Re: Can landlord break unsigned lease before move-in?

Re: Can landlord break unsigned lease before move-in? by Lighthope on July 22, 2014 @01:28

> given that they (not us) have signed the lease

> and our manager's signature saying she accepted payment
> from them

Sounds like that lease was signed.

Let's say you split hairs and the contend that the lease was not signed, only that a receipt for funds had been accepted.

At the very least, you could be held responsible for damages, as the tenants had relied on your word to their detriment (for some reason, the exact legal phrase escapes me at the moment). What it means is that, based on your word or actions (your e-mails are very damning), they have incurred expenses that they would not have otherwise had you not done as you have done.

That, as I said, is the very least. Possibly, a Court will find a valid lease is in effect since you took money. If you hadn't signed the lease, why did you take money? After all, there was no lease.

For this situation, there is a legal phrase: "You're screwed."

Lighthope

Pearls of Wisdom - "I don't want to achieve immortality through my work. I want to achieve it through not dying." - Woody Allen

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Re: Can landlord break unsigned lease before move-in? by MP (MA) on July 22, 2014 @01:40	[ Reply ]

I was trying to help them by letting them move in early. I already have a tenant who's paid till the end of the month, so I had no need to jump through hoops to accommodate them. They told me they wanted to move in on one day, and I planned cleaners, carpet cleaners, etc. based on that. Now they want to move in earlier. These are not reasonable people, and not people I want as tenants. But I understand the dilemma, hence my question here.

Re: Can landlord break unsigned lease before move-in? by MP (MA) on July 22, 2014 @02:37	[ Reply ]

I just reread the lease and see there is the text below included in it - I don't know if this changes anything. Thank you. If the landlord is unable to deliver possession of the property on the agreed date, because of destruction of the residence or because of the failure of the prior residents to vacate or for any other reason, the tenant and/or landlord may immediately cancel and terminate this agreement upon written notice to the other party, whereupon neither party shall have liability to the other, and any sums paid under this Agreement shall be refunded in full.

Re: Can landlord break unsigned lease before move-in? by Katiekate (New York) on July 22, 2014 @04:59	[ Reply ]

No lease can ever supersede state law. No matter what you write in your lease...state law is what a judge will uphold. Since you do not have damages that are so excessive that the tenant cannot move in. Nor do you have a tenant that has failed to move out...you have no grounds to cancel. You agent signed the lease, you confirmed it with emails. Now you must follow through. Massachusetts is a very tenant friendly state. You are just begging to get the "book thrown at you". Not only can you be held liable for all physical and financial damages done to the new tenant...but..a judge is likely to award punitive damages as well.

Re: Can landlord break unsigned lease before move-in? by MP (MA) on July 22, 2014 @07:14	[ Reply ]

Thank you for your reply. Given their behavior, we were/are hoping to find a legal way to get out of this situation. It wasn't our manager/agent who signed anything - it was a priest friend of ours who received the lease from them and took the cash they wanted to pay with, and wrote at the bottom of the lease "received cash in amount of ...". There is no signature under the "owner's" section of the lease. We were trying to be brief in our description so I wrote "manager". These people wanted to see the house at the last moment on 4 July weekend when we had no-one available to show them and give them paperwork (we live out of town). They said they were travelling into town for a couple of days, so we worked to accommodate them. Once they saw the house, they said they wanted it and wanted to pay in cash right then since they were leaving town again. The only person we could find on that weekend to take the payment, etc. was our priest friend. 1. Does it not matter that the lease is not signed by us as the owners? How is a contract binding if only one party signs it? 2. What about the section in the lease that says “If the landlord is unable to deliver possession... for any other reason, the tenant and/or landlord may immediately cancel…”? What about “for any other reason”? 3. The lease says the move-in date is the first of the month. They emailed saying they had movers scheduled for the 20th. We told them over the phone that we would try to have the house ready at the end of the 19th; in a subsequent email, we said the house would be ready on the 19th (meaning the end of the day, as we had discussed). They are now insisting that they will move in on the morning of the 19th. We haven’t even discussed the prorated rent for the previous month (which is not mentioned in the lease, since the lease’s start date is the next month). How does that rent get addressed? Can they push their way into the house on the morning of the 19th? Does it matter that the lease's start date is for the next month? In a situation like this, we would expect a brief phone conversation and we could work something out. But they ignored our emails and requests to talk over the phone yesterday, and just emailed once to say they are moving in on the 19th. This has made us very uncomfortable. We’d appreciate advice on anything we could possibly do. Thank you.

Re: Can landlord break unsigned lease before move-in?

Re: Can landlord break unsigned lease before move-in? - Landlord Forum thread 321609