Renting a Room with no Contract, I am very scared of being screwed over...

College Life
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<p>I'm renting a small 10x10 room for $350. There's two people currently living there. None of them are the landlords of the house. One guy says that my rent payment should be made out to his name. He is not the landlord, but he tells me that he'll pay all the utilities, cable, and internet. It's a very nice house, and all of the furniture belongs to him and he seems like a highly paid professional.</p>

<p>I can give some other information, but I just don't know what else to say.</p>

<p>How do I know if I he's gonna take the check and act as if I don't live there (or steal my stuff)?</p>

<p>Has anyone in this world ever rented a month-to-month room in a strangers house without a lease?</p>

<p>Please ask me questions regarding this issue!</p>

<p>*New Info 8/14/2010 10:00 AM: *
He also told me that the way it works is that, between him and the landlord, he has to pay 1700 for the rent (it is the best, most furnished, and beautiful house I have ever seen in my entire life). If he doesn't pay that much, he would be kicked out by the landlord. He can, however, rent out the extra rooms to pay for the month-to-month, no-lease rent. I recall that he doesn't even have a lease either, and neither does the other roommate. But I will have to write the check to him.</p>

<p>I have not moved in, and he told me yesterday that he would have to talk to his roommate--whom I've never met--about me moving in.</p>

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<p>I don’t know, sounds a little shady to me. There’s a lot of ways this could go wrong. You guys should really have some kind of contract drawn up.</p>

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<p>Don’t do it. You NEED a contract with YOUR name on it specifying all the fiduciary obligations (ie. to whom are you paying and for what?) If the guy doesn’t want to write a contract for you specifying all the obligations, just walk away.</p>

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<p>**New Info 8/14/2010 10:10 AM: **
I told him that I was afraid of being screwed over, and I gave him examples how he could screw me over. So he responded that he has the bigger risk because I could be the one to steal his 40-to-50 inch TV, his mustang, or his Harley.</p>

<p>He also talked about doing chores every week and about who gets to park where. I get no parking space, and I have to park on the curb. I have permission to park in the driveway during street sweep days but I will be blocking the cars. He seemed like he did have a good paying job, and he spoke pretty convincingly (meaning he doesn’t sound like he’s a liar). He also said that the upstairs room (my room) can get hot because heat rises, even though we have central air ventilation. He says, however, that I can hang out in the living room anytime I want. He also says I can buy my own window AC unit and use the AC, but then I’ll need to pay for electricity.</p>

<p>It’s so hard to know his intentions. The rent is so cheap. The house is so nice. I don’t pay utilities. </p>

<p>I have two concerns:</p>

<p>1) I told him that I am an unemployed student with no job, but I receive financial aid and can show it to him. Do you think he’ll want me as a roommate?</p>

<p>2) This place seems to good to be true, but I am very used to signing expensive leases because of their legality. Should I rent this place or not?</p>

<p>*I also have his emails and craigslist ad if anyone is interested.</p>

<p>**How do I get him to write a contract? How do I make this contract legal, I don’t think signing papers will do any good.</p>

<p>I also don’t understand what you guys are talking about with these contracts. Everywhere I go, NO CONTRACTS are involved. </p>

<p>I even found a place close to my university. There were two students living there, and they were in fact students. They don’t have ANY written contracts. So will I be screwed by them too?**</p>

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<p>ASSUMING it’s legit, your status as an unemployed student is not relevant. He only cares if you can pay your share, which you presumably can if you receive financial aid.</p>

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<p>I would advise against it for reasons detailed below.</p>

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<p>Suppose you don’t have a contract and you get shafted (ie. he takes your check and acts as if you never gave him the check or takes your stuff). You go to court, and what do you have to prove that you lived there? That you paid for the “right” to live there? Nothing. You have no proof, nothing at all to back your claim.</p>

<p>Now, suppose you do have a contract specifying the amount to be paid, to whom it is paid, and what is exchanged in return for the rent but you still get shafted (ie. same scenarios as above). You go to court, and this time, you have PROOF that you had a right to live there, that you paid rent to the right person at the right amount, and in exchange for paying rent, you had a right to live there.</p>

<p>Do you mind saying where this is? I just graduated from Georgia Tech in Atlanta, and while I always lived on campus, I knew all my friends signed leases (ie. contracts).</p>

