Hi, I had a tenant lined up for our rental property. They had signed the lease, but I had held off signing until they paid the upfront move-in costs. They eventually paid a portion of it, but not the full amount.
But then there were some repairs necessary to pass an occupancy inspection, so the lease will have to be cancelled and redone with a new move in date. Now today, I learned through the neighbor she currently lives next to that she hasn't kept up the house, has been problematic, and apparently had eviction notices filed by her current landlord. I had previously contacted the landlord and he said they had no problems with her, and this was the 2nd property of theirs she has rented, but apparently, that was a lie because I found the court documents about the eviction notices.
So, my question is, since I never signed the lease, and it has to be redrawn anyway, is there anything legally binding if I return her partial move-in cost? This would only be the 2nd tenant I've had at my first rental property, which was my family's previous home, and I really, so I really don't want to put myself at risk of having to go through legal hurdles if there's issues with her, so I'm strongly considering looking for a new tenant.
