do I have any legal standing ?

I am having some trouble with my ex-landlord and moved out last weekend. I have been renting the lower level (with shared laundry) in a single-family house in Eagan since June 6th this year. We don't have a signed lease and our verbal agreement was a month-to-month lease. Also, I had brought up the matter of shared laundry and my landlord said he does laundry only once a week and we agreed that he will do laundry once a week on pre-set day (Friday) or will let me know a day in advance when he needs to come down for laundry.

Before I moved in I paid the guy three cheques : First month's rent ($775), Security Deposit ($500) and Last month's rent ($775). Last Month's rent was uncalled for but I agreed to pay it since he couldn't stop rambling about his ex-tenant who had left without paying him for some months. One week after I moved in my landlord suggested that if I paid him 3 months lumpsum rent in advance, he would reduce month rent by $75 to $700 p.m. Also, if I didn't wait until July 1st and paid him immediately he would reduce a further $50 from the lumpsum amount. He said that would help him buy a car. I agreed to pay him 3 months in advance on July 1st for months July, August and September and made out a cheque for $2100/- on July 1st.

He was a fine landlord except for the fact that he liked to come down and knock on my door more often than I would like and start a conversation that went on for hours. Couple of weeks later when I did not respond too enthusiastically to his conversations anymore, he started to show up on my door under the pretext of doing some laundry. One week I found him doing laundry on a Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Wednesday. That Wednesday, I pointed out to him that we had discussed Friday to be his laundry day. He said that 4-5 hours on Friday was not always enough for him to get his laundry done for the week. I told him I am usually gone for a couple of hours on either Saturday or Sunday and if he would let me know beforehand he wanted more time, I could reciprocate with my plans for that Sat/Sun so he would be able to continue his laundry while I was out hence not interrupting me in any way. Next week he knocked at my door on a Thursday and asked if he could do laundry...I told him to come back on Friday and he said was confused and thought it was Friday because next day was a holiday for him. Couple of weeks later he was planning on a camping trip with his kids and told me he wanted to do laundry during the week so he could pack washed clothes...I let him. After he came back from the camping trip, he did laundry on Sunday and came back to do some more on Tuesday and Wednesday. This time he had not mentioned to me he will need to do whole week but he kept piling his dirty clothes on my entry way so I knew he was coming back Thursday.
So, on Thursday (August 20th), tired of finding him in my area on non-Fridays more than ooccasionally, I emailed him saying I expect him to pre-notify me if he wants to come down to my area via email or phone and not just knock on my door whenever. I said I want to see more "respect for my privacy, space and time" from him if I were to continue to live there. He was mad that I had called him out and said he has never barged into the door without knocking so how can I say he doesn't respect my privacy and accused me (falsely) of wasting electricity. Our "hot" email exchanges ended by him agreeing to let me know beforehand when he wanted to come down and me saying sorry if my email had sounded rude. 10 days later (Aug 31st) he gave me a 2-month notice to vacate the premises by Oct 31st saying it was "common-practice" to give a 2-month notice in a month-to-month lease. (There had been no discussion between us regarding the notice period to give each other when I moved in, we had only discussed a month-to-month arrangement).

Anyways, I was fine with vacating by Oct 31st because as was the case, I have pre-paid him until Oct 31st. (as said above, in June, I paid him first and last month's rent alongwith security deposit and and in July, I paid him 3 months in advance)

I was planning on finding myself a place and moving by Oct 31st so I replied to his notice saying I was fine with it.
On Sept 4th, the Friday (his laundry day), he caused the Washer to leak (not sure how, maybe used a foamy deterdent or choked the washer with heavy load) causing the Kitchen carpet to get a wet spot. On Saturday he ripped off the kitchen carpet to dry it and left me a note saying I should let the carpet be as he had left it so it could dry. Three days later (Tuesday, Sept 8th), I came home to find a fan running in the kitchen and his laundry clothes drying in the dryer.

He knocked on my door at 9.15p.m. and since I was in the middle of dinner, I did not respond to his knock. Apparently, he tried calling me on phone then. When I didn't answer the phone, he came back to the door, this time knocking and shouting out my name. I responded asking him what he wanted without opening the door for him. He shouted he wanted to get his clothes out of the dryer. I responded saying he should come back next day. He responded saying he wanted to switch off the fan that he had left running earlier that evening when I was out. I shouted back through the door saying it was not a good time and that he could not come in right now. He said he was going to come in whether or not I let him. Then he opened the door (the door is without lock) came into the basement and barged into the laundry. I went to the laundry and shouted him to get out. I told him I could not live under conditions where he could barge in like that if I did not let him in. He said I could leave then. I told him I would move out coming weekend if wrote me a cheque for my Oct rent plus security deposit. I also told him if he didn't write a cheque out to me then and there, I would call the police and let them know, he had barged in to my space inspite of me telling him not to. He became agitated when I started to call 911 and in order to cool things down, I switched off my phone. I then tried reasoning with him, saying the renting was not working for both us and we should handle things in a civil manner ... That I would move out asap if he paid me back the extra month I had paid him. He said he was too riled up to think. I informed him that I would be moving out that coming weekend whether he paid me back before I left or not. After he went back upstairs, I called a friend and asked her if she would come over and stay with me for the night (I was afraid of him and did not know what to expect of him). For the next three days I did not see him in the house and he wasn't around when I moved out that Saturday.

So last weekend (Sept 12th), I did move out all my stuff and started to live elsewhere. I had friends over and moving-help with me on the day I was moving out. I have retained the keys/garage-opener to the basement. I send him an email saying I have moved out and when he is ready with a cheque for me, I would come pick it up and return the keys/garaga-opener. He has not yet responded to my question or email.

I don't know if I have any legal standing in forcing him to pay me back the extra month's rent or the security deposit as there is no signed lease between us. I know I was harrased into moving out by him while he was all paid up for the next two months.

Do you have any take on how I should handle this situation ? I would appreciate any perspective on the matter from you and any (legal) advice.

The drama between you too over laundry is one that a judge likely would not want to listen to. You rented with the knowledge that it was a shared laundry, yet limited his use to only ONE day a week. (If it was truly shared, wouldn't he have just as much right to use the laundry as you, or have the right to an equal amount of access to it?) On his part, he failed to give proper notice that he needed to enter your area. Both of you behaved inappropriately.

You were given notice to vacate on October 31. You chose to vacate earlier and gave only a couple of days notice. I do not know the required amount of notice per your area's law for a month to month tenant, but it is usually the time between rent payments, or one month. You would have to look up the required amount of notice there. You failed to give him this amount of notice to vacate. NO matter what the problems between you too, you have to follow the notice laws. You owe him the rent for that required notice period, unless he re-rents the unit in that time.

Would be helpful to tone that all down I agree.