ready for her to pick up, but she texted that she couldn't make it and would pick it up at a later date. She asked if I could drop off the check in her parent's mailbox, which i did. She never came byt o pick up the lease and it slipped my mind as well.
She emailed a request for a copy of the lease in April. In emails sent by her on 4/21 and 4/23, she confirmed that she gave us two months free rent and another year lease. I signed our copy and left it in her mailbox (she has been staying with her parents three houses down from us).
Now she's saying since she never signed, it's null.
What can we do? Is the written agreement enough to hold up?
If it can be established by credible evidence that a mutual agreement was reached, a judge usually will accept it as valid. If the landlord admits to the agreement but is resting their case on not actually signing some papers, they may be in for a surprise!
She is half right. The dates and your goal aren't clear, I am assuming this took place in November 2014 and April 2015 but it isn't entirely clear here. CA prohibits verbal leases of longer than 1 year in length. If she didn't sign the new lease then you went month to month. You could argue that the terms in the new agreement would still apply in court even without the landlord's signature though it would be unlikely that they wouldn't hold the term to either party. I hope you have the original email from her with a copy of the new lease attached even if she didn't sign it. You can try to get a court order that will hold her to the terms of the agreement but you need to speak to a lawyer, no one here is going to be able to give you a real answer because the issue is very complicated.
AZ Manager - You are correct that the dates I was referring to are November 2014 and April 2015. We had a lease signed for 2015 and we're currently in dispute over the 2016 extension that we previously agreed to. Unfortunately, she didn't send the 2016 lease via email. She dropped it off in my mailbox, I signed it, and she never picked it up to sign it.
The texts and emails are a valid written agreement in CA. That coupled with the fact that you performed according to that agreement by paying, and by her accepting your payment, you have an enforceable contract. The texts and emails are considered "signed" by the sender.
The texts and emails are a valid written agreement in CA. That coupled with the fact that you performed according to that agreement by paying, and by her accepting your payment, you have an enforceable contract. The texts and emails are considered "signed" by the sender.
I would tend to agree with NoMoreSnowForMe here but I advise you to contact your local tenants union and run it by them.
I don't understand the problem here. Is she giving you notice to vacate now?
No, we have a signed lease until December 1, 2015. The agreement we're disputing is an extension of our current lease which would go from 12/1/15-12/1/16.
You're probably out of luck if she didn't sign the lease renewal. Terms are fluid until there is an actual signature on an actual contract. Would she have a reason to not want to renew with you? Are rents going up? Are you not taking care of the property?
You're probably out of luck if she didn't sign the lease renewal. Terms are fluid until there is an actual signature on an actual contract. Would she have a reason to not want to renew with you? Are rents going up? Are you not taking care of the property?
The OP is talking about the State of California. Please read and understand the laws of the state in question as well as their Code of Civil Procedures before you go off giving out legal advice that is WRONG! In the OP's state, so long as credible evidence is submitted that shows an agreement was reached and as NMSFM stated "performance" to the agreement occurred, it's valid!
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