Unit not ready for lease start (San Francisco, August: attorney, tenants, landlords)

[mmjac]

I recently signed a lease to begin this week. Paid pro-rated July + August rent and security deposit at signing. The new landlord informs me the locks won't ready on time, so I don't have keys for the lease start tomorrow.
I am a bit annoyed since the landlord pushed for an even earlier lease start but apparently does not have the property ready. I also don't want to begin my lease with bad blood. What do I do?

[California Vagabond]

You might contact the San Francisco Tenants Union -- San Francisco Tenants Union -- for help if you decide to protest, or grit your teeth and tolerate the delay.

For your sake, I'll hope that this was just one of those things, and not an indication of how your landlord usually conducts business. Still, just in case, I recommend keeping a detailed log of broken promises. The log will come in handy if you ever have to work with an attorney.

Good luck.

[California Vagabond]

And something else I remembered after writing the post above:

I had my locks changed when I moved in here a few years ago. I think it took about an hour, and I didn't have to wait more than a day to book the appointment.

[beb0p]

I'd suggest not making a mountain out of a mole hill. Replacing a lock should be very simple and fast... unless it's one of those older model locks that has been discontinued then it can become very combersome because the modern dimensions are all off. I ran into a similar problem.

Find out what the issue is, maybe it's a matter of the landlord not having the time to do it, then you can volunteer to put one in yourself (and be compensated of course) and give your LL the original keys and you keep the copies.

[NoMoreSnowForMe]

If the LL can't deliver the unit as agreed, then the contract is breached. So, it's up to you if you want to look elsewhere, or work with the LL.

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by NoMoreSnowForMe

If the LL can't deliver the unit as agreed, then the contract is breached. So, it's up to you if you want to look elsewhere, or work with the LL.

Landlord already has six weeks of his rent and security deposit, though.

[andyadhi01]

Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth

Landlord already has six weeks of his rent and security deposit, though.

This is SF and the landlords are the new god... You should be happy that the omnipotent landlord took your hard earned money and did a big favor to you!

[MauiPartTimer]

Figure out the daily rent and deduct the number of days you were without the partment from your next payment, along with a written explanation of your calculation.