Q: Is this legal? What can be done?
Hello I recently placed a deposit and 4 months for a place and was to receive the keys but says they couldn't get in contact with me and headed back to the owner because she fell ill.(Did not receive phone call, text, nor email.) Then the owner dies the next morning. (Dealing with the nephew this whole time)Then her daughter arrives in town and now wants 5 and a half months when the lease was signed and ready to go and I was to receive the keys. Still have not received the keys four days later and no response to the daughter letting me move in or giving me back my $6000. What should I do? Everything was set in stone and now the daughter wants more from my side that I do not have. I need to move ASAP and have not heard back at all.
A: If a lease was signed, you need to contact an attorney and file suit to enforce the lease.
Bruce Alexander Minnick and Charles M. Baron agree with this answer
A: No, it's not legal. One issue, though, is whether the landlord who died was signing as an individual or on behalf of a corporate entity. If individual, and if the lease contains no clause on it being binding on heirs, assigns, etc., you might only have the remedy of getting your money back. If that's the case, and the heirs refuse to give the money back, you'd have a claim against the landlord's estate. If I were you, I'd first contact the heirs in a friendly way and ask if they need a couple days to resolve this due to the Coranavirus situation. If that fails, say you are going to have to get a lawyer involved. If that fails, hire a lawyer.
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