How do we kickout a "houseguest" who is not on the lease?
Question Details:
My husband and I invited his brother and nephew to live with us temporarily. Tensions have escalated and I feel that we can no longer live together; however, he refuses to leave. He is not on the signed lease. How do I go about getting him removed?
Change the lock on the door.
Easy--tell him to go. If he's not on the lease and, more importantly, he's not paying rent to you (which would make him a subtenant of yours), he's just a guest or invitee; you may demand that an invitee leave whenever you want. If he refuses to leave, you may call the police for assistance.
Note that if he does pay you rent in some fashion (including by contributing to utilities, etc.), he may be a sub-tenant of yours, in which case you would need to follow the legal eviction process--but if you do, you can get him out that way.
As long as he is not paying rent (or even utilities), he will be considered to be a "licensee"; that is someone who entered and remained on the premises with permission. Now that such permission has been revoked the lawful way to remove him from the premises is to serve him with a notice to quit (under these circumstances in some states this notice can be for a little as 3 days, in other as much as 30 days). If he fails to leave at the end of that time you will have to go through the requisite procedures for eviction in your state. At this stage the police will be most probably refuse to get involved. Once the court enters an order for the licensee to vacate the property it will be enforced by the sheriff, using physical force if necessary.
What you need to do now is to speak with an attorney in your area. They will advise you on the correct procedures for all of this. If you fail to comply with these procedures you could find yourself on the receiving end of a lawsuit for unlawful eviction. So be sure not to use any "self-help" as in changing the locks, etc.
