My son is 42, lives in my garage since my basement was flooded, pays nothing, has 2 dogs, uses all my utilities, eats my food, he has no job and said he does not intend to get one, does not help me with the bills,does what he wants here, as if it was his stuff and his house, takes my things without asking etc. How do I get him out, have told him he has to move by Oct 1 to his girlfriends new apt when she moves Oct 1. I am in New Jersey. Please help! Oh yes and his dogs pee and poop inside garage and outside.

Hello not:

You have to evict him pursuant to NJ landlord/tenant laws. We have a copy of them on a sticky at the top of the real estate page.

excon

If you want him out that bad, he has no legal right to be there. Kick him out and don't let him make you feel guilty for it!

Lock the door for one thing. Why do you let him in the house?
I doubt that his girlfriend's landlord will allow the dogs, so you are going to have to be really firm and heartless. Write him a letter to go along with the formal written notice to vacate the premises, followed by eviction. Tell him you will always love him but that he has no consideration for others or sense of responsibility and you are sorry that you allowed yourself to allow him to be that way.

Ok, this is in the children section, he is 42 he is a grown man.

But he lives in the garage, so lock the house doors, do not allow him in the home, he can stay in the garage. You have no obligation to feed him.

Then you give him notice to move out, if he does not move out in 30 days you evict him in court.

Since this isn't in the legal section, I'm not going to offer legal advice, mostly because I have none to offer.

Having said that, there are legal steps you do have to take to completely get him off your property, and I would suggest that you take all those steps in order to protect yourself.

But, if it were me, I'd kick his butt out.

I like Chuck's suggestion. Lock the doors to the garage. If there's heat in the garage, turn it off. No food, no water, no use of the bathroom. If he trashes the garage, call the cops on him.

He's not a child. He's older then I am! He can choose not to work, but he can't choose to make other people responsible for him. He's an adult. He has to fend for himself.

Oh, as a side note, I'd also change my will. He's shown what sort of person he is. Don't leave anything to him, he'll just squander it. Just my opinion.

I wish you the best of luck. This is not an easy situation.

I've moved this from the Children's forum, since it IS a legal question.

The problem with just kicking him out (changing the locks, shutting off the utilities, etc.) is that this could be considered an illegal eviction. He could then sue you for an illegal eviction. And NJ is a VERY tenant friendly state. Yes I understand he's not a tenant, but he does qualify as a resident, which makes removing him come under landlord/tenant law, not Family law.

Did you give him the notice to vacate by 10/1 in writing. If not you should do so. If he refuses to move by them, you will need to go to the local housing court and get an eviction order.

... have told him he has to move by Oct 1 to his girlfriends new apt when she moves Oct 1. I am in New Jersey ....


... Did you give him the notice to vacate by 10/1 in writing [?] If not you should do so. If he refuses to move by the[n], you will need to go to the local housing court and get an eviction order.

If your jurisdiction requires a 30-day notice to quit, and you did not give him notice in writing, you would have to give him 30 days from the date of the written notice. Thus, if you deliver it today, you would have to wait until October 5th.

And of course you cannot insist that he move in with his girlfriend. Whether he does that or not is between the two of them. You can only insist that he move out.

Yes, I hand wrote on a piece of paper, on Sept 30th and gave it to him saying, I want you out by oct 1st, you, all your stuff in the basement, garage and shed, and your car outside and your dogs. Did not keep a copy for myself though, was so frustrated, just wrote in on yellow lined paper and put it on his bed in garage.

I assume you meant Aug 30. That's fine. Make sure he's aware that if he's not out, you WILL file for an eviction order.

Scottgem, yes I meant I wrote it and gave it to him on Aug. 30th. Thank you for answering and everyone else.