Lease Signed - No payment for over a month...

[Don Belsky]

Here's the story. I showed a single family house to a woman who had left her job because her father was ill and needed her help. Her father died and she was looking to relocate and start a new job soon... I agreed to rent the house to her because she would pay a full year in rent up front via cashiers check. She was supposed to meet my realtor on Saturday, sign the lease, pay and get the keys. On Saturday she had an accident on the way to the realtor... After being an hour late she called him to cancel the meeting and reschedule for Monday morning. Monday morning she doesn't show up to the meeting. I call her and she's busy trying to rent a car.... My realtor was fed up and advised me to continue showing while I might wanna try and communicate with her directly.. So I contacted the woman and made up a time to meet at the property the following Monday at 2 PM. After waiting at the property for close to an hour she texts me that her mother fell ill and she's with her at the hospital... She really was hoping to leave, but she realizes that she can't... So we made up that she'll sign the lease electronically and overnight the cashiers check to me. Sure enough, she signed the lease electronically, and said she'd go next day to overnight the check. Long story short, it's now over a month since then, she's used every excuse in the book, and the money is not here. I haven't communicated with her the past 2 weeks and I have some serious interest from quality tenants. What do I need to do in order to terminate the lease? Or is it by default not in effect because she didn't pay the down payment? Bottom line, I wanna be protected if she comes after me with a copy of the signed lease.. In hindsight I should've never signed the lease before she did... I should've gotten her to sign & pay and only then sign it...

[Bruce Feldman]

You made a lot of mistakes, but that's okay. Live and learn. Here's what you should do: 

1. Get a new tenant as quickly as possible.

2. Change the utilities back into your name.

3. Send her a notice, by certified mail, stating that the lease is "null and void."

NEVER accept applicants who offer to pay rent in advance, especially for an entire year. This is a huge red flag, as many will likely turn out to be drug dealers, prostitutes, or worse. Instead, if you have a marginal applicant, get a large security deposit and let them pay the agreed monthly rent as normal.

NEVER EVER sign a lease without receiving payment of the first month's rent and the agreed security deposit. The tenant signs the lease first, then delivers the signed lease to the landlord together with the required payments. If everything is in order, THEN you can sign the lease and deliver a "fully executed copy" to the tenant.

Good luck.