My son moved into a 4 family flat on February 1, 2007. In St. Louis, Missouri. He did NOT sign a lease agreement at that time. The landlord is now asking him to sign a lease. Should my son sign this lease after he has already moved in? My son gave the lanlord the deposit and rent before he moved in and he did receive a receipt for this. My concern is that the landlord now wants him to sign a lease one month after he has already been in the apartment. Please let me know what he should do!

I don't think it will do any harm to sign a lease, as long as it recognizes the month he has already been there and the money he has already paid. A lease would give him more rights, and his landlord too.

I would think he would have to sign the lease--the landlord must have just been lazy.
Your son will have to read it over first, make sure it says that he's already paid his deposit and everything that should have already been discussed before he moved in. the landlord should have been on the ball with this to begin with, but he's just doing his job, he needs to protect himself, and it would help your son out to because if something were to happen he can have the landlord fix it-or whatever their stipulations are.
If he doesn't sign it I would think the landlord could have him out one way or another. Be it lying and saying he's squatting, or whatever. The lease is to protect both parites-but stress to your son that he read it over front to back twice, and get any and all "promises" in writing, in the lease agreement.

If your son doesn't have a written lease then he is a month-to-month tenant. That means that either the landlord or the tenant can end the tenancy with 30 days advance notice. It also means that the landlord can raise the rent with 30 days advance notice.

If your son likes the place and plans on staying there then it would probably be a very good idea for him to sign a lease. Then the amount of the monthly rent gets locked in for the full term of the lease.

If your son doesn't really like the place, or if he's not sure that he's going to stay there for a full year (or whatever the term of the lease is) then it probably wouldn't be a good idea for him to sign.

The advantage of signing a lease is that your son gets a secure place to live, at a set monthly amount, for the term of the lease. The disadvantage is that he'll be locked into living there for the full term. If he decides that he wants to break the lease at some point then he would still be responsible for paying the monthly rent until the landlord finds a new tenant or the lease term expires, whichever is earlier.

If your son chooses to sign a lease then he should read it very carefully and make himself completely aware of his obligations as well as the landlord's obligations.