Roommate Commits in Writing but Backs Out on the Night of Move-In

[alauberth]

I was looking for two roommates for a house in CA. I was contacted by a woman who subsequently looked at the property and said she would "get back to me". A couple days later, she did stating she and her friend wanted the both rooms. Because I was renting two rooms it was favorable to rent to her so I told her she and her friend could have the rooms and set a time to sign the lease the following morning. I then removed the ad and contacted the other people who were interested in the unit approx 20 (this was on the last day of the month) and told them I had found roommates and they should find housing elsewhere.

12 hours later (9pm) I was texted by the woman saying she had changed her mind. I immediately re-posted the ads and contacted the people I had previously told the room wasn't available but have not had a single response (Prior to the end of month I was getting 5-10 inquiries a day) in 24 hours. It is obvious that I will be unable to rent the rooms for another month. Even though she did not sign a lease, didn't she enter the contract verbally, having left voice mails and text messages stating she wanted the rooms?

What is my recourse? Thanks!

[Mr. Knowitall]

I won't guess as to whether the text message could be construed as a binding contract, as I haven't seen it. You are free to try to argue to a small claims court that it was a valid contract, and that you are thus entitled to damages in the form of lost rent for the month during which you were unable to find another tenant.