Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Florida
I signed a commercial lease with the effective date blank relying on a previous email that I received from the leasing manager. The email stated that the lease would not be prepared with a specific date. When I noticed the blank date, I automatically assumed that it was because of her statement on the email. After signing, the date was written on the contract as of two days later after I signed. I do not agree with the date they placed, but of course now they do not want to change it since they already have my sig. on it. What can I do? They already have my deposit and first month's rent.
Already Tried:
tried to get them to amend the contract and change the effective date, they will only agree to give me rent abatement for the first few months until I open the business. Rent abatement that I wanted to have for the 2nd and 3rd year of the agreement and not in the beginning. The reason I do not agree on that effective date is because I was waiting on a contract from a company that will help support my business during the 1st year. I needed to get that contract to be able to support the business in the beginning, without it I cannot support the rent. (the agent was aware of this).
2 Answers from Attorneys
Unfortunately this is a bidding agreement once they got you to sign it. Your best option is to continue to try and re-negotiate the start of the lease. In most situations if the effective date is left blank, the contract is deemed effective on the date in which the person signed in which the contract is attempting to be enforced against. If the real estate agent was suppose to hold the contract for you until you advise them to release it to the leasor/landlord, you will likely have a cause of action against the real estate agent but this becomes a your word against their word unless their is something very specific in the email you referenced.
The date is a material term of the contract. If you never agreed to the starting date that they wrote into the lease after you had already signed it, then you may be able to get out of the lease. However, you'd probably have to file a lawsuit seeking to void the lease. During the course of this case, you might have the opportunity to resolve the case by agreeing that the lease will start at a later dae.
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