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- Newsgroups: misc.legal
- Path: sparky!uunet!well!well.sf.ca.us!bobg
- From: bobg@well.sf.ca.us (Bob Glickstein)
- Subject: Need help with lease litigation
- Message-ID: <bobg.727922194@well.sf.ca.us>
- Sender: news@well.sf.ca.us
- Organization: Whole Earth 'Lectronic Link
- Distribution: na
- Date: Mon, 25 Jan 1993 00:36:34 GMT
- Lines: 27
-
- Last May, I entered into a lease for an apartment in Novato, California,
- with a property manager acting as an agent for the unit's owner, who
- lives in Virginia. The agent first offered me a month-to-month lease,
- but when I told him I preferred a one-year lease he said OK.
-
- In September, I had reason to want to leave the Novato unit. I sought
- the approval of the agent, who after a purported consultation with the
- owner gave verbal permission to terminate the lease pending a written
- thirty-day notice from me, which I promptly supplied. I paid rent
- through mid-October and considered my obligation fulfilled.
-
- Shortly thereafter, I was contacted by the owner who told me that his
- agent had unintentionally misrepresented his wishes. The owner had no
- intention of releasing me from the lease. By this time it was too late
- for me to respect his wishes, however, as I was committed to my new lease.
-
- A couple of months passed in which several letters were exchanged but
- the owner's position remained unchanged. He retained my security
- deposit against the rent payments that he believed he was due.
-
- He is now threatening legal action if I do not pay the missing rent,
- plus fees for his lawyer, his rental agent, and advertising for the
- apartment. I would like to threaten legal action of my own to get my
- security deposit back, but I do not know how strong my position is.
-
- Can anyone offer an opinion? Thanks a million in advance.
-
-