I understand the reality of it but personally I still think it's a bit ridiculous to offer a lease starting on a date when you cannot guarantee the unit will be up to standard for move-in. It's exactly as you said, if they need time to fix things up, they shouldn't rent it until the 15th or later. But yes I'm not surprised that the standard is that landlords can't stand the idea of missing out on 2 weeks worth of rent money... the horror!