We have an issue with a tenant that died about 3 months ago and never renewed his lease. The problem now is that his ex-wife(who hasn't been married to him or lived with him for 15 years) and her kids and grandchildren have all moved into the house right after he passed away. They have not and will not pay any rent for living there nor are they paying the Water bill which happens to be in my name. I have started the eviction process and we have a court date set for next week, what can I expect from all this? can they legally just occupy my house and not pay anything? Can I have the water shut off or switched to their name? Please help.

As far as the "no lease" aspect of things goes... the rules that apply to this situation are simply your state's landlord/tenant laws. See the first post in this forum and there's a link to each state's laws.

If no rent has been paid, etc, I don't see any possible way you could not get an eviction ruling against these people. As far as shutting off the water, see what your state law says. Unless it comes right out and says you can shut it off, I wouldn't risk it if you already have a court date set.

Hope that helps, and hope you get rid of the dead-beats ASAP!!

Karla in TX