Due to a promotion at work, I was moving to a new city. I found a place to live and gave them a security deposit. Things went south with the job and I never moved. I never signed a lease with the landlord, however, I did sign a document of all the rules of the community. On that document was a bullet point about the move in date. That was never filled in, however, it did state that if I don't move in by that date, I forfeit all fees and deposits. My question is simple, can they keep my security deposit in the State of PA when you can't use it to pay rent? Especially when I didn't even sign a lease or move into the house.

Hello sky:

You are calling it a security deposit, but it looks like the landlord is calling it a deposit. You signed an agreement that allows him to keep "all" fees and deposits. Therefore, I'll bet he's going to keep it, and I'll bet he'd win if you sued him.

excon

Yes my bet is with the landlord, you can take him to court, but you will have to do it in the new state, which means travel there, perhaps a motel and the such. Sometimes you have to consider if the amount you could win is worth the cost of sueing for it. I have had several things where it would cost more to sue than I could win.

Next you signed a paper saying if you did not move in, they could keep the money, althogh it did not have a date, if you are not going to move at all, most likely they keep it, if you were only moving in late, most likely you could hold them to letting you move in latter.

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Originally Posted by Skydiver621

Due to a promotion at work, I was moving to a new city. I found a place to live and gave them a security deposit. Things went south with the job and I never moved. I never signed a lease with the landlord, however, I did sign a document of all the rules of the community. On that document was a bullet point about the move in date. That was never filled in, however, it did state that if I don't move in by that date, I forfeit all fees and deposits. My question is simple, can they keep my security deposit in the State of PA when you can't use it to pay rent? Especially when I didn't even sign a lease or move into the house.

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BEFORE you move in, it is not considered a security deposit and therefore can be titled as non-refundable... once you sign a lease, then it converts to a security deposit and is subject to PA deposit rules and regulations.