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  1. #1
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    Default Evicting Roommate Not On the Lease in New Jersey

    Help! I rented a townhouse in New Jersey a year ago and subletted two of the rooms, one of whom is a deadbeat. I have an oral agreement with the deadbeat as to rent which they are supposed to pay me each month. I already went to court back in January and got them to sign a letter agreeing to pay a large chunk of what was owed back then or else they would agree to leave or pay and stay. Miraculously, they came up with money at the last minute. Old habits soon returned and I went back to court to kick them out. However, a supervisor at the Middlesex County office told me that I really wasn't supposed to be able to kick them out since only the "owner" of the property can do that. She said the judge probably didn't know that I wasn't the owner when he signed the agreement that the deadbeat and I signed.

    Now, the deadbeat hasn't paid anything the last few months and I am out big bucks. I want the deadbeat out immediately. Can I try to get a restraining order out on them to kick them out-not sure whether I got bad info from the courthouse or what options I have. I want to find a new paying roommate for September-losing time fast.

  2. #2
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    Default Re: Evicting Roommate not on lease in NJ

    You file in court for an eviction, which you should have done the first time.

  3. #3
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    Default Re: Evicting Roommate Not On the Lease in New Jersey

    That's the problem. I spoke with somebody at the court and they said I can't sue for eviction since I'm not the "owner" of the property. Makes no sense to me, and I explained everything about my situation to them-even asked if i acted as agent of the landlord and they still said no. This was the 3rd person I spoke with at the same office. They referred me to a "housing coalition" number which I called but of course their "expert" was tied up and they said they'd call me back. I'll see what they say, but pretty soon, I'm changing the locks, which I probably have to do anyway since the other roommate had their keys (among other things) stolen a few days ago while at a party.

  4. #4
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    Default Re: Evicting Roommate Not On the Lease in New Jersey

    The person who you spoke to at court is not allowed to give you legal advice. The person you spoke to at court was also wrong.

  5. #5
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    Default Re: Evicting Roommate Not On the Lease in New Jersey

    Quote Quoting moburkes
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    The person who you spoke to at court is not allowed to give you legal advice. The person you spoke to at court was also wrong.
    No my friend, you are wrong. I have been told the same thing; the problem is you are not a landlord! There is no landlord/tenant relationship between someone living in your apartment absent a lease agreement between that person and anyone else! They are just a person living there.

    Perhaps this is a law unique to NJ, which has extremely tenant friendly laws. Where do you live that you are saying with confidence that court workers are wrong?? I have heard court workers in 4 different counties say the same thing. You can not evict someone who is not on the building's lease unless you own or manage the property. There is not a qualifying LL/tenant relationship.

  6. #6
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    Default Re: Evicting Roommate Not On the Lease in New Jersey

    Well, an attonrey responded to your question. The responses that you received otherwise were not from attornies.

  7. #7
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    Default Re: Evicting Roommate Not On the Lease in New Jersey

    Quote Quoting moburkes
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    Well, an attonrey responded to your question. The responses that you received otherwise were not from attornies.
    No, but they're responses from qualified people in this state who have handled these matters before. I take experience over some attorney's opinion any day.

    Building owners, court workers, several NJ attorneys, all have said that only the apartment owner can do the eviction of someone not on a lease. I trust their hands on opinions.

  8. #8
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    Default Re: Evicting Roommate Not On the Lease in New Jersey

    Great. Then what did you come here for?

  9. #9
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    Default Re: Evicting Roommate Not On the Lease in New Jersey

    Ok, well I'm still just as confused as to what to do here. The housing person hasn't returned several calls since they're dealing with other people being evicted as opposed to me who is trying to evict somebody.

    The way I see it, I have a landlord-tenant relationship with the deadbeat. However, this must be a NJ-specific thing, but they do keep telling me that only the owner is allowed to file. However, there's got to be some way of me being allowed to boot the deadbeat without the owner getting involved-maybe I have to get something in writing saying that I have agency power to evict? I already had the cops at my place back in December when I tried to take the keys and they attacked me trying to get them back. Only result was that they had to spend the night somewhere else, but the cops said they won't evict without an order, and the court personnel wouldn't let me proceed with an eviction saying I wasn't authorized. But when I ask them what I'm supposed to do, they say they can't offer legal advice. Only in New Jersey....

  10. #10
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    Default Re: Evicting Roommate Not On the Lease in New Jersey

    Quote Quoting moburkes
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    Great. Then what did you come here for?

    I'm here to answer someone's question as someone who:

    A. lives in the state of NJ too
    B. had the same exact ordeal two months ago
    C. received the CORRECT advice from court workers, attorneys and apartment managers/owners.

    You can not evict someone who is not on your lease in NJ unless you are the apartment manager/owner.


    I didn't come here to argue, I came to help someone out and give them correct advice.

    The original poster can make up his own mind who to believe. Someone who just dealt with this issue, court employees, attorneys or you? tough choice there; why are YOU here posting information about something you obviously dont know about??

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