I'm in a townhouse with two other people and there is an empty room because our other roommate had to back out of the lease last minute for medical reasons. This morning at 3 a.m. a guy walked in who hardly spoke english and said he was our new roommate. I know they can have someone move in but don't they have to give us a notice?

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Originally Posted by trevch33

I'm in a townhouse with two other people and there is an empty room because our other roommate had to back out of the lease last minute for medical reasons. This morning at 3 a.m. a guy walked in who hardly spoke english and said he was our new roommate. I know they can have someone move in but don't they have to give us a notice?

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Who is "they"? Are you saying that your landlord brought a new tenant into your apartment without your knowledge/consent?

Where is this?

Yes they as in the landlord. And its townhouses by a college campus.

It's in Michigan

Are the premises owned by the college? Do you have some sort of written agreement? If so, what does it say?

It's separate from the college and it has a lease but I read it and can't find anything about them adding a roommate.

Maybe you should start at the beginning - how did the rest of you acquire this townhouse? Was the one who left on the lease? What arrangements did you make about the money he owed?

We all have individual leases.

Then you might be lodgers, not roommates. I recall many places around colleges doing this back in the 60s (I lived in one in Berkeley). I don't know the legality of this sort of arrangement in your state or any state, but I have a feeling the owner isn't required to notify you of anyone moving in. You are not beholden to unpaid rents of any of your other roommates, nor they to you, nor is each of you liable to the landlord for anything another one of you does.

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Originally Posted by joypulv

Then you might be lodgers, not roommates. I recall many places around colleges doing this back in the 60s (I lived in one in Berkeley). I don't know the legality of this sort of arrangement in your state or any state, but I have a feeling the owner isn't required to notify you of anyone moving in. You are not beholden to unpaid rents of any of your other roommates, nor they to you, nor is each of you liable to the landlord for anything another one of you does.

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Same thing in my City - OP needs to re-read his paperwork and then talk to the building manager.

My concern would be the type of background check that is done by management.

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Originally Posted by trevch33

We all have individual leases.

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If you all have individual leases, then you have no control over who the landlords rent the room to.

While it would have been nice to inform you, there are probably under no obligation to do so.

I want to add that 'someone who barely speaks English' can be as good or as bad a roommate as someone who is fluent, and arriving at 3 am probably is a result of traveling through many time zones. And if you did have 'notice,' how much would you expect, and what would it matter? Especially if the person who left at the last minute didn't pay a dime, and none of you covered his rent.

I hope you have an open mind about this person.

This is not to say I would have signed a year or school year lease when I have no say over the selection of others.