Deposits on Rentals

[meherzog]

My daughter went to rent an apt, put down a deposit, and while they were waiting for credit approval, the management company rented the apartment to someone else. This management company has hired many leasing agents for the same building, so there is a lot of competition. If the management company accepted my daughter's deposit, aren't they obligated to hold the apartment for her until the credit check is complete. In essence, they accepted more than one deposit for the same apartment. This must be illegal! Once they took my daughter's money, there was a contract between the two parties.

Anyone had this experience?

[ronin]

The "while they were waiting for credit approval" implies that the deposit and the tenancy were conditional based upon credit approval.

That is also strange. Credit reports take minutes to get nowadays, what was the holdup??