Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California
Cancelled rental agreement within 36hrs.
thank you for answering my question. I had signed a rental agreementon 12pm thursday and handed the landlord a check for 1500 to cover the first month rent (month to month lease agreement). That Friday at 5pm, I called the landlord and left a message on her machine telling her I had second thoughts and would like to get out of the contract. She did not get back to me until Sunday to say that I had to get her a letter in writing to this effect which I did by fax. I followed up with a call to make sure she received the fax. When I did talk to her in person she told me that she will probably charge me something for the having to advertise the apt but was sure she could rent it by the date I agreed to move in. My question is this: What are my legal rights? Don't I have 72 hours to change my mind without penalty? How much of my deposit can she retain, if any?
thank you so much for your time
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: Cancelled rental agreement within 36hrs.
You just got screwed by your clever landlord. Go to my web page at members.tripod.com/familylawca/ for the answer--but it looks like your landlord read my web page before you did.
Re: Cancelled rental agreement within 36hrs.
Answers: (1) No, you don't have 72 hours to change your mind. Such a right to rescind has been created by statute for certain selected classes of contracts including home-equity loans, dancing lessons and a few others, but residential leases are not among them.
(2) The landlord can retain enough of your deposit to cover her actual losses in re-renting the apartment, including advertising costs and lost rental income pending successful re-rental.
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