I know that my mom taught me to look at any legal agreement that I signed carefully before signing it, but when I finally found my house I was just too excited for words. I quickly glanced over the rental agreement and, seeing no glaring problems with it, signed right away. I can't be blamed for it. I had seen several standard rental agreements since starting my house hunt, and this one looked just like any of them. The average landlord uses a standard rental lease agreement, And most of them have more or less the same legal stipulations. The tenant is responsible for not wrecking the house, the landlord is responsible for anything that breaks on its own. Pretty straightforward stuff, and not all that interesting.
I had not realized how much trouble not reading rental agreements could get you into. You see, the landlord seemed like a pretty honest guy, and we had both talked over most of the details before I had signed. The way he had explained it, it was a pretty standard rental agreement. The deposit was fully refundable, assuming that all was paid on time and that there were no damages. The rent was fixed at a reasonable rate, and the landlord promised to make any repairs necessary in a prompt and timely manner. To my horror, however, I later discovered that the agreement that I signed bore very little similarity to the one we talked about orally. It was too late to do anything, of course, but I was furious.
It was one of the most ridiculous rental agreements I had ever seen. Apparently, he considered the deposit a “convenience fee”. Can you imagine a convenience fee of two months rent? If further stipulated that any damages I did would be billed to me after my tenancy was up. It even seemed to give him the right to evict me without reason provided he gave me 30 days notice! I thought that I was staying there for 12 months on a rental lease agreement, but apparently he had other plans.
Fortunately, I had a friend in the legal field who told me that not all rental agreements conform to state law. The one I signed, as a matter of fact, was null and void. It gave him rights that he didn't really have. In the end, under threat of lawsuit, he gave me back my deposit and I moved to another place. Still, the whole thing was a big hassle. I definitely learned to look before I leap in the future!
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