Is it legal for property owners to give preferential treatment to friends?

Question

My boyfriend & I went to an open house for an apartment. The building manager follows the policy of "first come first serve". We were the first ones there, so she said that she would look over our info first & if our references & credit check out fine, we would be given the place. If not, she would move on to the next person that arrived that day.

Both of us have really good credit & references so we were never concerned about that. The next day she asked for our security deposit checks so we came over to give her them & then she let us in to the place so we could take measurements for our furniture.

2 days later she told us that the owner decided to give the unit to a friend of a tenant, but we could have another unit in the building that was opening (a MUCH smaller one on the first floor). Because we had already gone through the process of applying & giving our checks, isn't it already ours?
Is there ANY way to dispute this or any legal grounds that cover our side??

Answer 1

If you signed the lease they must honor it if they signed it too.

Answer 2

Whatever the legal aspects, I would take my deposit check back and go look somewhere else.

1/ Do you really want to deal with those people as landlords?

2/ If you take any kind of legal action, they'll be even worse with you later.

Answer 3

you were bait and switched....you looked at any agreed to rent one unit...a larger one...and then later "others" arrived putting you in a smaller unit.....i doubt they ever intended you to be in the unit you looked at......check the agreement you signed for apt...if was for that one then agreement void.....if no written agreement yet ......then have no reason for them to hold the checks b/c there is no contract yet..............SIGN NOTHING until this is resolved.....