I like Troutman's suggestion of calling a lawyer. When a lawyer suggests you should speak to a lawyer........ it's usually good advice.
However in my completely un-qualified opinion I would say that unless your friends can prove the landlord breached the contract, the may be out of luck. And by proof I mean something like a written lease.
If I enter into a rental agreement and back out; the landlord is allowed to subtract any money that they are out; assuming that they made a reasonable effort to rent out the place; ie things like ads in the paper; online rental sites, etc.
edit- just to add; things they could "do" to make them pay it back include them getting a call from a gov't run landlord/tenant agency- as well as a call from a lawyer might scare them enough too.
|