My father, a friend, and myself moved into a house that we would all pay equal shares to rent. The friend was fired from his job and was lazily looking for another one. At the same time he was staying at his parents' house on a more frequent basis. I found him two jobs that he could interview for and he didn't follow up with either. We basically found no way he could stay with us at this pace. The two main problems that have arose because of this is:
a) during the first few months we lived there, my father helped him with his share of rent while he got another job and he has refused to pay my father back, and
b) almost all of his belongings are still in the house we rent.

My father and I cannot afford any legal counseling but we're too wealthy to get free counseling. We do not know the laws on property abandonment and what legal action we have against my now ex-friend and our ex-roommate. He hasn't even come by to try and recover his abandoned belongings. It would be a huuuuge blessing if anyone can help us out or point us in the right direction. Thank you.

You take him to small claims court for the back rent.

You take him to small claims court for the back rent.

the main concern I have is that we know his name is on the lease, we know the landlord knew he was a third renter of the place, but we're not sure if he signed the lease agreement or not. Because of this, we're not sure if we have enough proof he lived and rented at the house. we also have mail addressed to him, checks he's given my dad, and as i stated before, pretty much all of his belongings are still at our place.