Revocation of a Signed Lease

[kjones9]

My question involves landlord-tenant law in the State of: New York

On April 1st I signed a lease with my two roommates for a one year agreement on an apartment starting June 1, 2011 and ending May, 31 2012. I was appoarched yesterday by the power of Attorney we had signed the lease with and told he was fired from the company and we can no longer have the apartment starting June 1st. Is this legal? Everything had been signed by the potential tenants and he had signed as the P.O.A. by the owner of the house did not sign the lease. There is no line for him to sign on the lease though.

[Mr. Knowitall]

So the owner of the home gave somebody power of attorney to act as his agent, find tenants and enter into a lease? If you know, was the power of attorney revoked before or after you entered into the lease?

[kjones9]

He was revoked after we had signed the lease. we did not give our deposit yet because he had told us to wait until the landlord views the lease. he then texted me last Thursday asking when a good time was to meet to pick up the deposit. I said Saturday morning and we agreed and then i tried contacting friday and saturday to confirm and he did not get back to me until monday telling me he was fired. In our lease it says that the 1st months rent is due at signing unless said permission.

[CPO_MK]

Since you have not yet turned over any money or moved into the unit, and your rental agreement does not take effect until June 1st, you are in a "grey area" as to whether the agreement can or cannot be revoked. I would strongly suggest that you contact either a local tenant advocacy agency or a landlord/tenant law attorney for legal advice in this matter.

Also as was mentioned above, you need to know exactly when the power of attorney was revoked. It is possible that he is telling the truth and his POA was revoked after the agreement was entered into and signed by both parties, but it's also possible that it was revoked before the agreement was signed, in which case you definitely have no rights as a tenant (since you have not yet moved in). I would suggest contacting the owner directly to learn this information if possible, and also see if perhaps you can still work out a rental agreement directly with the owner or with the new agent (if POA has been assigned to a new person).