"interested in renting" your words
not
"Yes, i want it"
You dont owe them anything

usually to get ur deposit back, the apt/house must be in the condition or better, than when you moved in

verdebandit wrote: ↑Wed Aug 10, 2022 9:45 am On day 1 I looked at a few places to rent and didn't have any more to look at. Without making a deposit I verbally said I was interested in renting one and we were going to meet up the next day. In-between I saw an add for another place that looked slightly better for me and was cheaper.

Over night they cleaned the apartment with the verbal commitment.

Before the time to meet up happened I visited apartment 2 on day 2 and decided it was better for.me and want to proceed with it instead.

I let the first apartment know and offered to pay for the cleaning.

After I did so they told me they wanted one month rent since they held it and cleaned it. However they held it less than 24 hours and had other units open so other than the cleaning I don't think they lost anything.

Opinions on whether or not it's ok to just stick with only paying for the cleaning since no lease was signed?

A promise is a promise, and a verbal agreement is a legal agreement too.

Next time be careful with your promises. If it was my apartment I would have been pissed too.

If the verbal agreement were worded such that the terms were acceptable, the apartment of a liveable standard, and a date to move in agreed, then I’d say yes, the right thing is to honour the agreement.

But if the wording used were that the OP is interested in renting, then the onus is on the owner to do what’s required to get the OP to enter a rental agreement. There’s no agreement, based on what the OP wrote.

The OP is clearly uneasy because he/they said they were interested. Only they know the actual words used.

I’ve looked at some absolute disasters of apartments where only a complete strip and redecoration would make them fit for human living. Where my apartment is now, the neighbouring unit had rat poison and dead rats in most rooms. The owners all wanted a commitment to rent before they’d do anything to clean them. Which gives a good idea of their commitment to maintaining the apartment during the rental. Largely, nil.
And you’re just as likely to find the apartment already leased out to someone else.