anecdotal (not sure how common this is)

i found a shared room (east capitol hill) from seeing a sign on the street, toured the house, decided i wanted it and filled out an application and gave a check for the deposit/first month.

a day later the landlord told me that the housemate decided not to move out, but he had another place a couple blocks over.

it was cheaper so he told me that i'd get half off the next month.

i waited about 15 days til the first and with a uhaul already booked i tried to schedule a meeting to get the keys. and i was told that i didn't put enough effort into meeting the new housemates (i was given one phone number, which my understanding was for an emergency situation).

i was denied the room on the 30th, harassed the "landlord" into meeting with me to get my rent contract back to rip it up (i had already cancelled the check, which thankfully wasn't cashed)

later that week i saw the same room up for rent on craigslist for $200 more.

i assume that the housemates decided to rent the room for more (without out the landlord's permission) and pocket the extra.

huge pain to deal with that, luckily i was able to stay at my current place for the extra month.