Roomate Terminating lease/Evicting a Room-mate (sub leases a room)

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MrsEckenrode

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My husband and I rented a room to a "friend" which has turned bad. The person is obnoxious and rude, has no respect for our family. SO in turn I increased his rent and added other stipulations to make him want to terminate his lease which worked partially...

He is now throwing a fit about having his 30 days; the lease termination gives him 30 days... His lease was for 3 months. The lease says it will automatically renew unless he is notified otherwise.. Well I gave him a copy of the new lease and he doesn't want to sign it so that terminates his lease. The original lease is up on Decemeber 31 2008. WHich was why i gave him the new lease and told him it would go into effect on dec 26 concerning the rent increase.

We physically handed him a copy of his lease termination, he refused to sign it. He said he was taking it to his "lawyer" and would be back to the house tomorrow. The original lease we have with him states; "Sub-Leasors will serve all notices on the TENANT in writing and by mailing to the property address. TENANT will serve all notices on SUB-LEASEES in writing and by mailing to: (address removed)"

How do i make sure that he "receives" a copy of the termination notice? He refused to sign the one I gave him and he can refuse to sign for the notice sent to him by mail.

The lease also states that the changes i gave will go into effect 30 days after notice is given if tenant does not give me in writing that he wants to terminate his lease..

If it would help to read the lease i have a copy saved.. i will just remove personal information (our address) etc..

Any and all help is appreciated.. This guy scares me.. he has retaliated against his former room-mates (my husband was the bleeding heart this time)

And how long do i actually have to give him to leave my house 30 days 60 days 90 days or 15 days????

Thanks!!!
 
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What state are you in? Can you serve him a 3 day notice to vacate and start the eviction process?
Has he violated ANY house rules? If he did, evict him for violating his contract.
"TENANT will give SUB-LEASEES thirty (30) days written notice of TENANT'S intent to end the lease"
This statement doesn't say you have to wait until the lease expires, you can serve him 30 days notice any time you want. As a side note, if a constable serves you court papers and you don't take them, the person will drop the document at your feet and consider you served. Your tenant doesn't have to sign anything or physically take the document from you, just hand it to him, if he doesn't take it, drop it at his feet and tell him he has been served. Harsh I know, but if he is being an A**, do it anyway.
My main point is this, if you gave him his 30 days notice, he has to leave. If he doesn't leave, start the eviction process, call the police, and have him removed from your home for trespassing.

-Nick
 
I am in Dallastown, PA. I was reading over various tenant laws for PA and they said because we had a written lease that is less then one year i had to give him 30 days....

The notices we mailed were delivered today and I handed those to him. One was certified he didn'ts sign for it, neither did i. The other was sent regular mail and i handed that to him in the sealed envelope... He never opened it..

BUT what i did notice, to late... was that i made a typo in the notice.. I put he must be out by jan 30 2008. So i corrected the file i had and printed it out (the 7th time) signed it with hubby and handed it to him.

He has indeed violated rules in the lease, drugs for one. I found pot in a pillow of his. He says he didn't know it was there, blah blah blah.. i flushed the crap down the toilet.. my SON (8 yrs old) used that pillow!

So my question is now.. well a couple acutally.. since i screwed up with the year on the notice will that effect the notice date? Do i have to start all over?

Since he did have drugs in my house can I skip the lease termination and just serve him with eviction papers? (i really don't want him here until the end of jan)

If i can how long do i have to give him to get out since he violated the lease? (he had a 3 motnh lease)

thanks!


UGH just talked to hubby.. apparently the room-mate is planning on skipping out.. most of his stuff is packed (clothes, some electronics) what recourse do i have if he goes to move out before end of lease (i want him gone, but i want my money to)

in the notice he was served i wrote that if he didn't pay rent i would hold his personal belongings up to 10 days.. after that if he hadn't paid me they were mine and he gave up any right to them.. honestly is that legal, can we hold personal possessions until he pays if he tries to skip out on his rent???
 
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In this situation, you might just have to accept that he's gone without paying you the rent he owes. He will, at least, be out of your residence. It's unlikely he's going to willingly pay you any owed rent.

No; without a court granted eviction you cannot hold his personal belongings and after 10 days assume they are yours to do with what you wish.

