My Deposit/Security

My daughter who lives in Florida was to relocate to Chicago. In August, 2006 while visiting Chicago, she went apartment hunting and met with a landlord. She saw an apartment she liked, but was not available until September 1, because the prior tenant had moved to Seattle and had paid through the end of August. She gave him a $750.00 check as deposit to lease the apartment. The landlord sent the lease signed by him for her signature, but her plans fell through and she could not relocate to Chicago. She sent the landlord a registered letter telling him of the situation and agreeing to give him $250.00 for his troubles. He did not respond. She called him and he said "too bad; it's your loss! I'm keeping the entire $750.00". Any hope for return of at least part of the money?

You may want to check the terms of the lease and see if she agreed to forfeit the deposit in that event. But if it does not explicitly say that, then he has to re-rent and and cannot claim any damages other than whatever actual costs he incurs in having to rent again.

Susan Kinney, WLD

Susan,

Would the lease apply even though she never signed, nor delivered the lease back to the Landlord? The lease remains unsigned. All of this happened at the beginning of August and he could not lease the apartment (even if he wanted to) until September 1st, because the prior Tenant's lease did not end until 8/31/06.

She can argue the lease was not agreed to--but she did have some kind of agreement as to the deposit and what it was for. She could sue him in small claims arguing it was never finally agreed or completed.

Susan Kinney