A bit of legal advice -- apartment intention form

Closed -- requesting delete.

 

Bump.

 

Why would a down payment affect the person opting out to pay 80%? The down payment is optional.

 

If you had only signed an intention form, and no money, or any form of consideration had been exchanged between both parties, then there is no contractual obligation, for lack of consideration.

There may be a case in equity though, although I'm not sure as I don't which jurisdiction your from, and more importantly, haven't done equity yet. That said, there may be a case of promissory estoppel as if the landlord relied on your promised intention to move in, and suffered some detriment as a result of this reliance, such as he declined contracts with other people because he thought you'd move in, then you MAY be liable. How likely you are to be liable however I don't know.

 

I'm not sure we understand one another; I certainly don't understand you lol. I'm saying that if there was a down payment exchanged than that is certainly reason for the person in question to be obligated to do the 80% buyout. However, if the prospective resident only expressed "intent" to live there and no money was exchanged, only words or perhaps a signed form of intent -- once again, with 0 money exchanged -- perhaps the resident would be excluded from being forced to buy out of their contract (since the first months rent or any kind of money at all was not exchanged).

My friend plans to just go and ask the staff. The only problem being, the staff are very rude and he really dislikes speaking with them (but he'll be okay).

Thanks for the responses, closed. Hopefully he doesn't bite that 80% buyout over mere intent.

 

Your wording is confusing me a bit, are you basically saying that you (or someone else) signed a leasing agreement?

If this is the case, the best option for you (or someone else) is to negotiate with the company doing the leasing and explain to them why you can't hold up your end of the contact. It's unlikely they would take you to court if you have a decent reason, unless they are assholes.

 

They are assholes. Not sure what my friend plans to do. It's a really unfortunate situation.

Can be closed.

 

Your friend doesn't have to do anything other than notifying them and retracting his intent. There is no contractual obligation between your friend and them. They can only possibly have a claim in equity, specifically, promissory estoppel. This would require them bringing an action against your friend, and demonstrating that they relied on your friends promise to their detriment.

They would have to:

(a) have relied on the promise to their detriment
(b) be willing to actually take such a case to court
(c) actually win the case, which isn't a guarantee.

It's highly unlikely that your friend will have to pay them.

 

As it turns out, he actually signed a lease. Their contract appears sound. There's even a part that states "if any clause, section, or term is found to be illegal or otherwise invalid in a court of law the rest of the contract will be upheld as if the invalid portion was not present."

Not even sure how it's legal for that to be in a contract..isn't the whole point of finding loopholes/invalidations to invalid the contract? In addition, there's a clause that in the event the resident enters any legal proceeding with them in the event that the resident loses they are required to pay any "reasonable attorney and court fees". So if you don't win you lose twice as much money, and it's impossible to win because anything you find that is invalid won't effect the "How to break the lease" portion. Which is where their asshole-ness comes into play, they never negotiate with residents at all. There is a ridiculously high buyout percentage or you need medical reasoning. Period. There is no alternative and they're willing to take anyone to court or collections over it.

 

Welcome to contract law. By not reading the lease your friend just leased an apartment. It isn't their fault that people don't guard themselves with a few pieces of basic information that would prevent your friend from going through this. Never sign anything before reading it and understanding fully what you've agreed to. Contracts by business that have legitimate real estate or contract attorneys are usually iron clad. They're wrote by people who have been to school to specifically prevent what you're friend tried to do which is contracting and then trying to back out of it because they changed their mind. It is really smart of them to do that because otherwise they'd have kids all of the time coming in to lease and then backing out at the last minute. That loses them money. So make sure your friend understands what he is signing the next time he plans on signing something. This time he may be out a couple grand but next time it could be more.

 

If he did sign a lease, then the contract itself would be valid, and it's tough luck for him.