Can landlord cancel lease signing appointment? -w/ nothing signed

Question

Can landlord cancel lease signing appointment?

Tenant has signed nothing, no lease. Not completed a rental application, not provided anything in writing, not a signed lease, no personal info exchanged, no key given, no money exchanged.

Landlord had invited tenant to a schedule a "lease signing" meeting.

I meant to say "lease application" in the email but my phrasing was off.

(More details: I'm the landlord/roommate here in a houseshare. I discovered an eviction the tenant when tenant had stated they did not have any in their inquiry email, and also lack of proper rental reference as tenant's name wasn't on their lease at current property while waiting to hear back from tenant/roommate to see if they wanted to sign a lease or not. Additionally, my heater has started shrieking after tenant/roommate first visited property within the past week. It had not been cold enough to use the heater until this point, and I would not have shown property was I expecting a shrieking heater system in my house. I don't want to allow a tenant/roommate to move into a porentially cold property with heater fix repair date/duration of repair unknown. My repairman has not yet come for the heater.  I also don't want to accept a tenant with no valid rental reference whose name appears on an eviction court listing too. This is a roommate/landlord situation.)

What do I do here?

I plan to explain the unexpected heater situation to the potential roommate. My plan here is to now leave the place empty, not to find with another tenant at this time this month.

What else am I obligated to do, with no rental application ever filled out and no lease completed?

Since it's a roommate/landlord situation, can I change my mind up to the point of a tenant physically signing a lease and/or money being exchanged?

What should I do? No signed lease/no money exchanged/no key given/no move-date promised/no personal data exchanged in this potential roommate situation.

Am I obligated in any way to allow the lease to actually be signed since I slipped my phrasing and said "would you like to come over for a lease signing" via e-mail?

Wayne Brooks · Answer

No obligation at all. "I've decided not to rent it out just yet, thanks for your interest, good luck".

Jeff B. · Answer

An appointment is just that; non-binding.

Heck, I don't make these appointments unless I have the application in the first place.

Marcus Curtis · Answer

Why skirt around the facts? Tell the potential tenant the facts of the matter (i.e. rental history, references, some "gray" areas, and on top of that the HVAC issues). Transperency is your friend. No reason to hide these items.

Jason Wen · Answer

Thanks! So glad to hear it.  I was really worried about some sort of lawsuit from it. I don't want to bail on the guy, but the quick move and a matching eviction to his name just make me nervous, aside from the unfortunate heater issue I've got now too. Money, it was nice knowing ya!

Michele Fischer · Answer

Agree that you have no obligation to follow through, but I'd give as much warning as possible.  Maybe just say you are taking it off the market until the heating issue can be resolved, and offer to let them apply now or later when it is ready to rent.  Don't discourage them from applying even if they don't seem like a likely fit,  Although I think the discrimination rules are different if the landlord lives in the complex/unit.

Jason Wen · Answer

That's really a relief.

I had visions of lawsuits in my head, literally had a nightmare about him living here and having to evict last night.

I should have had him fill out a printed application in the first place; he had listed his job and said his rental history had no evictions, but I shouldn't have taken him at his word.

I suppose there could be an unfortunate mismatch of an eviction of his reasonably common name on his side of town (3 miles from his job in a large city), but he also wasn't on his roommates lease now and his explanation of why he and his roommate were moving just sounded off.

It seemed too good to be true- admirable charitable job, nice car, same week move in, easy going, polite, flattering.

The same week move in seemed curious to me, most people don't wait to start e-mailing potential roommates until a week before moving if the know they have to be out of their apartment within a week, but I figured maybe that last minute routine was more normal in roommate situations.  I should have known better. The same week inquiry/move was enough to make me reluctant.

I'm sure there's a chance that I'm missing out on a good tenant here who had an unfortunate name mismatch, but the combo of eviction so near his work in court records plus such a quick move just make me nervous.

And next time I will definitely get an application first, and make sure I don't say "lease signing" not "filling out application."

Can landlord cancel lease signing appointment? -w/ nothing signed

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