My Apartment will not be ready the day of the lease

[ratedgl]

I put down $200 deposit and paid a $35 application fee for an apartment in California at the end of March. I was approved for the apartment and told my move in date was April 30th (they needed one month for the current tenant to move out and to have the apartment turned around). They just called me today (3 days prior to my move in date) and told me the apartment would not be ready. My main concern is that I have purchased furniture that I will be charged fees for canceling because they are special orders. I do not want the furniture if I can't move in, since I have no place to store them. I did not sign a lease but a holding deposit that says all I get back is my deposit if the apartment is not ready. Do I have any legal action to get costs associated with having to cancel my orders since I can't move in?

I appreciate advise on my rights in this situation.

 

[matti422]

Probably not. Since you didn't have an actual lease, with a stated move-in date, you didn't have much you should have relied on for the purchase of the furniture. From and objective opinion, it looks like you took a gamble - that you would be in an apartment for which you didn't have a lease by the time your furniture was delivered - and lost.

Sorry.

 

[longneck]

ask the furniture company if they will delay their shipment. they'd probably rather delay than have you cancel the order.

 

[ratedgl]

Unfortunately the apartment is no longer available until further notice. The person who was living there before failed to move out and they can't get a hold of him. They are going to have to go through the eviction process since both parties agreed on a move out date. That's why I figured I would have to cancel my orders rather than postpone on a date I don't have yet.

I guess not signing a lease until the move-in date is a way to protect themselves. I guess in a way it kind of protects me too. If i decide not to enter a lease on the move-in date all they get to do is keep my deposit and they have an empty apartment that they could have kept renting to someone they told needed to be out a certain date.

I'll probably either end up just storing it and make it a lesson learned.

 

[ENASNI]

um

get deposit back... but of course that was a "duh no kidding"

Sorry...
Good luck

 

[longneck]

ask the LL about moving in to another unit in the same community, or if the LL owns multiple properties, ask about vacancies at other properties. if you pick one of those other units, they may waive your application fee.