First-time apartment rental in Texas - is it normal to have to wait till I move in to sign the lease? (Austin: apartments)

[zimbobway]

(Originally posted in the renting forum.)

I'm moving to Texas from out of state at the beginning of June.

I submitted an application to an apartment I'm interested in using a standard TAA form here: http://www.taa.org/images/assets/PDF...ion_forweb.pdf. I received approval, but it was only after I submitted additional documentation when the manager requested it over a week after submittal. The TAA form states that if I don't receive approval after seven days, I should consider myself disapproved:

"9. Nonapproval in Seven Days. We will notify you whether you’ve been approved within seven days after the date we receive a completed Application. Your Application will be considered “disapproved” if we fail to notify you of your approval within seven days after we have received a completed Application. Notification may be in person or by mail or telephone unless you have requested that notification be by mail. You must not assume approval until you receive actual notice of approval."

Should I be concerned that I didn't receive approval within the seven days?

Now that I've received approval, I was expecting to be able to sign the lease right away (perhaps by having the manager send it to me and getting my signatures notarized, then sending it back?) because the TAA form states that if I don't sign within 3 days of approval the manager can keep the application deposit as liquidated damages and terminate all further obligations.

"5. Approval When Lease Contract Isn’t Yet Signed. If you and all co-applicants have not signed the Lease Contract when we approve the Application, our representative will notify you (or one of you if there are co-applicants) of the approval, sign the Lease Contract when you and all co-applicants have signed, and then credit the application deposit of all applicants toward the required security deposit.

6. If You Fail to Sign Lease After Approval. Unless we authorize otherwise in
writing, you and all co-applicants must sign the Lease Contract within 3 days after we give you our approval in person or by telephone, or within 5 days after we mail you our approval. If you or any co-applicant fails to sign as required, we may keep the application deposit as liquidated damages, and terminate all further obligations under this Agreement."

However, the manager said I'll have to wait to sign the lease until I get here in June because I haven't actually been able to visit the apartment in person yet. I told her it was more important to me that I have a place nailed down and that I'd like to sign the lease ASAP, but she didn't want to do this.

I'm concerned that since I won't have signed the lease within the required time frame, the manager will be able to take all my deposits and rent the place to someone else, and I'll show up in June without a place to stay.

It also seems like the manager would act offended if I asked her to put the situation in writing, even in an e-mail. I'm the kind of person who would prefer to deal face-to-face and work things out with a handshake and our word, but that doesn't seem viable in today's culture. I want to trust people, but the TAA form doesn't seem to jive with what the manager is telling me. And conversations on the phone wouldn't hold up in court if it came to that, right?

I'm a very low-maintenance tenant and I want to trust the manager, but I also don't want to be naive and end up getting screwed. I just want to make sure I have a place to stay when I get to Texas.

Am I worrying too much? Should I be concerned? Is there anything I should do to protect myself legally?

Thanks so much.

[LittleCityATX]

It's not uncommon to wait to sign the lease on the day that you take delivery of the apartment. In effect, what you have now is a reservation but lot's of things could happen between now and when you actually take the apartment. What if you change your mind? What if the current tenant fails to move out on time? Etc.? It works out better for you too because you can change your mind if you see the apartment and it's terrible.

Yes, you are worrying too much. Do you really need to protect yourself legally for $250(or so) bucks? Do you think apartments are in the business of taking people's deposits? There are plenty of apartments if this one falls through.

[CptnRn]

It does seem odd that the apartment manager doesn't manage the place in accordance with the terms spelled out in the form they use. Sounds like they are pretty loose in their management style. I would be uncomfortable too. It can't hurt to send her a letter stating your understanding of how she wants to handle this, explaining that you feel this is necessary because her verbal instructions to you are in conflict with the written application terms. In some ways it is to your advantage to be able to wait until you see the place before signing, in case you change your mind. But it could be to your disadvantage if you will be coming into down right before the UT Fall semester starts and the apartment is no longer available as promised, then you could have to scramble to find another suitable place.

I would also be concerned because I recently read in the paper that Austin's apartment rentals occupancy rates are at an all time high. So I question what availability there actually is. Austin rents will rise, report says | Austin Business Journal

http://www.kutnews.org/post/report-a...r-percent-2011

I have not rented for years, but I am a landlord for one property, and I would never want to wait to the last moment before having a tenant sign a lease. I want to know ahead of time that I have a tenant, otherwise I'm going to be looking for another one.

[someguyatx]

I wouldn't worry about it but I'm not the kind of person who worries about stuff. I wouldn't expect issues finding an apartment in June especially if you are staying somewhere UT since many students leave for the summer. Hopefully you did the proper research but not signing a lease could work in your favor if the place turns out to be a sleazy dump. Anything can look good in a picture and write their own fake reviews for the internet.

[zimbobway]

Thanks all

[SpicyPepper]

Usually they will not let you sign the lease sight unseen because like LittleCityATX said they would like to keep the option open incase you don't like the place. Right now the occupance rate for apartments in the area is near 96-97% and almost as soon as one comes open a reservation is put on it or it's leased out.

I would make sure you have things in writing from the complex though just to be safe. With the leasing market here right now I'd hate to see you screwed out of a place to live.