Can I get a deposit for an apartment back if I never signed a lease?
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Can I get a deposit for an apartment back if I never signed a lease?
I found an apartment I planned on renting. There was no application fee. I filled out the application and was accepted. I was told that the deposit was $250. I paid it and that held the apartment that I was supposed to move into on the 1st of next month. It is now the 18th and I decided that I do not want to move to this community. Can I get my deposit back? What recourse do I have?
Asked on August 18, 2011 Ohio
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 12 years ago | Contributor
You probably cannot get the deposit back, on two grounds:
1) If there was no written lease, it still may be the case that you leased the apartment under an oral or verbal lease. An oral lease creates a month to month tenancy, which means you can terminate the lease on one month's notice--which in turn means that you are always obligated for one month's rent. If have not paid one month's rent separately, the landlord may apply the security depost against it, so this deposit was a security deposit, he can keep it on that ground.
2) If it was not a security deposit, paid on renting (including under an oral lease) it was a deposit to hold the apartment for you; that sort of deposit is not refundable if the prospective tenant changes his or her mind, unless the landlord voluntarily agrees.
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