Apartment not ready, could I break the lease

By jay

Here’s the situation:

We got an apartment through a broker, who showed us the apartment while it was still being renovated and painted and told us it would be done within two weeks and be ready for us to move in by Nov 1st, which was the same as the lease move in start date. This all happened on Oct 18th so it seemed reasonable that it would be done by Nov 1st. That was one of the main factors for us taking the apartment. On the 18th we signed the lease, paid first month’s rent/ security deposit and the broker’s fee. 

We went back to the apartment Oct 30th to see if it was ready to move in and it still wasn’t but they said it will be done in two days so we were good to move in on the 1st. Then the 1st comes by, we go again to check only to find out it still isn’t done. We went to speak to the broker about how it still wasn’t done and his response was that it wasn’t his problem, it wasn’t even his listing and that it was his friend’s he just split the commission with him. That we need to figure it out on our own with the landlord, yet he was quick to cash in the check for the fee. After speeaking with the landlord again, they said it will be done in 1 week and we can move in. Again we checked and not finished. We went back today the 12th and we saw it wasn’t completed yet. At this point we even have some problems with our current landlord due to this situation. What I want to know is what are our rights, would we be able to terminate the lease and get all of the money back, the 1st months rent, security deposit and the brokers fee given that they failed to deliver? What steps could we take in terms to doing this? Or would we end up losing all of our money in terms of the broker fee.

I would appreciate any help with this.

Thanks!

Edited on: Tuesday, November 12th, 2013 2:12 pm

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