posted by admin on Jul 5
I signed a tenancy agreement for a house to rent. All parties signed the agreement and dated it. We also gave them a security deposit to secure the property. I was planning on going on vacation with my family on saturday and return to this new house. Last friday I got a call from my estate agent saying that the owner of the property decided to move back into her house and she was sorry but all she could do is return our security deposit. I was devasted because I had to leave the very next day to Florida. I am now in a situation where I have no where to live when we return. My in laws are kind enough to let us stay with them until we find a place. Do I have a case here? I also need to call all my utilities and credit card companies to tell them to change the address of that house. It's going to cost me a fortune while on holiday.
Worst of all is I have a 12 week old baby and she knew this. Where did she expect us to go. I had just turned in the keys to our other house that same day. If she knew she was going to move in on friday why did she insist we pay our security deposit on that monday?
Originally posted 2009-09-13 00:16:05.
September 13th, 2009 at 12:16 am
As she signed the lease as well, she is obligated to give you a certain notice period. If she didn’t do that, I believe she would be vulnerable to a claim for damages from you. She would have held your feet to the fire if you just changed your mind, right?
Keep track of all your expenses in this regard, and submit a bill to her for these costs that were precipitated by her action. Be sensible about it (don’t come up with some rent figure for your in-laws as they were doing what any family member should do).
Let her know that you will be seeking relief in small claims court if she doesn’t cover your costs. Be open to accepting a reasonable counteroffer from her to not have to mess with the court action.
Also check out your state laws in this regard. It may be there are some basic statuatory damages you can claim in a case like this.