Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Utah

Subject: Refund of Rental Security Deposit. I notified my landlord in late July that my wife had received a promotion that would require us to move by September 1st. Our single-family residential lease was good through 2-28-2011. I understand he placed a personal ad on Craigslist but no sign in the yard, and no listing agent to handle the property. The first weekend in August, a couple came to my door asking about the property. They said that they had not been able to reach the landlord and came out looking for a home that matched the photo in the ad. I invited them in, showed them around the house and, based on their interest, had the landlord come over to meet them (he just lives down the street). They were quite interested in the property but would not be available to take possession of the property until 10-1. No other parties ever came to preview the home and I have no idea how long the landlord kept the Craigslist ad active. At any rate, I moved on 8-20 and spent until 8-25 getting the property spiffy to hand keys back to the landlord. The home was spotless inside and out. He even remarked at how "immaculate" it looked. I asked him about the deposit when I turned back the property and he said he would take care of it the following week. After a week or so, I emailed him and requested an update on the status of my refund. He aplologized for the delay. He said he thought that he needed both his and his partner's signature on a refund check but, after clarifying that only one signature would be needed, he would be sending my check out immediately. Well, yesterday I received a letter from him explaining how proud he was of the condition of the house but that he was retaining $1,150 of my $1,250 security deposit for lost rent in September. What really chaps me about this whole thing is that I was a model tenant. I was never late on my payments (18-months worth) and took meticulous care of his property. I guess what's even more disappointing is that I thought of him as a friend, someone whith whom I shared golf, social time and community events. Long story made short, should I have expected any greater effort on the part of the landlord to try to lease the property so there wasn't any break in rent? With the amount of advance notice I gave him, did he have any responsibility to advise me that he was planning to use my security deposit to offset his lack of zeal in spending more time in finding a suitable replacement tenant? Should the landlord have put a sign up in the yard? Did he have any responsibility for helping to protect my investment in our transaction in the same manner that I had worked so hard to protect his? Thank you in advance for your timely advice.

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