Landlord backs out of renting on day of moving in!

[DonniePeverley]

Hello all, how about this for the wild wild west.

 

So, we are moving condos. We have a signed pre tennancy agreement (i forget the actual term for the actual name of the contract we signed), but it was a pre contract agreement, with everyones signature (landlord, agent, and ourselves). We pay two months deposit, and one month advance rent. We were going to sign the actual lease a day before moving in.

 

On that day on moving and when we are going to set of to sign the lease (including having had everything packed !!!!) the landlord backs out saying he doesn't really want to rent the property out. He immediately returns our deposit and rent back. 

 

Luckily our exisiting condo landlord was sympathetic and let us stay another few days, but we have since spent a few weeks in a hotel. We have luckily found another condo.

 

Can someone tell me if this was a legal document we signed pre lease ? Could we have had any recourse to take action against the landlord? 

 

It makes me wary of moving again, as any landlord could just back out. Thoughts ?

[still kicking]

Well all I can say is never move to Thailand the land of scams 

[save the frogs]

no, it can happen anywhere actually.

 

need a backup plan .... ie a storage unit to store belongings. 

 

 

[DonniePeverley]

So the agreement we signed was pointless?

 

If so, lets say i backed out - would the landlord have no recourse to take action against me either?

[AnotherOneHere]

Don't be poor and buy a condo. 🙂  

[DonniePeverley]

3 minutes ago, AnotherOneHere said:

Don't be poor and buy a condo. 🙂  

 

We planned to buy our current condo, but backed out at last minute for no other reason than being irrational. Lucky we did, as it's become infested with AirBnb (something we were told the condo was ultra strict against), and a nationality from a certain country at war just engulfing the place and ignoring all condo rules. 

[mstevens]

20 minutes ago, DonniePeverley said:

So the agreement we signed was pointless?

 

If so, lets say i backed out - would the landlord have no recourse to take action against me either?

 

Without seeing what is written in the contract you signed, no-one can say too much.

 

What happened is unfortunate but this is Thailand. As for whether you backed out at the last minute, I presume the landlord would just keep the deposit you had lodged and claim he had missed out on other potential tenants and as such, that money was compensation for potential lost tenant / money.

[OneMoreFarang]

<deleted> happens.

[NickyLouie]

Your funds were returned so the situation could have been much worse.

Maybe pay, get keys and then move in, noob.

 

[gargamon]

4 hours ago, DonniePeverley said:

We have a signed pre tennancy agreement (i forget the actual term for the actual name of the contract we signed), but it was a pre contract agreement, with everyones signature (landlord, agent, and ourselves). We pay two months deposit, and one month advance rent. We were going to sign the actual lease a day before moving in.

What's a pre contract agreement? I've signed a lot of leases in Thailand and have never heard of one of these. I've always signed the actual lease when the agreement is made. It may take a day or two to get all the signatures on the lease but never until the day of the lease.

 

Sounds like they were looking for a better tenant and found one. 

 

Was the ”kill the deal” option only available to them or could you back out at the last minute too?

 

Edited June 13 by gargamon

[steven100]

4 hours ago, DonniePeverley said:

So the agreement we signed was pointless?

 

If so, lets say i backed out - would the landlord have no recourse to take action against me either?

 

so what  !   ....    move on ....  forget it   !      what do you want to do ?   get a lawyer and sue him ,  spend 1000's of baht because he backed out.  ?     TIT ....  many things don't add up ....

but it is what it is.

 

 

[wmlc]

This would depend on the agreement you already signed. If your money has be returned to you, you only have one choice. That choice is to sue him for any damage this caused you in civil court. For example, let's say because of this, you had to spend money in hotels, transportation and an airbnb, then you could sue him for this costs. The problem is that the court costs and legal fees would probably be more than the damage you wanted to recover.