Help w/ my rent situation

[Bradyams]

A father of a friend of mine from the dorms last year bought a house here at school for his son, and 4 others (5 bedroom house) to live in and pay rent. I ended up being one of the four.

In the beginning it was only going to be 4 total, and the rent was set at $380 (utilites are our responsibility), but we decided to pick someone else up, and turn an extra room in the basement into a bedroom.

The landlord's son does not pay rent. Kind of annoying, but not much I can say about it. So the original $380*3=$1140. I'm assuming this $1140 covers the house payment. So once we picked up the fifth roommate the new rent should have been $1140/4=$285. Well landlord decides an extra roommate will be more wea and tear on the house so he says $340 for rent. So he's getting $340*4=$1360 now for a grand total of $220 extra a month for wear and tear...wow. Does he really need that much?

Here's where I have a problem. This place is a dump as of now. They only painted half the house before we moved in. New carpet was put in, but for some reason not stretched in a couple of rooms. There is no lawn in the backyard, and a few other minor annoyances. If we are paying this much extra month I want to see some serious money go into this place, or my rent lowered. His son says they plan on seeding the yard in the spring, and bla bla bla, but I don't see it happening. Basically the landlord is living 150 miles away from here just collecting rent, paying the house payment, and doing nothing else. I don't think he has any motivation to actually get some stuff around here done.

So this is where I'm stuck. What do I do? The money really isn't a big problem, but I feel like I'm paying for more than what I'm getting. Should I just call him up and ask him to get [censored] done? I wouldn't mind doing some stuff myself if I got paid for it obviously.

FWIW, I haven't signed a lease agreement. It's been sitting on my desk since I moved in. Not sure why he hasn't made us sign it yet. I suppose I could just find a better situation to be in, but the 4 guys I live with are all real close friends, and since I go to college in a small town it's really tough to find a good place to live.

I know this probably sounds like a petty question, but I'm a first time renter, and not exactly sure how to go about this. I don't just want to call him up and sound like some dumb kid who just wants cheaper rent. I want to know if it sounds like I'm getting jerked around here, and what I should say to him. I really like staying here, but feel it shouldn't be as much as it is.

And to say thanks in advance: