I applied to an apartment in Austin, TX. The office lady sent me home with an application for my roommate and the lease contract to sign and send back. The lease specifically has both of our names listed as tenants. After I mailed the packet back, they called and told me I was approved but she was denied. So naturally, I said I did not want to rent the apartment as we could not both live there.

Now, they are saying since I signed a lease I'm obligated to move in at the specified time. Well, no new copy of the lease has been signed. If the lease is supposedly "valid and active" then all tenants listed on the lease should be allowed occupancy. So my question is, can they remove tenants from the lease without notifying me or obtaining my signed approval?

Did you apply first, before your roommate? Your wording suggests that you did, because you were sent home with an application for her. Without knowing the exact sequence of events and the wording of the lease and the application, I think you may be liable (generally each party is 100% responsible for the entire rent, regardless of arrangements you have with each roommate), but I also think that one phone call saying it isn't reasonable to expect this and that you will fight it should be enough to get them to drop it. They may be trying this hoping you will find another roommate.

And yes, they can deny the roommate based on the application. Unless they signed the lease before giving it to you to sign.

The lease was signed by both prospective tenants, they cannot reject one and hold the other to it. Let them try to present that to a court.

I did apply first, then returned to my city of residence with the blank forms. One of them was an application for my roommate and the other was the lease contract.

We filled both out (in retrospect should have kept the lease until we knew we were approved) and sent them back. The lease contract we both signed lists both of our names as residents of the apartment. So, they're saying that the lease I signed makes me contractually liable to move in. If that lease is valid, then why is the part listing her as a tenant not valid? I do not know if the apartment complex actually signed the lease. If they did, then the only lease I signed lists us both as tenants. I believe they're required to draw up a new lease listing only me, which I obviously would refuse to sign.

And I agree with you. Either they accept the lease with both tenants or they void it. They can't have their cake and eat it too.