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<p>The house is in Riverside, California. 9 miles away from UCR.</p>

<p>I don’t understand why he wants the payment to be made into him. It raises suspicion.</p>

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<p>Exactly. You are right to be suspicious. If he’s not the landlord, and he’s asking you to pay him, that’s just screaming “red flag, warning.” He can just take your money and act like you never paid him. That’s why you need a contract with the landlord’s name and your name on it. The contract ought to specify that you will pay $350 to the person before a specified time every month in exchange for the right to stay in the house. It should have your signature and the landlord’s signature on it and be dated.</p>

<p>I disclaim that I am not a lawyer, and that if you’re serious about this place, you may need to think about getting a lawyer to write up a contract if neither the guy nor the landlord is willing. College students can be easy prey because of our relative inexperience, and contracts are there to protect you if you know how to use them.</p>

<p>Edit</p>

<p>Of course a lawyer’s services aren’t likely to be free, but any fee that you have to pay to get a contract written is surely less than the hassle you’d have to deal with in court trying to prove WITHOUT a contract that the guy took your money and your belongings.</p>

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<p>I’m actually going to disagree with most of the posters on this thread. In my part of the country, Indiana, this is done all the time. I know plenty of students and friends who have gone to IU Bloomington and rented a room from a stranger. The reason you are making the check out to him is so he can apply the check to bills, the rent, utilities, etc. In fact, what he does with the check is none of your business, just as long as you are getting the amenities that you paid for: electricity, cable, internet, etc. I honestly don’t see why this is such an issue. This is done ALL THE TIME. Just go on any college’s classifieds and see for yourself. It will say, “flat rate, 300 room,” “flat rate room with all utilities,” etc.</p>

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<p>It’s all a gamble the way I see it.</p>

<p>Fabrizio, I appreciate your opinion and knowledge.</p>

<p>Withlovemegan, that’s what I thought too.</p>

<p>I am juggling between an awesome house with a stranger, or a broken down place with college students YAY!!!</p>

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<p>As grand as the idea sounds about getting a lawyer and paying X amount of dollars, etc. It would be a lot cheaper and easier to simply write up your own contract. It’s not that difficult. I understand your apprehension, but you seem to already have your mind made up. So I say go live with the college students.</p>

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<p>Um well if you arranged your pay day already, at the end of the month, and you start living there near the beginning of the month, then the worst he can do really is kick you out after you pay the 350 dollars, but you’ve already lived there for a month so you haven’t been cheated really.</p>

<p>In other words I would never go into this without something in writing if I was paying upfront every month to live there. Then he could kick me out right after I paid, and I’d be down the 350.</p>

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<p>I am an attorney by background but am not currently practicing and am not familiar with California law. </p>

<p>Here are two reasons to rent only when you have a written lease:

  1. So the agreement is enforceable.
    The laws with which I am familiar require all contracts regarding real estate to be in writing in order to be enforceable. I remember another new attorney in my firm in Alabama being told by the landlord, “I trust you, so we don’t need a lease.” That worked just fine until a little later when the landlord told my friend he had to move out because the apartments were being converted to condos. A lease would have protected my friend and given him more notice.<br>
  2. So it is clear what the agreement is. I think it would be a bad idea to set yourself up for a “you said, I said” argument with an older, smooth-talking professional. The lease doesn’t have to be fancy; it could be a short document spelling out each party’s agreements. In some states, signatures should be witnessed by a non-interested party. I would be especially concerned about a situation where you volunteer to list what the two of you have agreed (“so we can be clear about our obligations”) and the tenant rejects that proposal.</p>

<p>I am also concerned about the possibility that the person living there now might not have a lease with the owner. What is there to stop the owner from evicting the tenant (and therefore you) with no notice–or raising the rent beyond what the tenant can afford? Are you prepared to find another place to live on short notice even during final exams or when a big project is due?</p>

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<p>If everything is as he says, I don’t see why he couldn’t just write up a quick contract saying that $350 monthly rent is being paid to him and that utilities are included, plus the stuff about parking, etc. If I were you, I would ask him if he could do that, if you haven’t already. It’s common practice for a renter to sign a contract, and usually it’s in the landlord’s interest to do so, unless something devious / illegal is going on. Anyway, yeah, I agree with schokolade. Plus, this seems like too much drama, and you don’t want to have to worry about this stuff throughout the year, ya know?</p>