Hi,
I rent a room for business, the landlord print out a lease which
contains the following info in one page:
His company's name/My personal info/room and building/Business
type/Base Rent for each month/2years/starting and ending
date/Seurity
Deposit (3 months)/ my name and signature/ date
They requested me to pay the 4 months pay(1st month + 3 months
deposit=
$2780) with bankcheck. I didn't get receipt, all I have an copy of
the
bankcheck, with their company's name(XX Imports) and my name on it.
They gave me a copy of the lease without their signature. I insisted
they include their company's address and signature on the lease.
After
2 weeks, they print out a new lease, but the company's name changed
from XX Imports to XX Properties. Also, at the signaure space, it is
a
name (bobby xxx) signed by Richie yyy.(Richie signed it infront of
me,
at which time I didn't realize). I didn't know the true name of
Bobby
xxx, but after I checked online, I found another company of him with
his photo and true name, it should be bob xxx. By the way, there is
a
rip off report complainning about his other company not refunding
about
$3000 after receiving the returned products (according the report,
he
agreed to send refund after receive the product,but could never be
reached again after the products was returned.) This makes me
nervous.
They told me only contact with them if I have any questions in the
future. Don't contact with the building's super. It seems they are
subleasing the room.
My questions are:
1.Since the bank check is paied to XX, is it important to ask them
to
write the lease in XX, not XY?
2.Can Richie sign for Bob? Should I ask them to write bob's true
name
(instead of bobby) and sign by himself? (I wouldn't know if it would
be
signed by bob next time anyway).
3.I felt sure it would be difficult for me to get the deposit back
in
the future. They make so many tricks. What should I do?
It's the first time I try to make a small business, I'm so nervous.
Any suggestions is welcomed.
The most important purpose of a lease is to get for you the right to
be there. I can't tell from your post whether you have the right to
occupy that room. The problem is the sublease. If the company that
signed a lease with you doesn't own the property and is not a lessee
with the right to sublease to you, then maybe they have not
transferred to you any rights to occupy that room. You need to find
out whether they have the right to lease the property to you. The
first step is to ask them to show you either that they own the
property or that they have a lease which gives them the right to
sublease. If they don't own the property and won't give you a copy of
their lease, you could tell them you are going to contract the owner
through the building superintendent and ask whether a sublease is
allowed. Before you actually do that, you have a big decision to
make - do you want to stay or move out. If you want to stay even
though your sublease is invalid, don't contact the building owner.
Just quietly pay the rent and be happy. If you want to take the risk
that the owner might want you to move out, or that your lessor might
want you to move out if you contact the owner, then it would be best
to go ahead and contact the owner. If you find out that you don't
have a valid sublease, you can move out and demand your deposit back.
They won't give it to you, and then you sue them in small claims
court.
The problem with the signatures may mean that the lease is not valid.
That depends on whether the signature was authorized by the company,
or signed by someone who has authority to sign. The best way to
handle that from the beginning would have been to (a) insist that the
lessor show you they have a lease with a right to sublease, (b) insist
that the company enter into the sublease, not a person, and (c) insist
that the person who is signing proves to you that he has the authority
to sign. You could do all of that now, but it may be that the only
solution will be to sue the company and both individuals in small
claims court to get the deposit back. Then let the court sort out who
is the proper defendant.
McGyver
