Hello,

I recently signed a lease and made a verbal agreement with the broker and landlord that I could move in the evening prior to the lease start date. There was another tenant in the apartment at that time, and she agreed that she would move out in the early afternoon.

I spoke with the landlord, scheduled my movers for 6pm, and told her and the tenant that I would be there at 7:30pm. When I arrived at the apartment, the tenant was nowhere to be found and the apartment was still in tact, nothing packed or cleaned.

The tenant’s boyfriend showed up (without keys) and said the movers were 6 hours late, and that I would just have to wait until they were finished. I ended up having to pay my movers for an extra 3 hours, during which time they sat in a truck and waited for the other movers to finish.

The tenant is unwilling to pay me for the time my movers spent sitting in the truck. My question is: Should I seek a reimbursement? If so, from who? Does a verbal agreement count in this case?


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  1. Terrible story. My friend and I run a(honest) Man with a Van Service here in Brooklyn and this same thing occurred to one of our clients. We moved her from one of those prewar buildings on Eastern Parkway in Park Slope to the Upper West Side. The traffic was terrible and when we finally arrive with the van to her new abode the super refused to let her in as her lease did not start for another day. We all tried to reason with the super and the management company. Both parties steadfastly refused to budge. As a result we had to take the van and temporarily move her stuff into storage. As a result she ended up paying for two moves. What we ended up doing was providing her with a receipt and she was able to get the management company to reimburse her. I am sure if your landlord is reasonable He/She will reimburse you. Sorry this happend. I hope everything worked out. If you need a mover fine me on VanStand vanstand.com. Shameless plug I know 🙂

  2. If the LL kicks me out at 11:59pm on the 31st and the next LL doesn’t let me in till 12:00am on the 1st, what can I do. Circle round the city in a moving truck.

    It sucks to rent. Usually if you cannot get in before the 1st, you will probably move in with dirt and garbage and broken stuff, unpainted and BO still lingering.

  3. Yup, like others have said you can kiss that money good by. It’s unfortunate that in NYC it’s assumed that we all have money to burn and money trees growing on the fire escape. Next time know you need to give yourself more time for the previous tenant to clear out.Anyway, you want the placed cleaned thoroughly by the landlord, people live in filth.

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