Roommate Issues.

[Zak T]

I live in Wisconsin. I Moved into this upper apartment Last December on the 7th. It's an upper and lower section of a house and I live in the upper. When we started renting it was only a verbal lease between my roommate, myself, and the landlord.

Soon after awhile, I grew tired of his childish ways. He obviously wasn't ready to live independently despite his age of 20. I am 21 and am more responsible than him by far. I went with the landlord's son who has been my friend for five years who favors me over him tenfold and got a lease printed out and had his dad, himself, and I sign it. Now that my roommate was not on the lease I felt more secure living here. I even built a lock on my door.

Now the questions I would like answered are as follows:
1. Can I chose to kick him out at any time considering we lived on the verbal lease for about two months until I had the written lease figured out?
1.1. or do I have to wait until rent paying day comes? or what day?
(My issue is because he has been harassing me everyday for getting a written lease behind his back. I'm sorry I had to do that but I couldn't trust sharing the apartment with him anymor. The constant people coming over, The lame excuses for his messes, the lack of effort he puts in to make the place look appealing was all very distasteful compared to standard home conditions.)
2.Is there any reason why the landlord would be involved?
3.Can I physically force him out of the house without getting into trouble?
3.1. If he gets kicked out by me and does something irrational like break the door and the police come over, would I be at fault for any wrong doing?

Thanks for taking the time reading this. I appreciate any help I can get.

 

[Silverplum]

I live in Wisconsin. I Moved into this upper apartment Last December on the 7th. It's an upper and lower section of a house and I live in the upper. When we started renting it was only a verbal lease between my roommate, myself, and the landlord.

Soon after awhile, I grew tired of his childish ways. He obviously wasn't ready to live independently despite his age of 20. I am 21 and am more responsible than him by far. I went with the landlord's son who has been my friend for five years who favors me over him tenfold and got a lease printed out and had his dad, himself, and I sign it. Now that my roommate was not on the lease I felt more secure living here. I even built a lock on my door.

Now the questions I would like answered are as follows:
1. Can I chose to kick him out at any time considering we lived on the verbal lease for about two months until I had the written lease figured out?
1.1. or do I have to wait until rent paying day comes? or what day?
(My issue is because he has been harassing me everyday for getting a written lease behind his back. I'm sorry I had to do that but I couldn't trust sharing the apartment with him anymor. The constant people coming over, The lame excuses for his messes, the lack of effort he puts in to make the place look appealing was all very distasteful compared to standard home conditions.)
2.Is there any reason why the landlord would be involved?
3.Can I physically force him out of the house without getting into trouble?
3.1. If he gets kicked out by me and does something irrational like break the door and the police come over, would I be at fault for any wrong doing?

Thanks for taking the time reading this. I appreciate any help I can get.

Sounds like you need to mature a bit more, also.

http://www.tenantresourcecenter.org/eviction

 

[Gail in Georgia]

"1. Can I chose to kick him out at any time considering we lived on the verbal lease for about two months until I had the written lease figured out?
1.1. or do I have to wait until rent paying day comes? or what day?"
What makes you believe you have the legal right to "kick" anyone out? (hint; you are not this persons landlord).

"2.Is there any reason why the landlord would be involved?"
Considering this is the ONLY person who can legally evict this roommate, yep.

"3.Can I physically force him out of the house without getting into trouble?"
Nope.

"3.1. If he gets kicked out by me and does something irrational like break the door and the police come over, would I be at fault for any wrong doing?"
Yep.

Gail

 

[VinFL]

Actually, what you and your landlord did is wrong and there is a possibility that the written lease may not be valid.

If you and your roommate entered into a verbal lease with the landlord, that verbal lease MUST be concluded before a new lease can be entered into. The landlord should have given you and your roommate a notice that he was ending your current verbal lease (usually with 30 days written notice). At that point, the landlord can then create a new (written) lease that begins the day after the conclusion of the verbal lease.

Even if you are having difficulty with your roommate, he still has rights as a tenant...and if you worked out a new lease with your landlord, you have an obligation to inform your roommate what is happening.

It also sounds to me like you conspired (or manipulated) your landlord into creating a new lease so that you thought you could strong arm your roommate out of the apartment. If that is the case, you are pretty heartless. It is a terrible thing to be displaced from your home. The least you could do is be up front with your roommate and tell him it just is not working out and you want to take over the lease starting the next month; and your landlord is OK with that...and the best you could do is to actually help him find a new place and help him move out when the time comes.