Roomate refusing to pay rent

[Courtneynicole]

I live with 3 people (4 total) in a 4 bedroom house. In April of this year, one of the roomates decided she needed to move out, therefore we had 30 days to find a new roomate to take her spot. By May we found a new person to move in and gave him the rental agreement, along with the application for tenancy. He at that point informed us that it would be filled out and turned in asap.

3 months later, in July, he arrived home with a puppy unbenounced to the rest of us, as well as to our landlord (who does not allow dogs). At this point we informed him that he must take the matter up with the landlord and let them make the ultimate decision of whether the dog would be allowed to stay or not. He kept skating around and putting off making the phone call, upon which we found out that he never turned in the signed rental agreeent of which he said he already had.

Now he has decided that he is moving out in 4 days (with no 30-day notice) and will not be paying for the month of September, as he would be responsible for in our lease agreement. His excuse is that since he never signed the agreement, he is not responsible for anything. I tried to cash his deposit check that he gave to me upon moving in to pay for the rent that he has yet to pay, however he put a stop payment on it.

We have been lied to and deceived and now are being taken advantage of, as tenants, what rights do we have in this situation??

 

[mafioso]

He has no legal obligation to giving you 30 days notice given he never signed your agreement. He could claim after moving in, he was not satisfied and decided to look for a new place. Your only chance is if you all living there sued and appeared as witnesses…………But given the time, energy, evidence and effort required, you guys might rather share the lose and pay for September. Your chances of winning are not very good. He never signed what was a binding document.