A roommate was set to move into our house, and backed out 3 days prior. Should he get his money back?

Phil

If you had a verbal agreement you had an agreement. He has to give whatever notice you agreed to or whatever notice your state requires, since there's no written lease
If the agreement was for him to rent on a monthly basis then it's a month's notice. In that case he has to give you a one month notice and you can keep the month's rent if he doesn't move in, but you'll have to give him the remainder. And you should make a good faith effort to replace him in that month and refund any "double rent" (you can't charge two people for the same time period).

To be sure, google "(your state) Landlord tenant law" -- most states have a booklet to tell tenants and landlords the rules. BE SURE TO READ UNDERSTAND AND FOLLOW since the Landlord (you) can usually be held to rather punitive fine or refund for violations, often triple the amount withheld -- the law assumes Landlords have more resources and better knowledge of the law.

__A_YAHOO_USER__

Whatever you orally agreed to. If there was no agreement on this point, then you are in the wilderness.

I'd keep the money and make him come after it. He probably won't, and if he does, he'll likely lose, but no one knows what he will say about the oral agreement so, as I already said, you are in the wilderness.

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

Cola

I've gone through a similar situation.

Here's the deal. He's backed out of a contract, but he had put deposits down for certain things. You have to make a good faith effort to find a new roommate to cover his part. If you are able to find one, you should return all of his money that you don't need... so if you do manage to find a roommate in those 3 days, return all of it... if you can't find one until the 2nd month, return the last month's rent. If you can't find one until the 3rd month, you still return his last month's rent: you only get to keep that if you were unable (after truly trying) to find a roommate to cover his rent through the entire period he was supposed to be renting.

The thing you'd have to worry about in court is if he tries to deny you had an agreement. But you have his money, which backs up your side of the story. And you said "our house" so I get the idea you have roommates. Hopefully one of them witnessed the agreement and could back you up.

Edit: The other poster who talked about notice of breaking the lease is right, you can probably use his first month's rent without trying to find a replacement. But it would be smart to start looking as soon as possible, because of the last month's rent. (Be decent: you should not hold his money any longer than you need to, and that means looking for the replacement roommate you need to find anyway, as soon as possible.)

patrick

Rather than looking at what is legally right, look at what is morally right. Suggest to the "former " roommate, that you will actively seek a replacement, however until one is found, you will need to apply the deposit to the rent daily. If you get a new roommate in 10 days, refund him 50 days of his 60 day's worth of rent. Tell him if he finds a suitable replacement, that will help him get his money back.

Irv S

Legally, whatever the verbal agreement was.
Was a refund even discussed?, Probably not.
Ethically, and in fairness, he owes you reasonable compensation
for the time & money lost in finding another room-mate to share the rent,
but a full two months rent would be excessive.
If the agreement was made more than to weeks before 'move-in-date',
a month would be fair.

raichasays

"There was no lease, only a verbal agreement."

Since you didn't have an agreement about what to do if this happened, you have to give the guy his money back.

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