[vezione]

This landlord is a dickhead. He's totally taking advantage of people and Chemda's totally right that he's making you feel shitty on purpose. Instead of college kids, my guess is he preys on people with less than stellar rental records because they're more likely to capitulate. That's why you gotta fight this fuckface. Here are my (not expert) legal ideas:

1. Your State's Legal Aid. They have a lot of experience dealing with dirt bag landlords. I called them once and found out that the guy who was trying to evict me illegally was renting the house and subletting to me. You have to meet low income requirements for this.

2. I wonder if good faith assumptions in contacts fit here. By the guy basically extorting your $1200 to get you to sign the lease shows he's not acting in good faith. By no stating upfront that there's no way the contract is up for negotiation seems like bad dealing. And since you exercised good faith by reviewing the contract before signing it, penalizing you by not returning a deposit from before you actually signed the contract (instead of with it) is just ick. (A legal term.)

3. Signing your rights away as a term of the contract seems to have to be something due to the relationship you're getting into. But look at other stuff too. Sounds like he makes tenants pay for all damages regardless if they are at fault. That could possibly void the contract.

4. I think he has to have a good reason to not give you back the deposit and I doubt he has one. I doubt he can legitimately claim that the regular cost of business entering into the contract would equal the amount he took.

5. Annotate everything that seems off in the lease and email it to the news. A little public shaming is in order. Let them know about how he's trying to take advantage of you. Remember he's hoping you feel shitty and shitty people don't want other people to know so let everybody know! (You have to frame this in a way where it is interesting to whatever outlet could pick it up and the framing they would like.)

Good luck. I've learned that most things can be changed even when people say they can. You just have realize you didn't do anything wrong and you respect yourself enough to not be taken advantage of.