Need to kick out roommate - NJ

[Guitarmonster]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? NJ

I have been renting my apartment for a little over 3 years now, the lease has always been in my name. About 2 years ago I had a roommate move in and he has been a problem. He habitually pays his rent late, which causes a late fee to be billed (which I make him pay). On top of that I have caught him many times taking my food, which he always is very sneaky about. As far as utilities he just has phone/internet/cable from Verizon in his name. On paper he can prove that he has been a resident. I recently asked him to leave and he tells me that he has a lawyer on retainer and that he is not leaving. He seems to think that he has some indefinite ability to stay here, even though there is no lease with his name on it. So far I am preparing a 30 day notice to vacate and I will be putting one on his door, sending one regular mail, and sending one certified mail with return receipt. I know that in New Jersey self help evictions are against the law and I believe the only way he can be force-ably removed is through landlord-tenant court. So if he does not move out after the 30 days do I go to landlord-tenant court to get him removed, or do I have to get my landlord involved. I really don't want to get the landlord involved because with all the problems I feel he may get ticked off and just evict the both of us. Oh also, for over 30 days now he has also been behind on his rent, and once again he told me he will be late next month too.

 

[Banned_Princess]

You can bring him to court yourself.

Good luck.

 

[Guitarmonster]

That would be awesome. Now do I need to get a lawyer, or is this something I can do myself?

 

[Banned_Princess]

no lawyer needed, you can do it yourself.

Be sure to follow the states guideline for removing a month to month tenant. (NOT . com.... use .GOV or .ORG and as a last resort .EDU)

 

[Guitarmonster]

That's awesome.

I just prepared a 30 day notice to vacate and I will be mailing one regular mail, one certified mail with return receipt, and I will be giving one to someone who will hand deliver one to him and fill out a certification of service. Hopefully after that happens he will see how serious this is and will decide to leave. If not then Feb 1st I will file against him in court.

It's so funny he thinks that just because he has a "lawyer on retainer" that he has some ability to stay here indefinitely. Its funny how he just can't pay his rent on time but he has the money to put an attorney on retainer. I don't have an attorney on retainer, oh yeah I forgot, because I don't get myself in legal trouble.

 

[Guitarmonster]

Well gave him the notice, and now he says he is going to take me to court! He says he has just as much of a right to be here than I do. Even though his name is not on the lease, and my name is. He seems to think that because he lives here, that nobody can get him to leave. So basically by his logic, you could rent an apartment and tell the landlord that you are never leaving, so the landlord is forced to rent to you for the rest of your life! Not too sure how that works. I know there are certain cities that have rent control, but Collingswood, NJ is not one of them.

So he's gotten notice and if he doesn't leave within thirty days i'm going to court. He says "you better get yourself a real good lawyer".

 

[Banned_Princess]

You don't need a real good lawyer, but maybe you want to hide your valuables and whatnot until this is through.

 

[Guitarmonster]

Yeah I agree. As far as I know he could hire the most expensive lawyer in the country but it wouldn't matter. He is not on the lease and is not protected by any contractual agreement. I know that he has the right to due process, which he will get since I served him notice and I will be taking him to landlord tenant court. He seems to think that there is a way that he can legally force me to let him stay here indefinitely and I know that just can't happen. If for some crazy reason he was able to stay then I will serve the landlord with a notice telling him that I am voluntarily returning possession of the property to him and then I guess he would have to deal with him. But as far as I know it's not going to come to that.

The funny thing is, I have never had a lawyer on retainer, because I really have never needed to. Just the fact that he already has a lawyer on retainer kind of tells me that he is prone to creating legal trouble for himself.

 

[Guitarmonster]

The notice I sent by certified mail was delivered, but he was not home so the postman left a "signature card" telling him he can pick it up at the post office. I imagine that he may purposely not go to pick up the letter, so that he might go to court and say "I never got notice". I don't know if him ignoring it and not picking it up means anything in the eyes of the court. On top of that, one was sent by regular mail, and one was hand delivered by a third party, and this third party filled out a "certification of service" form that states the time, date, what was delivered, who it was delivered to, where it was delivered, and is signed by the person delivering the notice. My roommate has not been here since, but his stuff is all here still.

He sent me another email saying:

Tom I would advise you not to contact me again unless you have you're lawyer available or it is specifically related to a direct issue in our apartment. Also be advised any legal document or documents that you have I will need before the trial or I will have to subpoena you for them when you give me a trial date.

I'm just curious as to what "legal documents" he would be referring to. If you were living in an apartment and your name was not on a lease, and there was no standing agreement, what legal documents would be there to help you to stop yourself from being evicted. Is there any, or is he just blowing smoke. Half of me feels like he may have some "ace in the hole", the other half of me feels that he is just trying to sound all "legally minded" to try to get me to back off.

any thoughts?

 

[Banned_Princess]

The notice I sent by certified mail was delivered, but he was not home so the postman left a "signature card" telling him he can pick it up at the post office. I imagine that he may purposely not go to pick up the letter, so that he might go to court and say "I never got notice". I don't know if him ignoring it and not picking it up means anything in the eyes of the court. On top of that, one was sent by regular mail, and one was hand delivered by a third party, and this third party filled out a "certification of service" form that states the time, date, what was delivered, who it was delivered to, where it was delivered, and is signed by the person delivering the notice. My roommate has not been here since, but his stuff is all here still.

You have done all you can to notify him.

He sent me another email saying:

Tom I would advise you not to contact me again unless you have you're lawyer available or it is specifically related to a direct issue in our apartment.

