UK Landlord Forum / Life

Hi all, this is the first time I have used the forum.
I advertised 2 rooms in my house for rent a couple of months ago. It is my first time and have run into some problems. In the ad I stated that there was a minimum of a 3 month minimum stay and that I required one months notice of the tenant leaving, failure to do either would forfeit their deposit. I rented the rooms to two people from eastern Europe but after 9 days they told me that they would be leaving in a months time. They left 3 weeks after that. On leaving they asked for their deposit back. I showed them the ad and said that they had broken the (verbal )contract and had lost their deposit. Have I done the right thing or broken the law like they said I have?

Verbal = your words against theirs ie nothing in writing

In my opinion you are stuffed, let them go and don't make the same mistake again