Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in Virginia
Basic question, can a landlord change the rent after a lease is signed, if they made a mistake? Here's the situation: rental agency showed my daughter and 3 roommates (college students, over 18) a 3 bedroom apartment which has a master bedroom, and quoted them a price. The intent, which the agency knew, was that 2 of the girls would share the larger room. After all 4 of the girls signed the lease, I was communicating with the office about details of the move and in response, a different person from the rental agency mentioned that they had made a mistake. She said that their policy is to charge an extra $75 for an extra person (4 people in a 3 bedroom apt), and that the lease would need to be redone. So far, I have ignored this comment and am hoping that they let this go or it falls through the cracks, but if they try to follow through with this, would it be legal? Should we protest, or pay the increased rent if it is their established policy?
2 Answers from Attorneys
Absolutely not. They would never let YOU change the lease after it is signed. And they will hold you to every little detail of the contract if they are enforcing the contract against you.
If they made a mistake it is their mistkae. It has nothing to do with you. If they made a mistake then "you live and learn."
Especially in today's environment, making special deals to fill apartments is not at all unusual. So it would be entirely normal if someone made an exception to their policy to make sure that an empty apartment is filled.
The only policy that matters is the lease.
Well, you could simply refuse to sign the new lease and claim that you would be adhering to the old one--and see what happens. But, if the issue, however, appears headed possibly for some serious litigation, you would likely be well advised to either sign the amended lease with the higher amount or simply vacate the premises (without penalty) and look for new living quarters for these girls.
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