Gail
 
I figured as much.. but if he is dumb enough to let it happen so be it.. I did tell him tonight that if he skips out on his rent I will sue him. I am also hoping he defaults/violates his lease so i can just kick him out.. i'd have to give what a 15 day notice instead?? (can you tell i want him gone)

It's still over a month till he HAS to be out.. because from what i read I couldn't terminate the lease until the day the lease was up (dec 31) If thats not true, I will serve him with a eviction notice, he HAS violated terms, but wasn't sure if I had to give him 30 days either way..???
 
Correct me if I am wrong, but if he violated the terms of the lease, doesn't that give the landlord grounds to evict?
I see a tenant who is creating a potentially harmful environment for an 8 year old boy by bringing drugs into the home. If it were me, I would kick his a** out to the curb and call the police, lease or no lease. In my opinion, he broke the house rules and in doing so broke his lease. Serve him a 3 day notice to vacate.

-Nick
 
Not sure any of it matters anymore. He moved ALL of his crap out tonight at freaking 1030 at night with my son sleeping in the room next to his. He of course waited until i was in the shower b/c my husband is a "wimp" when it comes to confrontation. (i still love him though :eek: )

My question now is.... Can I deem that by moving his stuff out of the house that he has left and change the locks? He apparently told my hubby that he was coming back tomorrow and staying the next 30 days etc... but he has NO clothes here NO towels for a shower... (eww) So legally can I assume that he has left and change the locks AND take him to court for skipping on his rent (it's due on the 25th)?

Remember I am in Dallastown, PA...(praying)[please let me lock him out!!!] Oh and he has not turned in his keys yet..
 
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No; again, unless your tenant has given you the keys and you've received some type of formal notice that HE'S ended his tenancy, you CANNOT change the locks and lock him out with running the risk of being sued for an illegal eviction.

If he's violated the terms of the lease, you have grounds to serve him a "notice to vacate" and FILE for an eviction but a landlord cannot do a self-eviction; only a court can order an actual eviction. Many, many landlords have found themselves in hot water legally by changing the locks, tossing left over items out of anger.

If he comes back and hands you the keys and you have a document from him to sign that will state he is vacating the unit then you have evidence that he has done so should this come to a lawsuit.

BTW, if he's left a security deposit with you, make sure you have his new address so that you can not only inform him of the status of his deposit within your states legal time requirements but you have the address to serve him when you file your lawsuit against him for owed rent.

Gail
 
Thanks Gail. You've been alot of help.. Now i guess i will just try to get him to sign a statement of ended tenancy.

One other question. His lease runs till dec 31 08. If he moves out BEFORE that date, is he still liable for the rent up to that date (or the date he turns in his keys, if later then dec 31)

Thanks!
 
He would be liable for all of the rent for December.

If I were you, I'd not push for further rent if he does not return the keys or returns then after this deadline. If taken to court (and it is likely you'll have to do this to get any money out of this fellow) the judge will argue that you yourself wanted the lease contract not to extend past the December 31st deadline. Therefore, you can't have it both ways; have him out of there by this deadline but still attempt to collect rent from him after this date.

Gail
 
The termination notice we gave him gives him until Jan 30 2009 to vacate. Because we didn't "evict" him we just decided not to renew the lease in hopes of keeping some civility between us...

So if he were to stay until jan 15 or 30 say, he would be responsible for those days or that whole month correct?

(thanks!)
 
Updates:

He verbally informed hubby and I that he has no personal belongings in the house anymore.. (we know otherwise, he left his trash and a frig in the attic)

His rent was due the 25th. I called him on the 26th to ask when he was paying us the rent, he said he would be here that evening but didn't have all of the rent. I told him oh well rent is due the 25th of every month and he knows that. I told him if he didn't bring the rent i was going to file a 3 day notice to vacate..

Since he has no belongings here AND has not been here since the 24th nor has he had any contact with us other then that one phone call. Legally can i file a 3 day notice to vacate? Also since his original vacate date is Jan 15 2009 what steps should I take.. I have already decided the rent is a loss but hubby wants to pursue it in court..

Any help? Please!!!

Oh and we have made many attempts to contact him on his personal cell phone, my hubby has left messages and he (the roomate) has ignored us completely..
 
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