Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Texas

First, you must know that unless the lease agreement was for one year or more, a verbal agreement to lease is valid and enforceable. Whether you can get your money back, however, depends on the circumstances of your particular case. If your agreement was month to month and was to begin immediately on the day you paid that first month's rent, it could conceivably be held that your occupancy began at the time you contracted, and that you could not terminate your lease with less than 30 days notice, which you gave one hour later, and consequently you are not owed any refund.

On the other hand, if the rent was to begin some days after the day in which you paid the first month's rent, you stand a better chance of recovering part or all of your payment. How much you recover would mainly depend on 1) whether the court finds that an enforceable contract was in fact created, 2) whether the "first months rent" you paid is deemed to be a deposit or a rent payment (a deposit is presumed to be refundable absent damages) and 3) whether and to what extent the lessor suffered damages as a result of your change of mind; for instance, if the lessor turned away other prospective tenants away in reliance upon your agreement to lease, a court might hold that the landlord suffered damage and may hold you liable for it.

The most likely result, however, is that you would get your money back if you can show that either there was no enforceable contract or that, even if there was an enforceable contract, the lessor suffered no damage as a result of your change of mind.