Made Deposit/Landlord Not Responded
hi – i recently made a $500 check deposit to put down to hold an apt. for future viewing. the landlord accepted my application. the apt. is being renovated, which is why no lease was signed at that time. both the landlord and super have been very amendable so far. but yesterday, i sent an…
hi – i recently made a $500 check deposit to put down to hold an apt. for future viewing. the landlord accepted my application. the apt. is being renovated, which is why no lease was signed at that time. both the landlord and super have been very amendable so far. but yesterday, i sent an email to the landlord to get a firm move date, so i can book movers, cable guy, etc. and, also to sign my lease. we both agreed to not sign a lease at the time of the deposit because the place needs massive renovations.
i find it odd that he hasn’t at least responded to say that he’ll see how far along the place is and get back to me.
any thoughts? am i just being paranoid? probably, hopefully. just curious about others have reacted in similar situations. i will try calling tomorrow, if i don’t get a response.
thanks!
Not being critical, but it’s funny how people never pick up the phone and call.
I agree you need some kind of written document at some point, but emails are so easily lost/overlooked. Just call him.
In the real estate market sometimes you have to take risks that you might not ordinarily take or possibly miss out on a place. Don’t beat yourself up over the fact that you gave him a check, it would be a very foolish landlord who would totally scam you out of a check (cash would be a different story). Not saying it doesn’t happen, but rarely are the people running scams like that the building owners, it’s just too easy to track someone down, and quite frankly, I wouldn’t want someone who I scammed out of $500 knowing where I own a million dollar plus building. Given the fact that you just emailed him yesterday, I wouldn’t panic yet, it always takes me a day or two to get back to most of my emails. Who knows, he could have been waiting to hear back from the contractors so he had something to tell you, been out of town, gone fishing, whatever.
“to hold an apt. for future viewing”
uh oh. not good. cancel that check asap, and ask questions later.
not a whole lot you can do but call the LL often and if it turns out you have been scammed through this very poor judgement then go to small claims.
are you nuts?..you gave someone 500 bucks for nothing.no contract…..you have been scammed