What to do with shady landlord? PLEASE HELP (Cancún)

Hi all,

I've just arrived in PDC and I made the HUGE mistake of reserving a place from abroad.

The backstory:

Came across this guy Eikka online who apparently had a room for rent nearby to the school i shall be attending. He also own the Harley Davidson rental shop here in Centro. The guy seemed very nice and i communicated with him a few times via email. He said he would hold the room for me and to call him when I arrived.

About 2 weeks ago, I emailed him just to confirm all was still good and to remind him of my arrival on the 30th. He then told me that the private room that I wanted some other guy was interested in it but that he would give me first priority just as long as I took on the rent from that day on (the 19th of October). I didn't realize or had any clue how easy or inexpensive finding apartment in PDC was...(now I know its very easy) - so considering his place would still be cheaper than the option of staying with the school I agreed. I mean fair enough ...if he isn't going to rent out the place to hold it for me then only fair i pay him right?

Well I arrived on Wednesday early afternoon and went straight to the apartment. On arrival I came to find out that their were occupants in my to be room. I didn't mind since i was happy to see he got to rent it and figured it would save me from having to pay for those days from the 19th.

When Eikka arrived that evening - his first thing to me was - I have good news and I have bad news...good news is i have a room for bad news is it's not the room we originally discussed. See, his pal who lived in the apt. wanted to get the mastersuite which is what I had reserved and paid a deposit for and agreed to start paying rent for from the 19th of Oct. Instead Eikka said that he had a twin double that he would loose money in (hinting he should be putting someone else in there) but that it still had private bathroom. Protected content this point it was 9pm...and this is when he comes to tell me that even after our agreement of him holding the room for me he gave it away. Now that isn't the best part ...the best part is when it came down to calculating the rent he is STILL CHARGING ME FROM THE 19th OF OCTOBER to the end!!!! I know this is wrong...and i talked to him yesterday and it got ugly!!!

I asked him how could he charge me rent for a period that other people were occupying the room and he said this is not a negotiation...he said thats when we maid the reserve for so you have to pay me from then...the fact that other people were also renting the same room doesn't matter...HIS reason? Because had you come on the 19th the room would have been yours. But my thing to him was...that he asked me to pay from the 19th so technically the room was mine yet 3 days later he rented it out to two girls who didn't leave until yesterday the 31st.

Dude am I crazy???? I want to leave this place because this guy is not cool. For you to do that and make of the rules that come out best for you and expect it just fly ...no questions asked is not cool.

It doesn't stop there...so when I arrived I did sign a contract but didin't give him the rent b/c the amount pretty much doubled from what the initial cost was with his crazy math....he also asked for my passport and said he had to hold it until I left....It didn't sound right to me...but again ...it was 9pm at night i was exhausted and didn't want to get into a confrontation with the guy then about right and wrong...so I gave it to him...last night I asked for it back b/c I was going to visit a friend at a hostel...HE WONT GIVE IT BACK TO ME!!!!!!!!!!

I don't know what to do...who can I go speak to..this is 50 shades of effed up man!! This guy has a lot effed set of rules that CAN"T BE LEGAL!!!

Is there any protection offered to tourists for this kind of stuff....I don't feel comfortable here...i want to leave but he wont let me unless I pay from the 19th of October through the 30th of November....or unless he finds someone else to take the room im in....(which is another effed up story...so because he gave up my initial room and stuck me in a twin - now he is saying he will have to make sure the 2 beds are rented so I don't have to make up the difference in price) WTF??!!! I didn't ask to be put in a bed with 2 beds...that wasn't the deal...this problem is happening b/c he game the initial room that was for me to someone else and now i have to deal with the consequences of all his crazy rules..

Please someone tell me there is some legal agency that I can go to and intervene here??

I start a very intensive teaching practice course on Monday and i need to be focused for that and need to resolve all this. This is like a living nightmare that I really want to wake up from.

What should I do?