Very good practical points (and strong defense to any claim the tenant may make against you during the lease). 

Granted the address of parent and lawyer is affluent Westchester NY town, but still, I went to the defense of her son 2 or 3 times and then she wants to sue me for second hand smoke or particulates in the air after they stopped smoking.  

And now you're saying that your defense would be, that even if you couldn't show any actual out-of-pocket losses due to the tenant not moving in, that you could convince a judge that you might have missed a tenant who was willing to pay you some abnormal above-market rate for the unit, therefore you should be able to keep the holding fee, even if you can't show any actual out-of-pocket losses?

Like it or not, a landlord is considered to be a professional, and therefore not capable of using the "I didn't know better" legal defense.

Mistakes will be made, but many pm will only compound them.  

I call it the "reasonable" defense.  

A defense to eviction in PA is if the landlord accepts partial rent. 

In any eviction proceeding, if judgment is for the tenant on the basis of any of the above defenses, the court may order the landlord to pay reasonable attorney's fees and court costs for the tenant (Section 9-10(c)). - See more at: http://www.peoples-law.org/special-laws-rules-balt...Your version of how hot it is doesn't matter.

They won't see that one coming :-)Offense instead of defense.

The RCW further states:The landlord is also barred in any action brought by the tenant to recover the deposit from asserting any claim or raising any defense for retaining any of the deposit unless the landlord shows that circumstances beyond the landlord's control prevented the landlord from providing the statement within the fourteen days or that the tenant abandoned the premises as defined in RCW 59.18.310.which is the case in my circumstance.