Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Pennsylvania

"deadbeat" roommate

If your roommate will willing to work this out with you, you should have him sign a promissory note for the amount owed plus interest, which should accrue on the prinicpal balance each month. The note should include a due date for the payment of the entire amount, a payment schedule, and remedies such as your right to enter a judgment against the roommate for failure to pay.

If your roommate is willing to pledge some of his belongings as security, you could make an arrangement to keep those items until he has paid you in full. However, you will have responsibility for those items, and you would need a more complex security agreement, and file financing statements in at least two different filing offices, giving you rights to sell the items if he doesn't pay off the note. The cost and filing fees of those filings is probably more than the amount owed.

However, bear in mind that if the roommate has no assets, even if you enter judgment, what will you enforce the judgment against?

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