Landlord wont give a copy of lease. Shady?

[MRMALIBUSS]

My fiancee and i recently rented a one bedroom/one bathroom house. We were told that the landlord would give us a copy of the lease as it was also a receipt because we paid in cash. Here we are three months later and still no lease even though we have asked for a copy on a weekly basis. Also, we were recently informed that we could only make payments in cash after we informed the landlord that we would get a money order. After a month and a half, we were told that there was a two month past due bill that we had to pay. The landlord gets the bill because we cannot get the water put in our name because of the lack of a lease. Also, we cannot get any assistance without the lease. Help!

 

[Gail_in_Georgia]

You might want to contact these folks:

http://www.tenant.org/

Even if you don't live in Cook county, they may be able to direct you to a resource in the area where you live.

It is likely that the landlord wants the rent in cash so there's no paper trail regarding his being taxed on this rent as income down the road.

Gail

 

[mightymoose]

If a landlord demanded that I pay cash only then I would make it a point to write a personal check every single time

Regardless of whose name the utility bill is in, if you are the one that actually used the service during that time then you are responsible for it. However, I would not pay it until I was given a copy of the lease. If the landlord insists you pay the utility he will have to take you to court if you don't pay it voluntarily... but he likely wants to avoid court since he has a shady operation going on... so.... don't pay the bill, but be prepared to later. However if it doesn't get paid then it might get shut off... and then you have new problems.

 

[andresales]

ny state

so i co signed with a friend, we had the house for 3 montths now, i havent moved in but i have paid the whole rent for 2 months!
and he decided to move 5 other ppl into the house and nobody has a job!
i live in another state so its hard to keep things under control.
anyway i called the landlord and told him to take my name off the lease and he refuses to do so. he dosent answer my phone calls! he will only reply to emails!
i asked him to send me a copy off the lease but he wont!
so i have decied to not pay the rent, i dont know if thats a good idea..i have sent him a 30 day notice,
i dont know who to call or what to do!
i really need help



buffalo, ny

 

[mightymoose]

Anres-

Lesson learned- don't cosign.

You are responsible for the rent and can be sued over it. Your landlord does not have to remove you from the lease... and would by silly to do so in this circumstance because then he won't get paid.

Since you live in another state and have your own residence you are probably not going to be hurt much by this. The landlord CAN sue you, but likely won't because of the hassle involved with being in different states. If you stopped payments then your buddy and his friends will likely be evicted before long.... but you may end up with some nasty marks on your credit report and may have difficulty obtaining a new place to rent if you should move.