T
Tomeanjean
Guest
My boyfriend and I had made an application to rent an apartment in California. After we left and I went to work they called my boyfriend and told him that we could get the apartment but they needed a deposit to hold it for us and he needed to come back right away, that night. My boyfriend signed a one year lease. He didn't have any idea what he was signing. Actually he thought it was part of the application only. He also gave the manager $1348.00 as a deposit that would cover first months rent prorated from the date the apartment would be ready for occupancy until the first of the following month and an additional amount equal to two months rent for security deposit.The next day I went to tell them that I had rented another property and needed to get the deposit back since we had decided not to rent there. They told me that the deposit was non-refundable and gave me the phone number of the property manager. I called her and she said she could only speak to my boyfriend. So that night he called and was told that the only way he could get any of his money back was if they rented the apartment to someone else. Until then they would charge him rent and use his deposit to pay for three months worth. He was informed that there would not be much money left to refund, if any at all. She told him that he better pick up the keys as agreed. Then we found out that there had been a shooting in the apartment complex a few days before we were there originally. Also my boyfriend had gone to family court and was given full custody of his two sons on the day that he signed the lease and that was why he was so excited and anxious to get a larger place to live that our one bedroom. But, one of his kids is disabled and would not be able to deal with the stairs in the apartment with two bedrooms upstairs. So I talked to the manager and property manager again and told them that we definitely did not want their property and would not be picking up the keys. Then my boyfriend signed a letter stated his wish to terminate the agreement and requesting a full refund of all deposits made and gave a copy to the manager as well as sending a copy to the owner by certified mail, return receipt. That was mailed and postmarked and hand-delivered to the on-site manager within three days after signing the lease. The manager said that she would do everything she could to re-rent the apartment so that we could get our money back. We weren't even scheduled to take possession for another two days. It was the only apartment that would be available as the others that were vacant needed extensive cleaning and repairs. So we hoped that it would be rented sooner than later. It has now been a month since we were to move in but the apartment is still vacant. The other vacant apartments have been renovated and rented. There has been another gang related shooting and on the front page of todays paper it says that there was a raid on that same apartment complex and thirteen people were arrested as well as seven different gangs in evidence at that building described by police as "infested with gangs and drugs and has a very high crime rate". The article also said that they would "go through the city attorney's office and put the owner on notice that this kind of narcotics activity is going on, and if he doesn't clean it up then the federal government can come in and take it away from him". Can someone really make this kind of error and lose all that money plus be liable for one year of rent besides??? It was my tax refund money that my boyfriend gave them and it is just killing me. Do I have any legal recourse? I have the papers to file a claim in small claims court, but I don't know the applicable laws in this situation that might help me to win my suit. Please help if you can!!