Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in California
We are relocating to Contra Costa County, California from Washington state. In the middle of July we submitted an application for an apartment which credit-wise was approved. We traveled down to CA last week to meet our prospective landlords and view the property. We decided to rent, were given a lease that we were told to sign and fax back(the landlord did not sign). We left an $800 security deposit, and went back home to WA state. This was last Weds. Yesterday, we get an e-mail with a form to sign authorizing background checks on us. We were wondering, if we are denied this rental, is the Landlord liable for the extra expenses we have incurred due to their misleading us into believing we were approved to rent this house. Basically what rights do we have if we are denied this rental ?
1 Answer from Attorneys
You either are approved or not. If you want the landlord to hold a place for you while screening your application, then you will have to put a holding deposit down.