So I ended up taking a job that was about 80 miles away and I looked into getting a new apartment in the new area. I settled on a nice 1 br for $485 per month. I tell the landlord or the real estate agent or whomever it was who was responsible for selling me the rent, and she has me wire over a security deposit for $485. (which I did over the phone, since driving 90 minutes would cost me 20-25 dollars in fuel alone). It took me a week to look at the apartments and everything, so this all took place with about 8 or 10 days until I had to move in.
Fast forward. Five days until I move in. She calls me on my cell and tells me that she won’t have the apt. ready when I move in. My options were to move into a more expensive apartment ($540 per month) for my entire 12 month lease or to just stay in the 540/month place until I could move into the ceahper place we originally agreed upon. Either way, I end up paying more money for rent while living in the $540 place.
I tell her that I’ll stay in the $540 place only until the $485 place is ready, then I will move again. I’m mostly concerned with keeping rent down. I put down a security deposit for that one too (plus an extra 15 dollars in fees because I had to do it over the phone instead of in person). Basically I end up having to put in 2 security deposits since I am tying up 2 apartments at the same time. She says that I will have the original place in a week or two.
So 11 days pass and she tell me that hopefully they’ll have the place ready in another week. I’m a math minor, so it occurred to me that 11+7=longer than 2 weeks–and based on the way she was talking, I don’t think that she thinks it will be ready by Friday. So I could be looking at close to a month in an apartment that I didn’t originally agree to.
In any event, I don’t know if this is standard practice or if it’s legitimate grounds for a complaint. Also, I really don’t have much room for leverage here, being the new guy and her being the one who’s holding my security deposits. Here’s the rundown:
a) I’m paying extra rent for living in an apartment that I don’t plan on staying in.
b) I have to move twice, and I can’t unpack half of my stuff because I know I’ll be moving soon anyway.
c) I had to pay an extra 15 dollars in fees.
d) I can’t connect myself to the internet or get cable until I move into the $485 place.
e) I’ve had to do a lot of extra running around to see what the situation is.
f) I’ve had to make two security deposits instead of one–which basically means I’m making an extra down payment.
g) I can’t check my snail-mail until I move into the $485 place, because I had everybody forward their mail to that address rather me having to re-forward my mail twice. Of course, I made that decision under the assumption that I would only be living in the $540 place for 1-2 weeks. I have to do a lot more running around just to check my snail mail once.
And I can understand them having to do most of that, since they can’t just move me into my original apartment as it is. What I don’t understand is how they can justify charging me full price on a more expensive apartment that we originally never agreed upon. (and charging me extra on top of that). Is there any course of action that I can take? Do I have a legitimate complaint? Is this just normal business? Or should I report this to the Better Business Bureau?
I’m new at the whole apartment thing so if this isn’t a legitimate complaint, let me know. I’m not just looking for someone to agree with me, I’m just wondering what other people have to say about this.