<prompt> Human: Ok, so Im using a throwaway for obvious reasons. Heres what happened:My wife and I have a 9 month old baby, and I have 2 teenage sons from a previous marriage. We currently live in a 2 bedroom apartment, but decided it was time to find a 3 bedroom that we could afford somewhere, so the baby could have her own room, and my sons could share a separate room when they come to visit. We found something that was about 120mo more than what we pay now, and decided to go for it. Since wed already paid rent for this month at our current apartment, it was decided that wed move to the new one around September 1st.We did the application process, credit and background checks, references, etc., and were approved for the new place. They told us we couldnt get the keys until the end of this month, and they charge a 100 holding fee to hold it open for us. We were told we could pay whatever we want as long as it was 100 or more, and whatever we paid would be put toward all the initial move-in fees security deposit of 500 first months rent for September, so we could pay as little as the 100 minimum, or as much as all of it.We decided to be proactive and pay the whole security deposit rather than the 100 minimum, because it would be less to have to come up with later when we moved in. About a week after we made the payment, I was sadly notified that the company I work for is going through some financial hardships, and I was going to be laid off effective September 1st. We decided that since I may be unemployed for an unknown amount of time, we cant afford the extra 120mo rent, and wouldnt be able to move at this time plus the new apartment had NO appliances, so we would have to buy them since the ones we have are owned by our current landlord, so we didnt want that extra expenditure following the layoff news either.I talked to the manager of the apartment we were going to move into and explained the situation and that we wouldnt be able to move at this time, and asked if we would be able to get back our security deposit. She said no, its non-refundable. This was not a condition listed on the application, and we did not sign a lease or any other paperwork the application was online, so I double-checked. I told her since we never got the keys, and had only set foot in there one time for 10 minutes for the initial showing, I didnt feel like this was fair - they would have accepted just 100 for holding it, but since I went above and beyond and paid the whole 500 security deposit, theyre entitled to the whole thing?! So, if I had paid the full amount for the deposit Septembers rent, they would have been entitled to just keep the ENTIRE 1000 as a holding fee?! I told her it was fine if they wanted to keep 100 of it, as that was the holding fee, but we should get refunded the extra 400, but she wouldnt budge.When I said this to her, she got extremely nasty with me over text message. She said its because of people like you that we keep the entire amount, because now we have to re-advertise, re-show it, and it will sit open for possibly several more months. You didnt hold up to your obligations, so now youve screwed us over, not the other way around. It should be noted that this apartment is owned by a large management company that owns a lot of apartments all over the country, so I expected more professionalism.Do I have any recourse here? I tried emailing the management company directly and skipping over this nasty little manager, but its been over a week and I have had no response.Assistant: Guess Ill just put a stop payment on the check. If they want to take me to court to recoup their 100 holding fee, then so be it. Ill print out all of our text communications and a copy of the check to prepare for such case. Thanks for all the advice guys!  <response>: Nobody advised you to do that, just to be clear, in the event another user stumbles into thisthread looking for guidance. That would be terrible advice. 