Never moved into apt. - mgmt co. keeping sec. deposit + 1 mo

[misc]

i have a question regarding my dispute with a management company. i signed a lease for an apt. about a month ago and was schedule to move into the apt. this week, but i was laid off last week and can no longer afford the monthly rent on the apt. i informed the mgmt. company the day i was laid off last week (which was before the effective date on the lease agreement) that i was not going to move into the apt. on the effective date of the lease agreement. since i never took possession of the keys on the apt. and never moved in, they never sent me a copy of the lease agreement. the mgmt. co. said their policy regarding lease termination is to charge a fee equivalent to 2 months rent which is the amount i paid them upon signing the lease about a month ago. do i have any rights in this situation considering i never took possession of the keys and never moved into the apt.? how should i go about fighting to get my money back? i don't even know if there is an executed agreement between both parties since i have not received a copy of the lease agreement signed by both parties. any help would be much appreciated. thank you.

[dealing3000]

My honest opinion is you are out the $$. You signed a binding contract and quite frankly if there was no clause in the lease for the two month penalty they can hold you to the entire amount and not just two months. I have had friends do this and they always lost what they put down. It is very common thing to happen as people change minds, back out, lose jobs, break up, etc.

This is also one of the reasons management companies ask for two months in advance. If you back out it can easily take them two months or longer to find a replacement.

Sorry to hear about the job loss.

[bluegrasslady]

I, too, am very sorry to hear about your job loss.

I would go there in person and talk to someone with a kind/guilty face and explain that you were told that it's their policy to keep two months' rent when someone asks to get out of a lease.

Ask to see that policy in writing.

If they poo-poo you or try to get you to leave, in earnest, ask them, "Do you mean to tell me that this company is that greedy, that it will keep my two month's rent despite the fact that I've been laid off? It wasn't my fault. It certainly was not my impression that this management company was like that."

If you don't want to get confrontational, call your local politician's office (City Councilmember, Senator, Assemblymember) and ask them if they can intervene. Many will step up to the plate.

If your landlord is that greedy and doesn't care what the local pols think, you'll be out of luck.

I'm so sorry to hear about your job. Good luck finding another.