Getting Rid of a House Guest, Texas

[saf268]

My question involves a roommate in the State of: Texas

In May, one of my husband's friends moved in with us. We did not have a written agreement, but we had a verbal agreement that he would pay us $500 per month and that this would include rent and bills.

At the beginning of this month (January) we put our home on the market. We let him know of this and asked him to have his room show ready. He did not comply with this so we went into the room and straightened up a little so when potential buyers came through it would look nice. I discovered one week ago that his room reeked of marijuana right before we had a showing. This made me pretty angry in and of itself, but the fact that I have a 2-year old son in the house really fueled the fire. I told my husband that I didn't want him to move with us when we sold the house and that I wanted him out as soon as possible.

Today, everything pretty much blew up when he accused me of touching his stuff and said not to touch it again. He told me that since he's been staying in our house for more than 6 months and since his mail is delivered there that he doesn't have to go anywhere. Is there anything that I can do to get him out of my home as quickly as possible? I don't want to miss out on a contract for my house because he and his habits are a dealbreaker. Even more important than that, I don't want my son to be exposed to him for even a second longer. I'm at my wits' end - what are my options?

Thanks in advance for all of the great help!

[Papi Yanqui]

Sounds to me like you do not have a house guest. You have a tenant on a month to month oral lease. And getting him out will likely require the civil court system.

Now if you could manage to get him arrested/incarcerated for drug offenses, you might have an angle that way.

He probably does have a right to a reasonable expectation of privacy in the room you have rented him.

[LawResearcherMissy]

Is there anything that I can do to get him out of my home as quickly as possible?

You need to formally evict him. The Austin Tenants' Council outlines the process here, and you can get the necessary forms and information from your county's Justice of the Peace.