Refund of deposit

[SallyMary]

Hi! I am a student sharing the rent of a five bedroom house with four other students. We each have our own bedroom and split the rent and utilities five ways. One of the students has her name only on the lease. She collects rent/utilities from the rest of us and pays it directly to the owner of the house. It is my understanding then that she is "our" Landlord and we are subleasing from her. We were not required to sign any lease agreement when we moved in. We just verbally agreed to pay out portion of the rent/utilities on the first of every month. When we moved in we were required to pay the first and last months rent as a deposit. Nine months have gone by and three of us have decided to move out into another apartment together. The one student that is the "Landlord" has agreed to return the deposit to only one of us because she will only have her room rented when we move. She is claiming that by law we were required to give her 30 days written notice in order to get our deposit back. I did give her verbal notice but did not think I had to give her anything in writing since my name was never on the lease and I was never required to sign anything in the beginning.. I have a copy of the check I wrote to her showing the amount of my first months rent and deposit. I have a bad feeling that she is only reacting this way because she is bitter about us moving. Who is right here? Can I win if I have to take her to court?

 

[SallyMary]

I really need this information ASAP so assistance in answering would be greatly appreciated! Thank you so much! SallyMary