Holding deposit confusion

[Ana James]

I applied for an one BR apartment at a community in CA. The leasing manager was able  to convince me to deposit the holding deposit check the same day even before filling my application form. I submitted the check after their office hours and she made me sign a  holding deposit form which says I will be responsible to pay prorated rent for the time period they hold the apartment for me (max of 2 weeks, March 26th).

My application was approved the next day but there were conflicts regarding some of the advertised amenties ( microwave and clubhouse) which they decided to dishonor saying the condition is as it was shown. I still decided to move in.

They cashed in the check the same day. A week later, I had some issues with the move in date and requested them to move it forward by another week. They said to consider my request, they would need  extra 2 days and if they don't extend, I will be charged for those days as well else I could cancel same day and pay prorated rent for 9 days. There was confusion regarding number of days ( they were charging me for both day I deposited the check( after hours) and current day. This amount was $80 more than the holding deposit so felt like a big hit.

I couldn't afford to pay extra rent so I asked them to cancel over email in case they can't look into my request. One day later, my present landlord agreed for me to vacate earlier and I sent a mail if they would allow me to move in on March 25th. ( day earlier than my original move in date on the holding deposit receipt). They are saying your request is cancelled and you owe us $80.

Now I'm concerned about the legality of the document and if I'm obligated to pay more than the deposit in this condition when I eventually agreed to move in on the decided move in date.

I'm ok paying them to avoid the situation of them reporting me to any Credit bureaus for $80 but I'm curious about the legality of the document. Let me know your views.

[Aaron K.]

This was a very long post, but it would appear that they had an apartment available immediately that you requested they hold at which point they essentially charged you daily rent to do so.  I am not 100% sure of your post but if you asked for an extension on them holding the apartment and said if you can't make it happen I would like to cancel, the most likely scenario is that they were not able to continue holding the property and thus cancelled.  If you asked to move in sooner there really should not have been a problem.  The story was a little hard to follow but I'll do my best to help answer your question.