No lease and security being withheld

[tdm]

I gave a potential landlord a security deposit, but there was never a lease signed or presented. He is an attorney and mentioned something about doing a verbal lease, but it was not confirmed. After a week I realized that I could not afford the rent myself (my potential roomate did not want to do it). I let my potential landlord know and he said he would return my money. He never did and now I am six months into this situation. Any advice?

[ChrisG]

do you have a receipt of the transaction? if you gave him a check you would have a record of it. with a paper trail it seems you would have leverage to hound him to return the dough. frankly it sounds a bit sketchy, if he's a lawyer and still wanted a 'verbal lease', i can't imagine where that would hold up. verbal contracts seem mostly the province of personal integrity, which of course has no place in a court of law

[tdm]

I felt the same way so I got a copy of my posted check and filed a suit in small claims court. However, he has filed a counterclaim against me for failure to pay rent and breach of lease. I never received keys from him and there was no terms (verbal or written) set forth to constitute a lease. I am wondering if I should get an attorney to argue on my behalf just because I feel like there is something that I must be missing.

[Chimera]

Did he ever give you keys to the apartment? Did you ever move your stuff in?