Pittsley Realty ripoff underhanded realty business DeKalb Illinois

Pittsley Realty listed a house in the local newspaper on Monday, June 18th, 2007. I made an appointment to see the house and was informed of their procedure for renting. First, you fill out an application. Once that application is approved, you make an appointment to sign the lease and the rent property is helf for you until that date. The realtor called 24 hours after I applied, on Tuesday June 19th, 2007, to tell me that my application had been approved. I called back shortly thereafter and made an appointment for Monday, June 25th, 2007 at 1pm. On the morning of the 25th, I called to confirm my appointment because I just had a bad feeling about dealing with these people, and sure enough, they rented the property out from under me. Someone came in and signed a lease on Friday, June 22nd. Their excuse for why they rented the house out from under me was that the "new girl" conveniently put my appointment in the wrong book. My current housing lease will be up in the next couple days. There is simple not enough time to find replacement housing as I thought I -had- a place and stopped looking. Out here, in a college town, small houses are extremely rare and are never on the market long. Now that a lease has been signed out from under me, the rental company can't break that lease. Since their procedure ensures that the only thing you sign is an application, and they have no application fee so no money changes hands, I have no legal recourse against Pittsley Realty.

Christopher
DeKalb, Illinois
U.S.A.