Should my realtor be paying for our hotel stay until we get access to our apartment?
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Should my realtor be paying for our hotel stay until we get access to our apartment?
My family and I were supposed to move on the 1st of this month but the apartment that we paid a realtors fee for and month’s downpayment on wouldn’t be ready until the 15th. Now the
15th has come and gone and we had to pack up and move because the home that our apartment was in was sold. We still don’t have our new apartment because the tenant that is in it had some issues with paperwork, so we now are staying in a hotel. Should my realtor be paying for our hotel stay until we get our apartment? Should the old tenants be the ones to move to a hotel until they have their paperwork cleared?
Asked on June 16, 2016 under Real Estate Law, New York
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 7 years ago | Contributor
The realtor is not liable for your costs due to delayed possession unless the realtoe is also the landlord. The landlord may well be liable, however, for breach of contract (a lease is a contract), for not giving you possession of the space when he or she had agreed to--it is therefore the landlord, who has violated his or her obligations to you, to whom you should look for reimbursement or compensation, and who you could potentially sue if not paid voluntarily. It may be that the landlord in turn could look to recover compensation from the existing tenant, but that is not your issue or concern.
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