I am a homeowner who shares 1 room to my sister for 5 months.and pay me $500.00 all bills paid. Oral agreement. However she became irrational and violent to the point of threatening to kill my family. I have the case no.of the incident. She is in the process of moving but we changed the lock. I'm usually home to let her in. She called the cop and the cop insisted that she has the right to have the key. What's our right to protect ourselves?

Moved from Forum Help to Real Estate Law.

Hello m:

You have the same rights as a landlord WITH a written agreement. It's just going to be harder for you to PROVE what's in there.

You tenant has the same rights too. That means she CAN'T be locked out. If you DO that, she can sue you for illegal eviction.

If you want her out, you need to evict her according to your state landlord/tenant law. We have copies of them at the top of the real estate page on a sticky note.

excon

excon is right mia. If she was staying there for free you could lock her out but since you have a rental agreement, you're stuck with having to go through the eviction process in most states.

Tell us what state you're in and we'll help you find the landlord tenant laws for that state.