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We are moving from out of State to Los Angeles. We paid a deposit and the apartment manager allowed me to store some things in a vacant unit. We were told that the unit would be available on May 1st.
In between the time that we made the deposit and now, they sold the building to a new owner who said that our unit has to be renovated so they told us it would be available on the 12th. Then the 15th. Then the 18th.
My wife has to start work on Monday in LA. We rented a uhaul and it is full of our belongings. We have to return it in LA on Sunday. They just told us that it won't be available until Tuesday. We have no place to live until then, no place to store our stuff or keep out pets.
The manager said "You can store your stuff and your pets in the vacant unit". We said okay, but where will be stay? He said; call the apartment owner and work it out.
So I called the owner and told him that we need to talk. He said "Can't now". I said "You need to call me back tonight". He said "I don't need to do anything." I said "You'll call me back tonight" and hung up.
Then he told the apartment manager to cancel any and all agreements that we had because he didn't like that I told him what to do. So now we have a truck full of our stuff and no place to live. The truck still has to be returned on Sunday.
Questions:
1) Since I am storing belongings in a vacant unit there and they have my deposit, am I a tennant?
2) If the lose/break/steal/destroy my belongings on the property, do I have any recourse?
3) Did we have an oral contract with the manager to store our stuff and pets then move in on Tuesday?
4) Do I have any legal options at all beyond demanding our deposit back?
5) Was there any disclosure obligation when the property changed owners?
Methinks the time spent on this whole ordeal, plus the time it took you to write all this up, would have been better spent looking for another place to live.
Unless the lease has already been signed. In that case, lawyer up.
One thing to consider, if you and the new landlord already don't like each other this much - do you really want to fight to keep the place?
Sometimes in life things happen that look bad at first, but then later, we realize they were really for the best... this might be one of those times.
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