Someone looked at apartment to rent two weeks ago?

Question

yesterday tenant called me and said two weeks ago he told his landlord he was moving into apartment i'm renting and told me landlord found someone for his apartment. can i rent apartment to someone else.

please help.

Answer 1

If they didn't pay you any type of deposit to hold the place for them.  You are allowed to rent the place to someone else.

Answer 2

If you have not signed a lease or indicated to him that you accepted his application, you can refuse to rent to him for any legitimate purpose.  What you can't do is discriminate against him for things that are prohibited by law.

So, he looked at your place 2 weeks ago, and notified his landlord that he was moving into yours.  Had you even taken his application?  Did he pass your screening tests?  A prior housing reference, a decent credit report, and verifiable legal income of 3 times the monthly rent are the standard screening criteria.  

If you promised him the apartment, and he held up his end of whatever you indicated was required, then renting the place to someone else will put him in a bind and you might see him in small claims court looking for his expenses staying in a hotel until he can find another place or something like that.

But if he jumped the gun, and gave his landlord notice before you accepted him as a tenant, and meanwhile you found another tenant, then he was foolish to act as he did and he needs to find another place to live if you have already accepted the other tenant.

The key consideration here is that in general, you don't get to take a bunch of applications and pick the applicant you like the best.  You should accept applications in the order of their submittal to you if the prospective tenant passes your screening.  to do otherwise is to invite lawsuits for discrimination.

Good luck

Answer 3

Nothing is taken till the lease is signed and money is paid.