non-refundable deposit, no lease - catch 22

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musickcmo

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I was ready to move, when my current landlord started hardballing me about the two months shy would be on the lease. They have actually broken the lease by adding a flat fee for water/sewer/garbage in the middle of the lease and charging retro fees because of some deadbeats in the complex and a subcontracted billing service that did not do it's job. I told them I would be leaving when notice of this new charge first came out a month ago and then gave them my official notice last week. NOW they are trying to negotiate a lower rent so I can possibly absorb the flat water charge. If I don't stay, I will be liable to them for 2 months rent + my deposit and whatever discount they gave me last September.

The catch-22 is this. My new landlord, who has only held the new place for one week for me is refusing to give me any part of my $700 deposit back because she has turned away two possible clients. The place had already been sitting empty for a month before I gave her the deposit, so she has lost many more clients than that. I have not signed a lease with her. The only thing I signed was my application which I thought was a standard app form. However it does have a paragraph that states "if the tenant fails to move in or sign a lease by the agreed on date (which happens to be today!!!), the company may keep the deposit". I read that as MAY not MUST or WILL. I tried to negotiate to get half of it back and she refused.

I feel like I am in a lose-lose either way. I am a school teacher who has no resources to hire anyone, and who has been through the trials of the damned in my personal life for 3 years now. It seems like it will never end. This was my tax rebate money that I had saved for moving or some other emergency, but not to waste it.

Any advice
?
 
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