My girlfriend was in dire need of finding an apartment and moved into one this past January. The night she viewed it, she decided she wanted it and filled out the rental application and gave the landlord a deposit equal to one month's rent. She asked him when they could get together so she could sign a lease and he said he did not require a lease and rented on a monthly basis with no length of time requirement.
The rental application had a clause that mentioned the tenant needed to give 30 days notice before moving out, but it also had a clause stating the tenant would have to occupy the apartment for 12 months, so she figured it was a generic application he was just using to get information.
He never had her sign a rental agreement, and never gave her a copy of the application. All she received was a handwritten receipt for the deposit she gave him.
On September 2, we found an apartment we wanted to move into together, but they were looking for tenants by mid-September. She called her landlord and asked if she could vacate her current apartment mid-month and give him half of September's rent. He agreed, and we signed a lease for the new apartment. When she moved out, she called her old landlord asking when he wanted to get the keys and perform a walk-through. She also asked him to mail her security deposit to the new address. He said to leave the keys in the mailbox, and he'd mail her the deposit.
He never sent the deposit, and proceeded to ignore her phone calls. She finally called him from a different phone number and got him on the phone, at which time he told her he would send the security deposit the following day.
In mid-October, he still hadn't sent the deposit, and finally called her. He informed her that he wasn't giving her the deposit back and that she owed him an additional half month's rent. He claimed since she didn't give him 30 days notice she was responsible for September and October's rent. He claimed he had only agreed to take half September's rent because he didn't think she'd give him any money otherwise.
Can he legally keep her deposit in light of the fact they had a verbal agreement, and there was never a rental agreement signed? The only form she signed clearly states 'Rental Application' and the clauses on it don't even match those he dictated to her (e.g. length of rental term).
Thanks for any help,
Nathan