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I live in Oakland, PA, and pretty much all the house rentals are to college students. In early January a friend and I looked at a 3br house and decided that day that we wanted to take it. We had a 3rd who is out of state who was on board as well. We told the Realtor at the house on the day of the viewing "We want this house, what do we have to do to get it." We were told we need to fill out applications and turn in a security deposit. We were given applications that day which we filled out, scanned and sent the 3rd to our friend. On January 8th, the two of us who were in town turned in our applications as well as $80 in cash, which the Realtor told us would be good to hold the house while we got together the rest of the security deposit. This would have been my third house with this realty company, so they told me they didnt need to run a credit check on my application and that I was already in their system. We scraped together money as fast as we could, but for me at least, I didn't have hundreds of dollars sitting around so it took a little bit of time to get it. We never expected to find a house we wanted so quickly after starting our search. On February 2nd, I turned in the 3rd application, and 2/3 of the security deposit in the form of two checks. One from me, and one from our friend out of state. On February 3rd, my other friend turned in the third check. On both days our checks were taken and we were told we were good. On Friday February 20th, I called to ask why our checks weren't cashed yet. We were told it was just because they hadn't gotten to the bank yet, and that they would likely be cashed early the next week. Today, March 5th, I called asking the same question. I was then told that we never actually had the house.
They said in between the time we turned in the applications, to the time we turned in the security deposit, that someone else had taken the house.
Is this allowed? That would mean that they not only lied to us about holding the house if we put some money down with the applications, they also didn't let us know the house was taken, they accepted our security deposits on two different occasions after someone else had apparently signed the lease, and they told us everything was fine when we were concerned and checked in on Feb 20th. Now we are out of what is essentially our dream college house, and it is very very late to start looking for a new house for next year. I am sure we will find somewhere to live but it's not gonna be anything like what we had already found. It will be either far away from campus, very expensive, or it will be disgusting. I know this because I waited until april to find my house two years ago and ended up in a crappy over priced apartment far from campus because thats all that was left.
We tried our very best and did everything we could to ensure we got a good house next year. Now we were just told that we don't have anything. Can they do this? What can we do? I realized we took a bit of time to get our security deposits in, but we did everything we could. I ran out of food and didn't buy groceries for a week cause I had to use the money for the despot. We're all so distraught about this, any words of advice would be greatly appreciated.
[quote=MrRational;38700732]Sure. It happens all the time.
Talk is cheap.
[quote]That would mean that they not only lied to us about holding the house...
Quote:
Is that what they SAID or what you HEARD/INFERRED?
More importantly... is that what was written on the documents and signed
as being the understanding between you both?
We told the Realtor it would take us a little bit to get the security deposit and he told us that if we put down some of the money that would hold it for us until we got the rest in. There was nothing we signed relating to that.
I guess we just got screwed over then, but can they really just not tell us anything? I didn't find out we didn't get the house until I called a second time a month after we turned in the security deposit and asked for a second time why our checks haven't been cashed yet. Even after the house had been taken they were telling us we were still good when we clearly were not.
We scraped together money as fast as we could, but for me at least, I didn't have hundreds of dollars sitting around so it took a little bit of time to get it.
You were too slow. They gave it to someone who had the money or offered a higher price.
Quote:
Originally Posted by RADXxXGLiDeR
Can they do this?
Yep. You failed to deliver the deposit.
Quote:
Originally Posted by RADXxXGLiDeR
What can we do?
You can do nothing but stomp your feet.
College isn't just about academics, you also get to learn life lessons such as this one......
As a landlord, If I had someone who asked me to hold an apartment, but then didn't pay anything for 3 weeks and hadn't signed any paperwork at all, I'd assume that like most applicants, they had flaked out, and they weren't coming back and I would find another renter. This is not a comment on you, but on applicants in general.
It sounds like they told you that what you "needed to do" was pay the deposit. Between the time when they told you that, and when you actually paid the deposit, they found someone else who qualified and had "cash in hand". They took that person. When you said "We need some time to come up with the security deposit", they reasonably figured you meant a couple of days, because that is what is expected when renting. When weeks had gone by, it is totally reasonable to assume you changed your mind and take someone else.
Do I think they acted unethically, by not telling you the day you showed up with money, let alone the day you called in to check on it? Absolutely. But as long as they give you a full refund (which may just mean handing your checks back, since they haven't been cashed), they almost certainly haven't done anything illegal, since nothing was in writing at any time.
Any sort of real estate transaction, whether it is buying, selling or renting, is a "time is of the essence" transaction. Meaning that you have deadlines. If you don't meet those deadlines, any agreement previously made may become null and void. So them telling you they would hold it for you became void when you failed to produce the security deposit in a timely manner. However, they should have told you when you did show up with money.
There are two states a lease can exist in: valid and enforceable, and garbage. Until all parties have signed the lease and put down the required deposits, it is in category #2.
If they'd deposited your checks, that might've been a different story, because then they have executed part of the contract.
Before I became a homeowner and then a landlord, I had probably 8 or 9 leases over 10-11 years. One of the things I learned was not to start looking unless I had everything I needed right then - particularly in a competitive market. Some years I could've squeaked by with a 'may I hold this until I get everything together,' but more often than not, if I didn't walk in the door with security deposit in hand and ready to move, somebody else who did would be right behind me.
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