Can an Apartment complex force you to resign a lease becuase of their error?
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Can an Apartment complex force you to resign a lease becuase of their error?
We applied for an apartment that wasn’t available until 11/26/16 . We signed the lease on 11/27/16 and were told that we would receive a 500 gift card because we rented so soon after it was available. We signed the lease. Now 3 weeks later they want us to come in and resign the page where the 500 gift card was listed because now they say the apartment was available on the 21st and we didn’t sign till the 26th. We are fighting them as we feel it’s bait and switch. This is in Colorado. What are my legal options?
Asked on December 21, 2016 under Real Estate Law, Colorado
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 7 years ago | Contributor
No, in a case like this, where it was clearly and only their error, they can't make you re-sign and they are obligated to what the lease states. Errors can be corrected when there was reason for both sides, had they paid attention, to know of the error: e.g. if there was correspondence between you that the apartment you were renting was, say, 1A and you both agreed that was the apartment, but they accidently listed 2A on the lease; or where a "zero" dropped out of the agreed upon rent in the lease, so instead of $1,000 a month, which is what you both agreed it, the lease said $100 a month. But if there was no mutual mistake or typographic or mathematical error, but they simply offered you something which they later realized they did not have to, they are still obligated to the lease (which is a contract)--one party rethinking what they could or should have offered is not a correctable error. You may refuse to sign and could even sue them for breach of contract if they won't pay this amount.
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