We just signed a lease with a new tenant yesterday that is to begin in 2 weeks. We now have a gut feeling that we made a bad decision and we don’t know how long we have to cancel the lease. We have not deposited any money and want to tell the prospective tenant that we will not be able to go through with the lease agreement and void her check. Isn’t there a law that allows cancellation of the lease within three days?
Landlords should not make rental decisions based on gut feelings. Decisions should be made based on the results of a number of objective screening procedures as applicable per federal, state, or local laws. Typical tenant screenings include identity verification, employment history, income verification, previous rental housing history, references, and background screenings for credit, criminal, and eviction history.
A lease agreement is a binding legal contract between landlord and tenant. The contract takes effect on the day the contract is signed regardless of the date when the tenant moves in.
To my knowledge no jurisdiction in the country has a law that allows either a landlord or a tenant to change his mind after he signs a lease. A possible exception may be if it could be shown that one or the other parties committed fraud.
Consumer protection laws allowing a consumer a “right to rescind; i.e., to cancel a consumer contract in certain circumstances within 3 days, do not apply to residential leases.
If a month-to-month lease was signed, you could immediately give a termination notice (many states require only a 30 day notice) and you would likely find that the tenant would prefer to end the lease rather than again move in a month. If the lease term was a fixed term lease, you might be able to negotiate a settlement with the tenant for early termination. However, there could be potentially serious issues regarding landlord default or discrimination claims. You may need to consult with legal counsel should you want to pursue the matter of cancellation.