Can the leasing company back out after a lease is signed?

[Ty0604]

Oregon - What rights do I have after I have signed a lease? I put in an application for a new apartment complex in downtown Portland last week. It's still under construction but will be ready for move in on the 1st. The day after filling out the application and paying the $150 application fee/deposit I gave them a call and was told I could come in and sign the lease. I assume this meant they had run all the checks on me. I signed the lease after spending an hour going over it, it was long! It was "signed" by the leasing company, meaning their name was printed on where they would normally sign. Yesterday they notified tenants of which apartment they had gotten. They're all the same and all the same price so it was a first come first serve on the floor (16 story building). Anyway I never received anything so I called today and they said that my lease hadn't been processed yet. It seems like they're giving me the go around. I'm just curious to one thing really. I've signed the lease so can they go back on it and say I wasn't approved for such and such?

Oh and this company sucks I've found out. They've never called me once when they were suppose to. It's always me calling them. They were suppose to call tonight after my lease was processed but did they? Nope! I really need this place cause I gotta' be out of my current place before the 3rd and I've stopped looking since I signed this lease, to me that made it official.

 

[justalayman]

Were you given a copy of the lease? Was your copy signed? Was there anything in the lease that requires some additional approval or action prior to it becoming effective?

 

[Ty0604]

Yes, I was given a copy of the lease. I don't know if there was anything else in the lease that stated such and such needed to be done before it became effective. It's 17 pages long, tall paper, with 8 point font. I've read shorter books before. I've always assumed that as soon as you signed a lease that made it official.

I know they were worried about my financial situation because they wanted me to me to make 3x the rent per month which is a joke. I was in an accident early this year and can only work 15 hours a week right now so I had to show them copies of my bank statement etc but this was after we signed the lease and agreed on a move in date.

 

[justalayman]

I've always assumed that as soon as you signed a lease that made it official.

well, correctly, when all parties signify acceptance but even with that, if it there is a condition or such in the lease that would allow them to delay the acceptance, then it would be in force right along with the rest of the lease. If you can't be bothered to read a contract you have signed, you really don't have much right to argue any point within the contract. Sure hope there isn't something like you have to wash the landlord's care every week.

 

[latigo]

Yes, I was given a copy of the lease. I don't know if there was anything else in the lease that stated such and such needed to be done before it became effective. It's 17 pages long, tall paper, with 8 point font. I've read shorter books before. I've always assumed that as soon as you signed a lease that made it official.

I know they were worried about my financial situation because they wanted me to me to make 3x the rent per month which is a joke. I was in an accident early this year and can only work 15 hours a week right now so I had to show them copies of my bank statement etc but this was after we signed the lease and agreed on a move in date.

I suspect that the lessor is reevaluating the needed rental income from the project. And that it feels it may have left money on the table by quoting your rate.

But the practical problem is that if they renege and breach the lease agreement, what can you show as your damages?!

Plus, the time and expense of a lawsuit to establish them would render the effort wholly impractical.

On the other hand should you locate elsewhere, you run the risk of breaching the lease and incurring their loss. Sort of a Heller’s Catch-22.

The safest thing to do is to take the lease to an attorney and have him or her force the lessor to fish or cut bait. (Or as A. Lincoln would say, ”either hold a leg or skin”.

 

[Ty0604]

I read the contract. They went over it with me and showed me where to initial etc. They didn't say anything about it not being official once it was signed. Just that they had to finish processing my guarantor information. I used myself. My last option was to pay one years rent up front ($6898) which I could do around September 10 but I can't wait to move in that long. I need to be out a week before.

 

[latigo]

I read the contract. They went over it with me and showed me where to initial etc. They didn't say anything about it not being official once it was signed. Just that they had to finish processing my guarantor information. I used myself. My last option was to pay one years rent up front ($6898) which I could do around September 10 but I can't wait to move in that long. I need to be out a week before.

You are getting jerked around and you will continue to be jerked around until you hire the lawyer and force these butt heads to either commit to what you alone have signed or shred the document!

You are not going to get your dilemma resolved by bouncing around on the WWW.

 

[Ty0604]

I'm in college. I hardly have money to buy food after I pay rent, needless to say hire a lawyer. Wish I could. I'm going to go talk to them on my lunch break today.

 

[Ty0604]

Apparently they ran my background check after I filled out the lease and they denied me based on that. The application asked if I had any "felonies" on my record, to which I said no, cause I don't. I do, however, have a class c misdemeanor on my record from 2009 so they denied me based on that.

Lame.

 

[TheGeekess]

Apparently they ran my background check after I filled out the lease and they denied me based on that. The application asked if I had any "felonies" on my record, to which I said no, cause I don't. I do, however, have a class s misdemeanor on my record from 2009 so they denied me based on that.

Lame.

Alrighty then.

 

[Ty0604]

Class c* not s as my original post said. They're also refusing to give back my deposit because I "lied" on my application which I didn't. I swear some people are just out to screw other people.

 

[Searchertwin]

Class c* not s as my original post said. They're also refusing to give back my deposit because I "lied" on my application which I didn't. I swear some people are just out to screw other people.

If it doesn't state anywhere this was a non-refundable deposit - send them a crr letter stating you want your dep return within 30 days as required by law.

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http://www.oregonlawhelp.org/documents/178412010%20Landlord%20Tenant%20Booklet%20-%20English%20PDF.pdf?stateabbrev=/OR/