State of Washington: (landlord tenant legal info)
My wife and I are moving to a new construction townhome this month.
Initially, I went ahead and arranged for our lease to start on July 22, 2007. Our previous lease ends on July 31, 2007 and we were going to use the extra few days to do some painting and setup the place how we wanted. (our landlord approved).
About a week ago, he called us to let us know that the utilites would not be connected on time, which set them back a bit. He believed the unit would be ready for move-in by Wednesday, July 25th. As a gesture of good-will, he agreed to not charge us any rent for July. Woot. That sounded good to us.
I just received a voicemail from him that the unit won't be available until Saturday, August 4 now. He suggested we attempt to get a short-term lease extension on my previous lease. He did not mention anything about finances in this voicemail, so before I call him back, I am looking for some advice.
On my new lease, it states that if I move out late, I must pay 3x the normal lease rate, prorated for the days I actually occupy the unit.
Nevermind the fact that our current apartment has probably already been rented since this is a high demand location. It is very unlikely we can extend our lease for 4 more days (but of course, we will pursue this option).
My new landlord is very nice and we intend to stay in his unit for several years if possible. We do not want to pressure him in any way - and we want to keep a good relationship with him. At the same time, I need to know what my rights are. The delay by the power company was obviously (probably) not in his control - but not exactly an act of God either. How should I approach this?
We hate to move twice... but if necessary, I could move our belongings into a storage facility and stay in a hotel for a few days -
Also, not sure if this is relevant, but the lease was arranged by a property management company. (Windermere). Their fee was one months rent. They basically screened the potential tenants, did the background check, credit check, made it clear that it would be really expensive if we broke the lease early since we were not authorized to find replacement tenants ourselves, etc. So I could potentially ask them for advice in this situation as well.
Thanks!

) but I finally got spoke with my parents.