Landlord refusing to return security deposit

Hello - Apologies if this is a silly question and a rambling post, but I’m seeking some serious advice on how to proceed or what my rights may be. Thank you for patience and kindness and advice Reddit :)

Found an apartment with three random folks in April ‘24 - we all were moved in and ready to pay $3,900/month total on the place. We sign the lease but the landlords do not countersign it, saying there was a mistake and that the price was wrong. At this point we already had keys and our things moved in! They send us a corrected lease saying rent is $4,200 a month. We try to fight back saying that is not what was offered, etc. etc. They say the original lease doesn’t matter since they didn’t countersign it, and that if we don’t pay the $4,200 we need to leave. We never sign the corrected lease, but pay the higher amount and move on with our lives.

Flash forward 11 months later - 3 of us are moving out and 1 chooses to stay. She finds roommates with less than 30 before end of lease. The management company is slow and does not inform her they’ve denied 2 of 3 those new roommates until two weeks before she has to be out. I’m already gone, but roommate and landlord have a lot of back forth about her having thirty days to get out.

Roommate finally leaves but on the 3rd and not the 1st of the following month. Now, me and the other two people are long gone at this point all living in different places. The landlord said that none of us can have our security deposits back because they are holding the money in escrow for the 30 days our final roommate was there. Those thirty days were after the original lease ended, but we never had an official signed lease anyways!

I’m so sorry if this story is a little messy - I’m doing my best to keep it concise and clear 😅 I’m just curious - I always paid my rent on time - we all did - no damage was done - they even wrote me a reference letter when I moved to my next place. With no lease signed, am I still entitled to my money back? My roommate not leaving on time can’t possibly be my financial problem, right?

TL;DR - Lived somewhere for a year, moved out, never had an officially signed lease, but landlord will not return security deposit bc one roommate moved out late.

Thank you again Reddit ❤️