Landlord holding deposit, but i never singed a lease.

What is the name of your state? Pennsylvania

Last week my girlfriend and i went to look at a place and decided that we liked it.

But after showing us the place, the landlord informed us that the apt may not be available
for our move in date of november 1st. He said hed be willing to work with us and that if it didnt work out then it wouldnt be a big deal. However, he insisted that we give him a deposit or he would give it to the next person that came alone... so we did.

here we are over a week later and are still unable to get any information from him-- we have to move out in 2 weeks, mind you, so knowing what is going in crucial.

so finally, in frustration we emailed him today stating that we would like our deposit back, because we found a place with a more concrete move-in date.

Now hes saying that we broke a contract (there is no contract, we never signed anything) and is also saying that if we want our deposit back, then we better hire a laywer.

personally, i dont see that he has any recourse, but i would like to get a little more feedback and see what other people think... thanks for your time.

will-

I've been researching landlord/tenant law all morning and most of yesterday for my own reasons...but I can answer your question.

First of all, holding a security deposit when you have not signed a lease is illegal in any state. All a prospective landlord is allowed to keep is your application fee.

Send him an official notice (make sure it is well written) in business letter format Certified Return Recipt Requested stating that he has 14 days in which to return your security deposit pursuant to legal action. He doesn't think you'll bother to call a lawyer. If 14 days go by and you have not heard from him take your CRRR green card and a copy of the letter, a copy of the check/money order you used to pay the security deposit and call your local Bar Association. Find a lawyer to take your case on consignment. Not only will you recieve your security deposit back, but will probably also be eligible to recieve damages. if you cannot find a lawyer through the Bar Association head up to Magistrate court and file with them. Just make sure that you take all of your documentation with you to court.

Or....you could just stop payment on that check or money order and snicker to yourselves imagining his reaction when he attempts to cash it. If he's already cashed it, well, that's illegal too. Nail him to the wall.