Visitor, Guest I cant get my boyfriend to remove his property and leave my place

[suz692002]

I moved in to my place 2 months ago and I am the only one on the lease, utilities and PO Box associated with this rental. My boyfriend had a key and never lived here in excess of 14 days. He resides elsewhere and we have always maintained separate residences because of our history of domestic violence. He has a very extensive record for this and has recently been emotionally abusive and intimidating me after I discovered he was cheating on me. We broke up and he left and he hasnt been here for a week now. I have asked him numerous times to return my key and pick up his personal property but he refuses. He is claiming that he has established residency here and that he has to be evicted. My landlord and building manager are aware of all of this and offered to change the lock. I know that he will make this even more difficult and claim that he was locked out and fight me every step of the way. I realize now that giving him the key is what is going to create more problems and I dont want to lose my place or possibly risk getting evicted because of his actions. Please advise if I do have to evict him or if I can have him cited for tresspass and thrown out by the Sheriff or if I should get a restraining order on him. Thank you.

 

[CdwJava]

I moved in to my place 2 months ago and I am the only one on the lease, utilities and PO Box associated with this rental. My boyfriend had a key and never lived here in excess of 14 days. He resides elsewhere and we have always maintained separate residences because of our history of domestic violence. He has a very extensive record for this and has recently been emotionally abusive and intimidating me after I discovered he was cheating on me. We broke up and he left and he hasnt been here for a week now. I have asked him numerous times to return my key and pick up his personal property but he refuses. He is claiming that he has established residency here and that he has to be evicted. My landlord and building manager are aware of all of this and offered to change the lock. I know that he will make this even more difficult and claim that he was locked out and fight me every step of the way. I realize now that giving him the key is what is going to create more problems and I dont want to lose my place or possibly risk getting evicted because of his actions. Please advise if I do have to evict him or if I can have him cited for tresspass and thrown out by the Sheriff or if I should get a restraining order on him. Thank you.

Did he have a room or share a room with you? Was his stuff stored there? Did he receive mail at your place, or use it for an address on any bills or other commercial or personal transactions?

Unfortunately, if he brought his stuff in and had a key, and he was not sleeping on the couch, it will be difficult to claim he was not a resident. You may want to go with the changing of the locks and see if that causes him to voluntarily abandon his claim, or, you may want to ask the landlord to start the eviction process. The problem might be that since he is not on the lease, the LL may have to evict YOU and your guest in order to get him out.

As for getting a restraining order, on what grounds would you ask for it? Breaking up is NOT sufficient cause to get a TRO and a kickout order. If there has been domestic violence, you will have to spell it out and then answer the question as to why it was never reported, and even then a judge may decide not to issue it until after a court hearing which could be 2 to 6 weeks down the road depending on how busy the courts are in your neck of the woods.