If you sign a lease to rent a house, and the landlord makes some scribbles all over it to change it, and then initials the areas that he crossed out, is it still a legal binding contract? What if you ask for a new lease to sign, with the new changes?

If you didn't also initial the "scribbles" then it's not a binding contract. For the protection of both parties, a new lease should be drafted up. Make sure to get a fully executed lease.

if he writes on it after you sign I don't think its binding but if you sign after it is

Ive had that happen to me,after a bunch of scribbles,arrows and initals,I asked them to write up a new one,no problem.

If you signed it with the alterations in place, then they are part of the contract.

However, if the Landlord made the alterations after you signed and without your agreement they are not part of the contract. If you do not have a clean signed copy you should ask him for one.

If what you say is true in that, the landlord initialled them but did not ask you to initial them, or to formally accept them.
In the absence of a witness they may be unenforcable should you claim they were added after you signed. But if you wish to enforce them, then they would be legally binding upon your landlord, since he did initial or sign them as part of the contract.

If you ask for a new lease to sign with the changes, the landlord may or may not comply, he may or may not require you to pay additional cost.
Unless they are illegible your description of the alterations would make them more restrictive upon him than upon you.

If you had not signed yet and he made the scribbles all over, then yes it is.

If you have agreed to the contract and then he modifies it, then you are only bound by the original contract that you agreed to. Any modifications to an already existing contract require all of the elements of a contract- offer, acceptance, consideration.

A contract is binding as soon as one person makes an offer, and another person accepts the offer. If there is a dispute about the contract, then the writing will be used to clear up the dispute. The contract will always be construed against the drafter in the case of an ambiguity.

in order for your lease to be a fully executed contract, he would have to have signed the lease also and you would have to initial all his changes. if the amended lease is difficult to read, it is reasonable for you to ask for a new lease with all the new changes, however it is unnecessary to do so for the contract to be legal and binding.