The buidling went into foreclosure

[MADem]

5. Maybe you could go to court and sue the owners (the bank) for your deposit?

Small claims, you can do it without a lawyer. If they don't show up, you get the judgment, for what that is worth (can't get blood out of an invisible entity).

Your other alternative is to just stay there until you've run out your first, last and security and move at that point--maybe, once you find out which bank owns the place, you can write to them and tell them "Either give me my money or I will stay here until "x" date and we'll call it even--send me a letter if you disagree?" Get the thing notarized and have the notary mail it!

Save the letter that was returned so you have good faith that you tried to contact the basstids!

You could always set up an escrow account and start throwing your rent money in that until you figure out what's what, and just sit tight, sending letters to the bank that owns the joint every few months.

Oh, and on edit, if there are leaks, damages, problems, fix 'em and take it out of the rent--keep receipts so you have proof of "necessary" repairs (i.e. leaky pipe, broken fixture--not upgraded bathroom tile or a spiffy new appliance). If there's no super to take care of stuff, you'll have to do it yourself. Take pictures, get cost estimates and either hire a pro or if you do it yourself, charge fair market value for the repair.