[Bighorner]

Hello.

The lease to my current apartment is coming to an end, so I decided that I would be moving to a larger apartment somewhere else. I found one, applied, paid the application and holding fee, got approved, and was told that I have nothing more to do until move-in day (which was to sign the lease and pay the first-month rent and security deposit).

I am now one week away from when I was scheduled to move, and the leasing manager calls me to tell me that they won't have it ready and if I'd be able to postpone it a few days. I told him that I cannot because my lease here will be up and I'll have nowhere to go. He simply said he'll look into it and call me back later. Today, I called to see if there was any updates and he said there wasn't and that he'll call sometime during the end of the week to let me know. If he calls and tells me it won't be ready, that would leave me with only a few days to find somewhere to stay.

I have no lease, but the application did specify that move-in would be on the 20th. What would be my options if they can't deliver? Would I be entitled to a refund of the security and/or application fees? Would I be obligated to wait until it is ready? The application said that if I changed my mind, I'd be liable for 1/30th the cost of rent for every day that the apartment was off the market. I applied last month, and he calls me a week before to tell me this...would I still be liable for that? Would I be obligated to take an "alternate unit" if it's not the type that I applied for?

Thanks.

[ddrhazy]

They should return your holding deposit if they are unable to provide the rental to you at the time you had verbally agreed. If you had signed a lease then you could even go after them for finding a suitable alternative.

For example, if you originally signed a lease for a rental for 1000/month and the only similar rental that was immediately available was 1200/month, you could sue them for 200*12=2400 as that was the damages they caused you for not honoring their end of the contract.

But you didn't sign a lease, so moot point.