Can I keep their entire two month deposit?

[Karen F.]

We had an applicant with Sec 8 in November for a unit, and we submitted a packet with him for the unit early in November.  We then, throughout November, turned away any other Sec 8 applicants, since we already had submitted a packet for him, to begin Dec 1.   You cannot submit multiple Sec 8 packets at the same time for the same unit. Unit passed inspection for lease to begin Dec 1, he gave us his two month security deposit, we signed our lease together (but were still waiting for the housing authority's lease, although we had a verbal okay from them), and then we gave him the keys early on Dec 1.  On Dec 5, he notified us that he had changed his mind, and wanted to break the lease, not through any fault of ours or any defect in the unit.  We immediately put the unit back on the market, but it's a bad time of year to find a tenant, in December.  The housing authority will pay us, but we're going to hold that money aside, knowing that we're eventually going to have to pay it back to them, as it works its way through their unwieldy bureaucracy.

My feeling is that even if we were to find a tenant for Jan 1, he still should lose both months of his security, because we turned away all other Sec 8 applicants during most of the month of November, holding the unit off the market for him, in anticipation of Dec 1 move in.  My husband feels that we should give him back a month if we rent it by Jan 1, and only keep both months if we don't rent it until Feb 1.