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How to Evict Your Roommate if You're Not the Homeowner

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  • 01-30-2016, 12:25 AM
    jacarand
    How to Evict Your Roommate if You're Not the Homeowner
    My question involves landlord-tenant law in the State of: California

    I currently live in my Grandmother's house who lives out of the country and have taken care of the house for five years. I started renting two rooms 3 years ago and have run into a problem with a roommate. I fear I need to give them a notice and have a strong feeling they may squat. I did not properly do a lot of things (Sound paperwork, reference check, etc) Can anyone give me advice on my situation?

    1. Grandmother is on the grant deed
    2. I have no lease or paperwork with my grandmother
    3. I have a basic lease agreement with my roommate stating I am the landlord
    4. I recently gave the roommate a 30 day-notice to amend the original agreement to include paying for the utilities (This agreement is a lease that expired, the roommate refused to resign a new lease)
    5. On the rental form, I believe their information is fake (permanent address is not real) and I failed to get a copy of the roommates license.

    The roommate is refusing to pay the utilities and arguing my contract does not allow for an increase because it is a lease (It's a six month lease that expired a year ago).

    I am going to give them a 60-day notice to leave (They have lived here for 1.5 year). If the person pays the rent and does not pay the utilities, will I be able to legally evict the roommate in court? Also, do I need to get a power of attorney first?

    Every time I try to serve the roommate papers to talk about our agreement or discuss the issue, the person intentionally avoid me or pretends not to hear me. This is very stressful and I do not know if I properly served them papers if they keep running away and will not accept any paperwork from me.

    The reason I am wondering is because I want this roommate to leave as soon as possible because I feel very uncomfortable with this individual in my family home and have a complicated situation. I would like the fastest and safest way to have legally have them leave, thank you for reading this.
  • 01-30-2016, 12:42 AM
    cdwjava
    Re: Situation: Need to Evict Roommate
    If you are grandma's tenant, then SHE will have to pursue any eviction action through the courts. You would appear to lack any standing to do much of anything other than, maybe, assist your grandmother.

    This sounds as if it might be a sublet situation which can get a little more complicated if your roomie wants to make an issue of the whole thing. You can go ahead and try to issue the notice and work towards an eviction, just understand that if you cannot gain voluntary compliance to leave, you may have difficulty pursuing a kickout order in court as a tenant yourself.
  • 01-30-2016, 11:49 AM
    Mr. Knowitall
    Re: How to Evict Your Roommate if You're Not the Homeowner
    I have to disagree with what was suggested above. If you can prove that you're the tenant, and that the roommate is your subtenant, you can proceed to evict your subtenant. It would be sensible for you to have grandma execute whatever documentation you believe may be helpful in court, in the event that your standing to evict is challenged.

    You have told us nothing about the lease, save that it's term expired six months ago. Some leases end at the conclusion of the term, some automatically renew for a fixed term, some automatically become month-to-month leases on the same terms. If the lease is silent on what happens after the initial term, or provides that it continues on a month-to-month basis, then you can modify the lease upon proper notice and can also give notice to quit. If it renewed for a specific term, then you will need to give proper notice to end or modify the lease before it next renews.

    I am not clear about whether your lease provides that the rent includes the amount you are trying to charge for utilities, or if you are trying to charge an additional amount despite there being nothing in the lease about an additional payment for utilities above and beyond the rent. It makes a big difference. If the lease does not require an additional payment for utilities, then you almost certainly have no right to collect even a penny toward utilities.
  • 01-30-2016, 04:05 PM
    jacarand
    Re: How to Evict Your Roommate if You're Not the Homeowner
    Thank you all for your responses.

    I checked with my mother and apparently I am supposed to be on the deed in the family living trust. I am going to execute a Power of Attorney just in case the roommate fights the eviction.

    I read the lease again and it states the following:

    The Above landlord does hereby agree to rent to the Tenant, for use as a residence the dwelling unit described as: [ADDRESS] for a tenancy commencing on [DATE] on a 6-Month term followed by Month-to-Month term.

    Another part of the agreement says the following:

    Utilities: Landlord shall be responsible for arranging and paying for utility services to include: electricity, wireless internet access, gas, water, and garbage removal.

    My understanding is that we are month-to-month and I have every right to amend the agreement with a proper 30 day notice to one which the rent amount stays the same and the roommate is responsible for paying their portion of the utilities. The roommate is arguing that I am having them double pay for the utilities and refusing to pay. At this point, I am more concerned about having an irresponsible roommate on my family's property than I am about the rent.

    The date for payment is coming soon and I am wondering how to proceed. If they pay the rent and not the utilities, can I provide a 3-day notice to quit or pay? I will also be giving them a 60-day notice to vacate the premise due to the continuous issues.

    I am wondering if I will be able to recover unpaid rent/utilities from them if I do not have their full information (permanent address, social security, copy of license etc). What is your recommendation?
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