House we rented a week ago was rented out from underneath us...

Signed a lease and wrote a check. Still had to wait a week before moving in. We sold our stove (less than a year old) and our portable dishwasher (two years old).

No phone call or anything. Just a letter with my check attached. House was rented to someone else. We think someone handed over cash in hand which took priority over my check. It was stamped 'for deposit only', too.

We have until the first of the month to find another place to live and so far only one place that might be acceptable for us. It's in a trailer court on the other side of town. I really don't want it, but we might not have a choice, but to take it.

I've gone through the classifieds and most places are either rented or my calls aren't returned after leaving messages.

Needless to say...I'm fucking depressed. :cry:

I'm not overly familiar with this type of stuff, but I thought a lease was a legally binding document.

Once you sign a lease, there are very strict procedures for ending the tenancy before the leasing period is up, and mailing the check back is not one of them.

(State, County, City.) Check it out.

Otherwise, there'd be no point in having a lease. But all of my experience with landlord/tenant law (I used to manage rental housing) is in California, and many other places have fewer protections for the tenant.

BUT, as you know, there are protections for tenants in some places, and less so in other places. The relevant legal issues in a particular place will vary, such as, what does it take to ENFORCE the 'contract?'

In this case, I'd try to find a legal-aid type office and get a quick answer, and/or find out if there's a useful office in the local court system that could help.

absolutely

We don't have the time to get into it with her over this. I would sue if we didn't have to find another place in such a short amount of time.

a lease is not a legal document until it is registered.

Leases aren't registered -- they are signed.

If it's signed by both parties, it's legally binding.

Most leases are legal documents, regardless of whether they're registered.

You might not want to live in a place with an incompetent landlord, but there are usually steps that have to be taken before a landlord can terminate a signed lease. Refusing payment likely isn't one of them. You might want to contact a legal aid group, as you relied on the landlord's contract with you.

Do at least keep a journal of all the hardship imposed on you that has been caused by this person's failing to abide bny the lease.

You have the right to sue them for your troubles. Expenses of getting in a car and looking for another place, time spent looking, the hassle of selling the appliances you sold. Emotional distress, even, as that is probably the worst aspect of this.

About the only way I can say that what happened to you is legal is if they found out some huge smudges on your credit report, or if you were ever involved in an eviction.

Once you find a new place and get settled in, then sue the other people for damages. You have a year to do that.

That's why we think someone had cash on hand.

Husband thinks we should sue because of the problems this caused.

If they won't honor the lease, then they're liable for every extra cent it costs you to get into another place.

Sorry you're having to go through this--that truly sucks.

The Yellow Pages for a Real Estate Attorney.

often they will give you a twenty minute to half hour consultation for free.

And if you decide to pursue this legally, make sure that you like the lawyer. So talk to several before you decide on one. And that they have represented someone in this circumstance before. (Or have an upfront evaluation of what their game plan will be to pursue the case for you.)

Many RE attorneys exist only because they have learned how very profitable it is to beintimidating poor people out of the premises that they are being evicted from, and as attorneys they don't know much else. (Don't need to -as that can be a mighty profitable calling.)

If all you have is your agreement to rent and an uncashed check, you may have a problem. However, if the landlord entered the contract to lease to you, and you have a copy, find a place to stay and sue them.

Then, find out if your municipality demands rental certificates to be given out to landlords for their property. If so, fill them in on this person's tactics. At the end of the current lease, their certificated could get yanked. I'm vengeful like that.

I don't know if the city does rental certificates.

Seriously, it's illegal. Depending on your state's laws, at the very least they have to give you the apartment, or pay your rent someplace else. Check the statutes online or at a local library, then file a suit. Seriously. There may even be a local organization who will handle this for you gratis. This is ILLEGAL.

that's just not right, even if you did have somewhere else to go it's not right for them to do this. So sick of business always getting the upper hand over the consumer. The creeps should be made to pay the consequences for being sleezy.

ETA but you're probably better off not renting from the kind of asshole who would do that. Hope you find something else you like in time.

Really make it hurt. The landlord saw someone with cash in hand, and figuring you wouldn't or couldn't afford to put up a legal fuss decided to screw you over. Sue 'em.

Unless any of these posts are from lawyers who have read the contract, none are really valid. In general, a lease is a contract that can't be broken arbitrarily, but leases tend to favor landlords, and there is no telling what clauses or conditions are included without reading it.

There are other possibilities, too, like, the landlord could have had an earlier lease, and taken yours second for some reason, or had a tenant who wouldn't move out, and then signed another lease. In that case, they have two leases for one property, and no way to fulfill both.

A lawyer can read the lease, tell you what you need to do, and give you the peace of mind that you tried your best. Best case--they fire off a letter to the landlord threatening suit for specific performance and damages, and who knows what else, and the landlord calls you begging for a second chance while offering to pay your legal fee. Worst case--you pay a fee and lose a couple of hours. You might even get something in between, like a payoff from the landlord, or another property offer, or whatever you could think of. (No, you won't get their house or a year's free rent or anything).

I guess the real worst case would be that you sue, tie up all your finances in a decade long legal battle, and go broke on attorney fees, but I'm assuming you wouldn't go that far. :)