I lived in Clovis,NM. I know reside in Tucumcari,NM. On March 16, I met this landlord and viewed an apartment my husband and I liked. We agreed to take the apartment and the next day we were to give the deposit for the apartment for April 2006. I met the landlord in front of Subway to make the transaction for our security deposit at 9:30 a.m. After she gave me the receipt for the $330.00 I gave her, she mentions that the deposit was non-refundable if I decided not to keep the apartment. She then asks me for my husbands and my social security numbers to call and get our electricity at a better rate ( later on I found out that the electric company does not have a transfer fee.) She then tells me I have to call the gas company 2-3 weeks ahead of time and she couldn't do it because she didn't have the time (yet, she had the time to call the electric company :confused: ) I made arrangements to meet her later at 4p.m.to pay her for half of the first months rent. Four hours later I called her to let her know we couldn't afford the rent plus utilities since I just lost my job. She hung up on me. I couldn't get a hold of her until 4p.m. later that day. She and I discussed her calling the gas company for us, (since earlier that day, I had called the gas company and I was to pay a total of $155.00- one of the reasons we couldn't afford the apartment- and we only had $250.00 after paying the deposit). I told her I just wanted to meet somewhere to get my security deposit back. She told me I wasn't getting back anything until she spoke to her lawyer on Monday. She hung up on me. Now, I wouldn't have been so upset if I wasn't to be out of my current apartment at the time on March 31. Thank God for one of my friends who live here in Tucumcari, who offered me a free home for two months. Now, because of her not returning our deposit, I had to leave the city I was setting roots in, my son is being uprooted out of school away form familiar faces and his Behavioral Management Specialist(this town doesn't have any of those services) to help him adjust coping in his academics, my husband lost his job and we are about to lose the car due to a major lack in finances- no money. I have already went to small claims court and filed a lawsuit on the landlord. Is there anything I can do to be more prepared to say or sue her for, and if so would it be legit to ask for more money than the $330.00 I filed for? I need help in searching for answers. Thanks, Lita.

Well, you may need to sue to get the deposit back. I think if it was disclosed that it was non-refundable up front, that would be ok, but disclosure when they have the money is not a fair bargain. Consult an attorney or file yourself in smal claims court.