Verbal agreement, never moved in — threatened suit

By bigred

I found an apartment share on craigslist for the summer in wash dc. I communicated with the guy offering the share, agreed that the rent amount sounded good and asked to see a lease. I never gave him an application nor a deposit and never signed anything. He sent the lease, and I saw that the term was for longer than I had thought. Meanwhile, he removed the craigslist ad and apparently told other prospective roommates that it was rented. A week before the lease was set to begin, I found another room and signed a lease, and told this guy that I would not be moving in and that his proposed lease had problems. Now he says we had a verbal agreement and he’s threatening to go to small claims court. Does he have a case? What should I do?

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