The Money Mustache Community
Learning, Sharing, and Teaching => Real Estate and Landlording => Topic started by: MayDay on July 20, 2017, 04:22:35 PM
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Does anyone know anything about landlord/tenant laws in the twin cities.
We applied for an apartment and paid a 100$ application fee and paid the 500$ deposit.
We were approved to rent. We ended up buying a house instead. They didn't send the lease right away and I didn't follow up right away, so it has been 2-3 weeks.
I called today to find out how to get our 500$ deposit back and they told me once we apply and get approved they won't return the 500$. They said the application we signed says they get to keep the 500$.
This cannot be legal. We haven't even seen a lease let alone signed it.
How do we proceed?
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What does the application you signed say?
Once you have read through that, contact your local tenant's rights organization. They will best know how to proceed given local laws and customs.
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It says it will be retained as damages for taking the apartment off the market.
We signed it, but just because they wrote it doesn't make it legally enforceable. However I'm not sure what to do to figure out if it's legally enforceable.
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It says it will be retained as damages for taking the apartment off the market.
We signed it, but just because they wrote it doesn't make it legally enforceable. However I'm not sure what to do to figure out if it's legally enforceable.
That usually is acceptable, but again, your best source of information is your local tenants' rights group.
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I left a message with them, hopefully I'll hear back tomorrow.
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Did you get it back?
I am in MN. I would not have kept your $500, as I would have required $1,000. Then, unless it was cancelled almost immediately, I would have kept your $1,000.
You are out the money unless they cave in. Live with it.
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Did you get it back?
I am in MN. I would not have kept your $500, as I would have required $1,000. Then, unless it was cancelled almost immediately, I would have kept your $1,000.
You are out the money unless they cave in. Live with it.
Also in MN. I am looking to rent if/when I sell my damn house. All properties I have talked to said the same thing. If your application is approved and you walk away they keep your money.
Also, written contracts are legally binding. Even an email can be legally binding as well as some verbal contracts.
Sorry!
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Sorry, but I believe that you should be on the hook for the $500. That's exactly what the deposit is for.
I learned an early lesson about people who back out of a rental as a budding student "landlord" many years ago. I had rented a three bedroom house, and sublet two bedrooms for $150/mo each (yeah I said it was a long time ago!).
I had a prospective tenant who loved the place, had great references and seemed very nice. She agreed to rent a room. I asked for $400 (first and last month plus deposit), but she only had $75 and said she would pay the rest the next day. She left a few boxes of stuff, so I believed she was serious about the room, but then she disappeared.
Three days later, she came back to retrieve her stuff -- "So sorry, I found a better place, can I have my $75 back?" I let her take the boxes and kept the money. But the delay caused me to miss that month's renting cycle -- it was too late to get a renter for the 1st of the month so I lost an entire month's rent of $150. Not to mention the lost time and aggravation of having to start all over with viewing appointments etc.
On top of all that -- that girl returned later WITH HER MOTHER to accuse me of dishonesty for keeping the $75! They argued vehemently, and with condescending moral superiority, that she should pay for a maximum of 3 days rent, or perhaps less since the room was occupied by boxes rather than a person.
After that incident, I made sure that prospective tenants (1) paid up front and (2) explicitly agreed to forfeit the first month's rent if they backed out.
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They've got to be able to cover the cost of the vacancy you caused.
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The other people responded correctly but if you want to pursue it further you can contact www.homelinemn.org
Or go check Minnesota Landlord/Tenant law at the Attorney General's website - https://www.ag.state.mn.us/consumer/handbooks/LT/default.asp
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Does anyone know anything about landlord/tenant laws in the twin cities.
We applied for an apartment and paid a 100$ application fee and paid the 500$ deposit.
We were approved to rent. We ended up buying a house instead. They didn't send the lease right away and I didn't follow up right away, so it has been 2-3 weeks.
I called today to find out how to get our 500$ deposit back and they told me once we apply and get approved they won't return the 500$. They said the application we signed says they get to keep the 500$.
This cannot be legal. We haven't even seen a lease let alone signed it.
How do we proceed?
So you agreed to rent the place from them and you have just cost the landlord at least 2-3 weeks worth of lost rent, plus administrative fees, and re-leasing fees, and you think you should get your $500 deposit back?