Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in Vermont

Does a deposit constitute a contract?

I have a rental property that I advertised on craigslist. After some email correspondence a prospective tenant sent us a deposit for Thanksgiving weekend. In the meantime, another weekend tenant trashed the house. I wrote to the Thanksgiving renter to say we could not rent the house and would refund his security deposit if he sent us the address. He replied that he had already made many arrangements for friends to come to the house and he would not allow us not to rent to him since we had a contract.

In fact, there was no signed agreement, and the renter seems to think that the deposit is legally binding. He insists that if I do not rent him the property, I have to find him another comparable place at the same price (all standard rental prices are much higher than I was charging).

My question is, does the prospective rental have any sort of case? Do I have any obligation other than returning his deposit?

Thanks very much.


Asked on 10/14/06, 1:00 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
David Anderson Anderson Business Law LLC

Re: Does a deposit constitute a contract?

I would need to read the e-mails, if the deposit was accepted and the terms were agreed upon the tenant may be right. No application or rental contract agreement?

What was agreed upon rent? Deposit amount?

I have been a landlord 25 years and tenants are told there is no deal until the tenant is notified in writing that their rent, deposit and lease have been received and accepted.

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Answered on 10/14/06, 1:28 pm


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