Responsibility of a leasing company towards "rent responsible"option

[sepulshan]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? CA

Hi, I have a situation with my landlord/lease management company. I bought a home and I had to break my lease and was "rent responsible" for 2 months i.e. if a new lessee signed a lease right after (same day) I vacate, then I would not have to pay the 2 months of remaining rent. If the new lessee moved in a week after I vacate, then I would be responsible only for 1 week's rent.

However, it looks like the leasing company is playing tricks by not allowing anyone and discouraging them to not sign the lease since they know they will get the 2 months from me anyway and come summer, they will find a new tenant afterwards (after they get the 2 month's rent from me by virtue of no one moving in); so they are maximizing their return. It seems like unethical behavior to me. There was one lessee (a known contact) who contacted me and said "why is the apartment not being leased and why is the leasing company suggesting that this apartment is taken" when he was prepared to sign - When I heard this, I contacted the leasing company and they said "the apartment was kept on hold for someone else who did not show up later". This to me is BS because I know they don't hold apartments for people with verbal promises. I have lived here for 2 years.

Can I deal with these leasing agency guys legally?

 

[FarmerJ]

send to them a prospect who doesn't have a bad rental history and see if the LL is just trying to fill their own other vacancies first and if they say they do not have a unit available to the person you send to them then you will know they are refusing to show it.

 

[Gail in Georgia]

"Can I deal with these leasing agency guys legally? "

Just how do you plan on doing this? In other words, how would you prove this in a court of law?

If the complex has other vacancies they are under no legal obligation to fill yours first.

Gail

 

[STEPHAN]

You are aware that you are complaining at a high level in CA, right?

 

[sepulshan]

send to them a prospect who doesn't have a bad rental history and see if the LL is just trying to fill their own other vacancies first and if they say they do not have a unit available to the person you send to them then you will know they are refusing to show it.

Hi FarmerJ, I already know that they are doing that. One of the lessee's who contacted them was a person known to me.

 

[sepulshan]

You are aware that you are complaining at a high level in CA, right?

Hi Stephan, I am not sure what you mean. Could you please explain?

 

[STEPHAN]

In many other states you would be responsible for the full term. No obligation by the LL to do anything.

 

[sepulshan]

"Can I deal with these leasing agency guys legally? "

Just how do you plan on doing this? In other words, how would you prove this in a court of law?

If the complex has other vacancies they are under no legal obligation to fill yours first.

Gail

Hi Gail,

In this case, they went a little further than that. They explicitly discouraged the lessee from expressing interest in my apartment. When I signed the "rent responsible", I asked them if they would do this unethical thing and they said "No. We treat every apartment the same in terms of freshly renting it out". But it looks like they are doing the exact opposite of what they promised. Isn't this a breach of trust? If they had been explicit about this, I would have gone for a subleasing option. In terms of how I would prove this - Yeah it is a bit tricky. I am not sure. In terms of your comment about their legal obligation, it does feel like their legal obligation; I am not sure why it is not.

Thanks

 

[sepulshan]

In many other states you would be responsible for the full term. No obligation by the LL to do anything.

Hi Stephan, I understand your comment about me "complaining"; I used to live in MA before this. However, if these guys had said "pay the remaining amount of the lease and get out", I would have felt okay about it. What they did was have me waste my time trying to attract people to my apartment only to know that they cannot get past the final gate. I promised the new lessee a portion of what I would otherwise lose as rent. The new lessee finds that attractive and then they realize that they cannot really sign the lease. This is actually worse than other states

 

[FarmerJ]

Where in writing does it say that your empty unit would get a higher priority over any other vacancy ? Unless you can find a state law that addresses mitigation in your favor then you should have just paid two months rent as penalty for a early release from the lease to be done with it( if that's what they offered.