Am I entitled to a refund given that the landlord did not state that it was not refundable until after the agreement was terminated?

Generally speaking such a "deposit" is refundable. The only thing a landlord is supposed to charge is for a credit check and if you request, under Civil Code 1950.6, the landlord is supposed to give you a receipt for the out of pocket expenses and time spent and rate charged for the credit check. Generally speaking, it is not supposed to be over $30.00 per adult applicant.

I would like to know what type of tenancy it was, what was your arrangement, lease, renting, lease with option to purchase etc.? It appears that you are since there is no writing memorializing your agreement and that any oral contract must fail for lack of consideration, thus you are entitled to a refund of your money. Even if the facts establish an enforceable contract the landlord is in breach for non delivery of the premises. Unless specified in a contract otherwise, Utah law requires a landlord to return the tenants deposit within thirty days of the termination of the tenancy. If the landlord does keep the deposit, he has to detail an explicit list of all expenses deducted from your deposit and provide you that list. Call or email to get started on your case.

An oral lease of real estate for less than year may be enforced. You would be entitled to a refund of your down payment and other damages but only if the landlord wrongfully terminated the lease or barred your occupancy.

If there is no reference to the deposit being non-refundable, it should be refundable. It may be viewed as a security deposit. If the landlord refuses to refund the money you may have to file a small claims against against him/her.

You may be entitled to a refund. Call an attorney to look over your information and to give you specific recommendations.

You should be entitled to the refund. You should consult a real estate attorney about how best to pursue an action if the refund is not forthcoming.

You can sue in small claims court.

Sue him in small claims court .

A legally enforceable agreement can be either oral or written. The fact that you don't have a written agreement with your prospective landlord does not mean the oral agreement you had with him is legally unenforceable. Indeed, the fact that you made two separate down payments to the landlord likely establishes the fact that a legally enforceable agreement was made between you two. As for the down payment, I am not certain what that represents. Was it payment for first months rent and security? Was it just a payment so that the landlord would reserve the unit for you? The reason for the down payment is important because it will determine if you get some of your money back, if any. If the payment was to reserve the unit for you, and then you decided not to take the unit, then you're out of luck. If the payment was for first months rent or was your security deposit, then you potentially may be entitled to get some of the money back. You really don't provide enough detail to allow me to determine if you are entitled to some or any of your money back. But if you were the party that breached the agreement then the landlord was damaged and he would be permitted to use your security/rent to pay for his losses. Whether he would be permitted to keep all of your money depends on the extent of his damages and whether he made a reasonable effort to mitigate those damages.

The contract is to spell out the terms of the agreement. If no contract then it just his word against your word. How are you going to be able to prove he breach an oral agreement?