I recently signed a lease for an apartment on the first floor of a house. The landlord said he would only allow me to sign, not my husband, since my husband was unemployed at the time and he wanted only those paying on the lease. We had a very short timeline in which to move, since we'd been evicted (due to failure to pay in full each month). This aside (and being taken care of), we had few choices and were pressed to go with the place we'd seen. The landlord said he wanted to go over the lease in its entirety with me and we went through each paragraph. He had some alterations from the standard form, including: 1) that I would pay 2 months security deposit (NJ law states 1-1/2 mths [I didn't know that at the time]); and 2) that he would take that money (security deposit) and use it and give me back double what the bank would in interest at the end of the term (I didn't know that was illegal). He also said that he wanted it notarized and would have that done after the fact. I had no-one to consult on this and felt like I had to sign then and there if I wanted the place.

After over 1 month, he has still not given me a copy of the lease, though I keep asking him. First he said he would only deal with me, since I signed the lease and he refused to deal with my husband. After a while, I got mad, since he was giving me the runaround and said if he wouldn't deal with my husband, he would have to deal with my attorney. He reluctantly started talking with my husband.

It's been over a month, as I said--the painting has still not been completed. He does everything to make himself come back into the apartment. We've had enough. We told him we would finish the painting (just what he wanted, I'm sure).

Other than that, what can I do about the lease alterations, which I'm sorry I agreed to? What he's asking is illegal.