My question involves landlord-tenant law in the State of: Virginia.
Long-time lurker, first time poster; I know LawResearcherMissy off-site and often come and read her posts. (And I'm a future law student!)
Anyway, that's neither here or there. I'm posting on behalf of a friend to ask the following:
She arranged to move apartments from one complex to another (owned by different companies) with a move-in date for the new place of June 10th. There was no lease signed -- she was told that lease-signing is delayed until a tenant takes possession -- but she did pay a hold fee of $99 and recieved an approval letter stating that her application had been okayed and confirming the move-in date of June 10th.
Today, she got a call from the new complex stating that her move-in date has been delayed until July 10th. She's meant to vacate her current apartment long before then, and after much conversation, she's been allowed to move into a much smaller apartment (studio, as opposed to one-bedroom) as a hold-over from June 27th until July 10th.
Obviously, this presents a huge variety of issues for her, such as setting up utilities temporarially, changing her address twice (as her unit number will change), securing movers (she's already paid a deposit for June 10th; she now is looking at changing that date to the 27th and then possibly having to hire them again for July 10th), and having to possibly secure a storage unit if her belongings don't fit in the studio apartment.
She's wondering if a.) this is legally allowed by the apartment complex, and b.) if she has any recourse to at least secure storage or some sort of discount given that the complex changed the move-in date so abruptly.
Thanks so much for your help. She's really upset about this and frustrated, and this is the closest thing to legal help either of us could think of at the moment.
~ Kate


