I am going to try and keep this as short as possible, sorry in advance if it is too long.

I live in an apartment with my girlfiend and my brother. My girlfriend has been in this same apartment for over two years now and my brother and I moved in last June. At this time my girlfriends previous lease was up and the landlord told us he would draw up a new lease for the three of us. Well...no lease has ever been drawn up. About three weeks ago I came home from work and saw a for sale sign in front of the house (we live in a three family house). I asked my landlord what was going on and he told me he is selling the house but not to worry because he will make sure who ever buys it doesnt kick us out. At this time he now tells us that he is not giving us a lease and we have an at-will tenancy. He told us that he is doing this for our benefit so we can move out if and when we need to.

Meanwhile...since last December when my girlfriend did have a lease the bathroom has been literally rotting. Our shower walls are rotten through to the point that there is a big hole, the floor near the tub is rotten away, tiles are falling off the walls, we think there might be mold and the toilet leaks from the tank and doesnt flush properly. There is a leak in the ceiling right where the light is which looks like an electrical hazard. I was at my girlfriends house last December the day the landlord came over and took at look at the problems, he told us he would fix it. It has been almost one year and nothing has been done. We have reminded him politely every few months, now he tells us he is trying to sell the house this way (as a fixer upper) and he is not going to fix it.

Now, since we know he is selling the house and not fixing anything the three of us have been looking for another apartment. Well, we just found one a few days ago and we would need to be in there by November 1st. We notified out landlord as soon as we found the place and he is very unhappy. He is telling us we can't move without giving him 30 days notice and although we have paid rent for all of October and we are going to be out on October 31st he says we still owe him last months rent. Actually, he has had my girlfriend last months rent for over two years now since she has always been there and he says he is not giving it back because we didnt give him any notice. We didnt know that we would find a place so fast or that they would need us in by November 1st so we paid Octobers rent in full which will actually be our last month, so he has an extra $625.00 which was my girlfriends original last months rent.

1. Can he actually stop us from moving because we didnt give him 30 days notice?

2. Can he make us pay him rent for a month that we dont plan on being there?

3. Can he refuse to pay back my girlfriends last month rent?

All without any form of a lease and without fixing any problems?

1. No, he can't stop you from moving.
2. Yes, you are required to give him 30 days' notice at the beginning of the rental period. If rent is due on the 1st, that is when you need to give notice. Since you didn't give proper notice, then you are responsible for the month of November. If you don't pay for November, then he can take it from the security deposit.
3. See above.

Just let him keep her last month's rent that she paid at the begining of her lease.

In the future if you have safety issues like you say you do. Put your request in writing send it certified to the LL. Give him a reasonable time frame to make or begin repairs. If no attempt is made then depending on where you live in MA call either the board of health or code enforcement. I had a LL refuse to fix stuff when I lived in MA & had to call board of health to get it fixed. He refused to fix it even after they said he had so many days & refused to go to court when he didn't comply with their requests. The same day he skipped court they sent the police to his work & arrested him. He ended up with a huge fine & had to pay a portion of our moving costs. He also filed for to evict us on the 1st of the following month for stating he no longer wanted us there (our rent was up to date) & we were protected under a no retaliation clause in the MA law. He got a fine for violating that to & got a reputation in the court system. We were actually ordered to only pay him on a weekly basis upon his start of the repairs. If he missed any week of the repairs he had to forfeit that weeks rent. The judge really socked it to him.

Thank you both for your responses. Korax Im sure you went through a lot of stress to get to your conclusion but that is awesome that things really worked out for you.

Moburkes, you said he can take Novembers rent from the security deposit but we were never asked for one nor have we given him one. If he wants to keep the $625.00 I am fine with that but can he still make me pay more money?

Thank you both for your responses. Korax Im sure you went through a lot of stress to get to your conclusion but that is awesome that things really worked out for you.

Moburkes, you said he can take Novembers rent from the security deposit but we were never asked for one nor have we given him one. If he wants to keep the $625.00 I am fine with that but can he still make me pay more money?

Yes, November rent is due.

Also, in regard to repairs: You need to follow your state's guidelines. You don't necessarily get to determine what is a "reasonable" time frame.

Moburkes, he told us that he is not repairing the problems at all, he is selling the house this way. "Never" seems like an unreasonable time frame when there is the potential for mold and a toilet that doesnt flush properly. And even if he was going to fix it, it has already been 10+ months.

Wouldnt he have been obligated to fix the problems while my girlfriend did have a signed lease?

Yes, "never" is unreasonable. Contact the local building and health departments.