Multiple Questions re: LOI, Agents, Liability

[cbavasi]

Hi - I have several questions (sorry - I cut out my original post b/c it was so wordy!) anyhow:

1) If a landlord signs the LOI and deposits your check are they legally bound to this offer? What would hinder the commencement of the lease?

2) If an agent has never shown you the property but you simply had a conversation over the phone regarding the availability of the property are they then entitled to a percentage of the commission even though they had nothing to do with the deal?

3) Can you report an agent? If so, where?

Thanks!

[tilly1234]

Hi cbavasi,

sorry to hear all this.

To be honest, I think you should be happy if you get rejected once more, because if it starts like this, it can only get worse.

I just signed a contract with a landlord that seemed okay but in fact he's not. I'm lucky it's a company lease so our office manager is dealing with him, but honestly, I wouldn't like to be in her place.

Take your money and look for another place and another agent. You can surely get recommendations here.

Good luck to you!

[cbavasi]

ok - the landlord pulled out and has issued us a check. i did call a lawyer to see if we could take action against this agent who basically mucked it up for us and the lawyer said we could file a complaint and that was about it. we could try and hold the landlord to the LOI but the wording was so loose it's not worth it. how frusterating this whole process is!!! but i do think now, in hindsight, we would have had nothing but problems if we'd continued with this property - i mean we hadn't even signed the lease and there were already issues... could you imagine if the toilet leaked or something?

[synkronize]

hi cbavasi, if u don't mind me asking in brief, what was wrong with your unit?

[cbavasi]

it's a bit of a long story - but we found a place we loved and put in an offer. the offer was rejected when the landlady found out we have children. this landlady is quite elderly so there was one agent that was talking to her quite a bit - filling her ear with nonsense. i'm not sure if he thought he could market it higher or what... but we were out. we loved the building so much (only 8 units in a great location) we went back there the following day b/c there was a sign posted with a phone number. we called the number and the agent told us about the same property. we told him our offer had been rejected b/c of the children and he said he'd get back to us. we never heard anything and about 3 weeks later my agent knew we were really set on that place and went and met with the landlady. this same day the agent we called on the phone called and said he could get us a deal if i DIDN'T call my agent. i told him i couldn't do that since she showed me the place along with another agent for the landlord. i told him i was still looking around and would talk to my agent. this same day the landlord agreed to meet me and we got on very well and she then accepted another offer and CASHED our checked and signed an LOI. about 3 days later this other agent told me that he'd told the landlord to renig on our offer b/c i'd gone around him and then basically told me that i'd need to pay him a commission if i wanted the deal to go through. after thinking long and hard we decided he could have the commission and we would pay OUR agent the lost commission since i was spitting mad that some guy i've never even met is holding all the cards on this apt. so this was all resolved on saturday and then monday my husband gets a call from this guy and he says that he's told the landlady to move up the move in date (so we pay 2 more weeks) and then AGAIN alludes to the fact that we could just tear up the original LOI and resign a contract with him and he'll make sure it goes through. my husband basically tells him to go through our agent and 24 hours later we're told that the landlady is returning the money and we out.
it's really maddening... we had a similar thing happen last year over an agent that was waving our check around and eventually landed the full commission with one of his clients and the landlord. he told us that the landlord had 'relatives' moving in. well - we ended up moving into the same complex and believe me those were no relatives. i became friendly with the girl and she told me that he was pushing her and basically said we'd signed, paid and the landlord had agreed to our offer so she'd put an offer in!
anyhow - the kicker of this is... the most recent jerky agent came to our house tonight to return the check and we weren't home and he asked our helper if we were still looking for a place!!!!! crack smoker much?!?!?!??