If I rent a room to a girl and her dogs have done damage to my house, can I sue her?
Get Legal Help Today
Compare Quotes From Top Companies and Save
Secured with SHA-256 Encryption
If I rent a room to a girl and her dogs have done damage to my house, can I sue her?
I rent a room to a girl that answered an add. We did not sign a lease and I did not charge her a security deposit. Her dogs have done a lot of damage to my house; broken blinds, ruined down comforter and pee stains on my hardwood floors. I actually kicked her out within 24 hours, but then let her stay. 11 days ago I sent her a 7 day notice to leave via email documenting the issues with pictures. She won’t leave. I read that if I evict her that actually gives her 60 days. I need to get her out.
Asked on August 11, 2011 Georgia
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 12 years ago | Contributor
Yes, if someone damages your property either deliberately or negligently (through unreasonable carelessness), you can sue for them compensation--for the cost to repair or replace, basically. For a tenant, this also applies if her guests or pets did the damage.
If there's no lease, she is a month-to-month tenant, so you have an absolute right to terminate her tenancy (on one month's notice) in addition to *possibly* having grounds to evict her for the damage--the problem is that evicting someone for damage generally requires either a written lease allowing that, or that the damage be intentional or deliberate, not careless or negligent. Your best bet is to retain an attorney with landlord-tenant experience to both look into grounds for eviction (and take care of doing so--notices, summons and complaint, etc.) and into suing her for the damages. There are many attorneys who specialize in this; were you in NJ, I could handle it, for example.
IMPORTANT NOTICE: The Answer(s) provided above are for general information only. The attorney providing the answer was not serving as the attorney for the person submitting the question or in any attorney-client relationship with such person. Laws may vary from state to state, and sometimes change. Tiny variations in the facts, or a fact not set forth in a question, often can change a legal outcome or an attorney's conclusion. Although AttorneyPages.com has verified the attorney was admitted to practice law in at least one jurisdiction, he or she may not be authorized to practice law in the jurisdiction referred to in the question, nor is he or she necessarily experienced in the area of the law involved. Unlike the information in the Answer(s) above, upon which you should NOT rely, for personal advice you can rely upon we suggest you retain an attorney to represent you.