So I'll start by saying I put landlord in quotes because it was an unconventional situation and thought landlord wouldn't be technically correct I don't know what else to call her.

The deal is: I was in need of a short term place to stay, too long for a hotel or Airbnb, too short for an actual rental. Very inconvenient. So I found this lady we'll call D, she agrees to rent me a room in her house from around September 10th to exactly November 21st.

She's asking 700/mo so we agreed on 900 for the full stay, plus a 500 deposit she insists is fully refundable and that she "doesn't even really care about because you (me) seem trustworthy and it was just to scare away an unwanted crowd". There is no actual contract because this is all on the Down Low, as I believe she's not allowed to sublease her place and she has something else going on that me living there would cause an issue with (something I won't elaborate on because it's her business and not pertanent to this).

Fast forward to leaving day, I have kept the room in perfect condition and I give it a good cleaning before I leave. I have a cat but there's absolutely no sign he was ever there because he didn't damage anything and I cleaned the litter box religiously so no lingering smells, not to mention it was only tile floors so nothing to cling onto any mess.

I take pictures of the space and text them to her, telling her I'm moving now as planned and I left the space clean, keys on the counter. I asked about getting the deposit back giving her multiple payment options. Her response was "I'll get back to you about the deposit.".

Three days later she in fact did not get back to me about the deposit. So I sent another very friendly text. No response.

I'll send another text tomorrow but I'm not an idiot, I was already getting iffy vibes about the deposit and now I'm sure she's just gonna keep the cash and ghost me. Is there anything I can really do? There was no contract and now I'm states away (MN with her in AZ) so I'm guessing not. Just angry and looking for options because I'm struggling really bad for money and 500 could be the difference between having a roof over my head or not.