Breaking a Lease if You Never Moved In

[lurkertom]

Sounds to me like a fishy craigslist scam - Listing agent/realtor didn't want to meet at his office, cannot actually locate the guy you sent the money to, says the money is gone already because the "owner" cashed the checks, doesn't care if you report him. Sounds really sketchy to me. Is the listing agent a bonafide realtor? Are you certain he is who he says he is?

[Mr. Knowitall]

It is par for the course for an agent to forward money to his client, less any fees earned.

[justtoonice]

Sounds to me like a fishy craigslist scam - Listing agent/realtor didn't want to meet at his office, cannot actually locate the guy you sent the money to, says the money is gone already because the "owner" cashed the checks, doesn't care if you report him. Sounds really sketchy to me. Is the listing agent a bonafide realtor? Are you certain he is who he says he is?

Click here to check if your agent and his broker have current Florida Real Estate licenses.
This is the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation Online Services Liscensee Search page.
It is illegal in the State of Florida to provide real estate services without a current active license.

[SteveDana]

Yes- we saved the photos from the ad on our hard drive.
We also took many photos of our own.

Like I said the realtor stands firm he did not misrepresent.
He said the house sat empty hence the moldy smell. "That's normal" he said. for example.

We spoke with his boss who seemd a bit more concerned and willing to work with us, now she won'r return our calls either.

Thanks
SD

Yes,
He is "legitimate" and works under, if not for, a reputable real estate group.

His father was a builder in the area for decades.
He actually works for him too.

I know a lot about this guy actually. Where he lives, etc etc

Like I explained in my previous post, we spoke with the owner of the realtor group he umbrellas under, and she seemed concerned, at first, now won't return our calls as well.

Please advise...

SD

[Mr. Knowitall]

At risk of repeating myself,

Again, I don't know if you can make a case against your real estate agent. Again, I have no way of determining the extent to which he knew of any misrepresentation, or was involved in any misrepresentation - again, I expect he'll argue that he at most passed along the information provided by the landlord. (You say he took out the ad, but that doesn't mean he either wrote the content or took the pictures.) Again, if you believe you can make a case against the agent for his conduct, you can consider suing him along with the actual landlord in small claims court.

If the landlord was able to rent the premises out within a short amount of time, in addition to the question of whether the misrepresentations might invalidate the lease, you can use that to argue that you are entitled to a refund of rent starting on that date - I would expect, if the court is receptive to that argument, that the landlord will argue that you're still liable for the difference in rent over the lease term. (And you would respond that the rent is lower due to the fact that nobody who had seen the premises would have rented them for the price you agreed to based on the misrepresentations... and on it goes.)

I don't know if you can make a case against your real estate agent. I have no way of determining the extent to which he knew of any misrepresentation, or was involved in any misrepresentation - I expect he'll argue that he at most passed along the information provided by the landlord (you tell us: is that what he is saying?) If you believe you can make a case against the agent for his conduct, you can consider suing him along with the actual landlord in small claims court.