Too late to back out of a lease?
Long story. A lovely older couple applied for my rental. They appeared perfect in every way right down to an almost glowing application with a high credit score, no debt. Being anxious to get my place rented I quickly screened by calling the employer stated on the application after looking up the business name/phone online and having a wonderful conversation with the 'employer'. Unfortunately, it was not until after we signed the lease and collected the deposit that I started feeling uneasy as if something was just not right. So I started digging further to see who I was actually renting to. Although they viewed the property as a couple, when the application came through, it was just the woman's. Their explanation was that they were not really planning on living together right now and that the man may decide to move in later and be added to the lease. Seemed like a reasonable explanation at the time. To ease my anxiety, I went to check out their Facebook profile again (I did this prior to approving) but was looking more closely. What I started to realize was that I was never given the man's name. I didn't push for it since he was not being added to the lease. As I searched the woman's Facebook profile, I realized that none of the photos of them together had him 'tagged' nor were there any comments from him. I couldn't identify him at all. So I started digging through the friends' comments on the photos leading me to other 'friends' profiles to see if I could find him. Well, I did finally. He turned out to be the 'employer' I called. A quick Google search revealed that he was recently involved in a very large drug bust just a few months ago. Now I'm sick to my stomach. There was no way in hell I was handing the keys to my house to these people. We had 30 days until move in day. I reached out to the woman explaining that a family situation just arose and we will not be able to rent the house. Although annoyed, and probably knowing I figured things out, she agreed to me returning her deposit and instructed me to mail it back to her home (which I suspect is a false address). My bad for not pushing for a landlord reference at the time. Again, her explanation for not providing her landlord info was that her landlord was terrible which was why she was moving and she did not want him called. She did not want to give notice until she secured a new place. Again, my bad for not seeing this as a red flag. My hope is that they will just go away, but my fear is that they will not as they have a signed lease in hand. What do I do?