I am renting a 1 furnished bd in a completely furnished 2bd apt. I found a tenant who fell in love and promptly gave me a security deposit binder to hold the apt so I wouldn't show it to anyone else or rent to anyone. She was supposed to move in and then changed her mind. She offered to stay in apt for a month, half a month or give me money to make up for screwing me stating she felt terrible. However, several days later the security deposit was taken from my account on a stop payment. I tried to explain to her that she owed me the money because I had a loss of potential income by not showing the apt or renting it to someone who actually was going to stay. She refuses to give the money back, didn't stay the month or the half a month she offered nor did she give me money for screwing me out of potential roommates. Can I take her to small claims court?

Yes

Yes, I believe you are entitled to the money. That is the whole point of a deposit. Did the check have written "security deposit on ___" by any chance? It would also be best to write out a receipt form for such deposits, reciting that they are non-refundable and that their purpose is to reimburse you for lost opportunity to rent to someone else. I suggest that because a surprising number of people don't know that, and the practice would perhaps keep incidents like this from happening again.

How much time elapsed between the time she gave you the check, the time you deposited it, and when she stopped payment? Without knowing this, I am somewhat puzzled by the timing of the stop-payment order. If you had already deposited the check, I am wondering how she managed to stop payment.

AK Lawyer... I do have a receipt but it does not say non-refundable. It was a week before the money came out of my account. I was unaware after cashing a money order that it could be taken out of my account. I was in total shock. The money order was dated 1/27/2011 and the Memo on the money order says Deposit for 2/1... I even met her for dinner to try to reconcile this issue, where she told me I had no right to that money. I tried reminding her I took it off the market for her because of the security deposit and therefore she caused me to lose potential roommates. She even claimed she didn't put the stop payment haha... but then caught herself later in a lie about well, I certainly don't owe you any money.

I guess the moral of that story is to not take money orders as deposits.

Yes, sue her if you believe you will have a reasonable chance of collecting on the judgment.