Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in Virginia

Re: Tenant signed leased and never showed back up

You mentioned that the would-be renter went to go

get the deposit but never paid it.

I assume that there was a reason for paying a

deposit, such as the lease explicitly requires

the payment of a deposit.

I would look very carefully at the lease to see

if the deposit was required as part of the lease.

If the lease requires payment of a deposit, then

the lease has not really started if the condition

of paying a deposit has not been met. Therefore, you would have NO obligations to him, if he did not activate (in effect) the lease by paying the deposit. But this depends on exactly how the lease talks about the deposit.

The more difficult question is if you can sue

for rent for the lost time. That is quite

likely, but it would probably require you to go

through some legal proceedings. So if you want

the freedom to quickly lease the apartment to

someone else instead, the easier way is to treat

it like the lease has never started because the

deposit was never paid.

Re: Tenant signed leased and never showed back up

It is ifficult to answer without reading the lease. If the lease is not effective without the deposit, there was no lease & you could have rented to one of the other interested parties. If he induced you to keep the apartment for him & you lost other prospects, you might have a claim. You say he was to move in today, but you do not say when he promised to return with the deposit.

If you wish to discuss this further, I can be reached at 703-915-1401.