Then don't. Does he still have to pay you rent? if he doesn't, a lovely pay or quit notice can hasten the process.

Also be advised any legal document or documents that you have I will need before the trial or I will have to subpoena you for them when you give me a trial date

.

I have no idea what he is talking about, probably thinks he sounds smart. I guess you'll find out what "documents" he wants later on. And anyway the email just goes to show he got the message that he should be out in the 30 days.

I'm just curious as to what "legal documents" he would be referring to. If you were living in an apartment and your name was not on a lease, and there was no standing agreement, what legal documents would be there to help you to stop yourself from being evicted.

None. He is trying to sound smart.

Is there any, or is he just blowing smoke. Half of me feels like he may have some "ace in the hole", the other half of me feels that he is just trying to sound all "legally minded" to try to get me to back off.

Back off.. Then on day 31 file in your courthouse. You may want to let your landlord know what is going on.

 

[ecmst12]

In NJ you need a reason to terminate a month to month tenancy. You would have been better off waiting until rent was late and then serving a pay-or-quit. After 3 times of being late and you serving the pay-or-quit, even if he paid before the notices expired, you might have a chance to evict for habitual lateness, but at this point you have no paper trail to prove he's been warned for the lateness.

I think you should DEFINITELY talk to a lawyer before you go any farther. You may have screwed yourself already. NJ has much stronger tenant protection laws then even California.

 

[Banned_Princess]

In NJ you need a reason to terminate a month to month tenancy. You would have been better off waiting until rent was late and then serving a pay-or-quit. After 3 times of being late and you serving the pay-or-quit, even if he paid before the notices expired, you might have a chance to evict for habitual lateness, but at this point you have no paper trail to prove he's been warned for the lateness.

I think you should DEFINITELY talk to a lawyer before you go any farther. You may have screwed yourself already. NJ has much stronger tenant protection laws then even California.

Not true, his reason is habitually late rent.

Ending a month-to-month lease. To end a month-to-month lease, or any rental agreement that does not have a specific lease term, you must give a written one-month notice before the month starts. You can then move out at the end of the month. Cite: S. D. G. v. Inventory Control Co., 178, N.J. Super. 411 (App. Div. 1981); Harry’s Village, Inc. v. Egg Harbor Tp., 89 N.J. 576 (1982).

For example, say that you have a month-to-month lease, your rent is due the first of every month, and you want to move on June 30. You have to give the landlord a written notice before June 1 saying that you will be moving out as of June 30, and you will end your lease at that time.


. Paying rent late month after month (habitual lateness)

Notices required:

Notice to cease.


Notice to quit—must be served on the tenant at least one month before filing the eviction suit.
Comments:

The notice to cease must demand that the tenant stop paying rent late.


The tenant must continue to pay rent late at least two more times after receiving the notice to cease. Cite: 534 Hawthorne Avenue Corp. v. Barnes, 204 N.J. Super. 144 (App. Div. 1985); Tower Management Corp. v. Podesta, 226 N.J. Super. 300 (App. Div. 1988).


If the tenant pays rent late after receiving the notice to cease, the landlord must keep providing the tenant with notices that paying rent late violates the lease. If the landlord does not give this notice every time the landlord accepts a late payment, the landlord can lose the right to evict the tenant. Cite: Ivy Hill Park v. Abutidze, 371 N.J. Super. 103 (App. Div. 2004).

SIR!! Did you read the landlord tenant law I told you to at the beggining of this thread?????


Did the notice you sent him state the reason is the late rent and the non payment of rent??

Go over the law again. You may have to start again.

 

[ecmst12]

He won't be able to PROVE habitually late rent unless he's been serving pay or quit notices every time.

OP needs a lawyer.

 

[Guitarmonster]

The notice to vacate says that he is being asked to leave because of the following reasons:

Habitually late on rent payments

failure to pay security deposit.

When he moved in, he did not have his half of the security deposit, so I told him he could give it to me in payments. Every time we made an agreement for him to pay he would end up breaking it. He always had a reason why he couldn't pay, or he would give me a small payment (like $25). At the same time, I watch him walk in the door with takeout from Wawa or other restaurants. I don't understand how someone who just can't pay a $450 security deposit has the gall to walk in with takeout from a restaurant. I go grocery shopping, since that is much more economical. At this point he still owes $100 of the security deposit, and every time I ask him about it he gets angry and starts yelling, saying "stop harassing me about this". In my opinion he has never had intentions of paying the security deposit. Also right now he is currently behind on his rent, he has been for over 1 month.

As far as needing a reason for him to leave. He is not on the lease, but I actually have to have a reason for him to leave, other than I just don't want him anymore. Does that also mean that my landlord can't decide that he wants to rent the apartment to someone else, and wants me to leave? The reason why I ask is years ago I had a landlord that served me with a notice to vacate, there was no reason put on there. I called a lawyer and the lawyer said that the only thing he could do is possibly (not probable) buy me some time. The lawyer actually told me that he would prefer to not take my money because he felt there was not much he could do. I ended up trying to fight it and I was told by the legal aid from the courthouse that there was nothing I could do. I just find it hard to believe that a tenant can just decide to stay indefinitely and the landlord can't do anything about it.

 

[ecmst12]

Yes, you are also protected from your lease being terminated for no reason, with a few exceptions which may or may not have applied to the situation back then. Too late to do anything about it now of course.

If he is RIGHT NOW behind on rent, then you should be serving him a pay-or-quit RIGHT NOW. It will be a lot easier to get him out that way.