I had a young lady and her 2 puppies living with my family in my home for the last 13 months. I gave her 48 hours to move out after 6 weeks of an unresolved problem. I am suing her for damages in small claims court. She is now suing me for wrongful eviction. Should I be concerned about the countersuit? What recourse could she have against me?

Well, you didn't say what state you're in. Nor did you say if she was invited as a guest, if she was paying or supposed to be paying rent, etc.

In the first post in this forum is a link to each state's landlord/tenant laws. You should be able to find how your state defines a "tenant" and tell if she falls into that category. If she does, then yes, her case probably has at least some validity.

Without more details it's just hard to say.

I live in PA. I knew her already. She had some problems at home.She is a college student who I charged $250 a month to stay with me. Same as my college student. She ate, participated in all my family things. The puppies have done a lot of damage. That is where the problem has escalated. I tried to talk to her about it for weeks. I sent numerous letters to her. That's when I finally asked her to move out. (She had already moved a lot of her things out).

If she was paying you rent then she was your tenant. If you meant to, or not, you created a month-to-month tenancy with her, and technically to get rid of her you should have given her the necessary notice to vacate, effectively ending her tenancy. Or to evict her you should have followed the eviction procedure in your state/county.

If she voluntarily left just from you asking her to and you didn't physically set her things out, change locks, "threaten" her in any way, then you may be able to defend against the countersuit. I'd think a lot would depend on how landlord-friendly or tenant-friendly the judge is. The judge should be using your state's landlord-tenant laws as the sole basis for deciding on your case for damages and her case of wrongful eviction, so that's what you should study up on.

Karla in TX

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Originally Posted by andrewsfox

I gave her 48 hours to move out after 6 weeks of an unresolved problem. I am suing her for damages in small claims court. She is now suing me for wrongful eviction. Should I be concerned about the countersuit? What recourse could she have against me?

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Yes you should be concerned. You established a landlord/tenant relationship with this person. Therefore, you were required to follow the law in terms of terminating that relationship. In terms of a month to month tenancy, notice equal to one rental period is required. Whether she left voluntarily or not, is probably not going to sway a judge. The fact is you ordered her out without sufficient notice.

Now, what recourse she may is not going to be much. She may be able to recover moving costs and any differential between the rent on her new place and what she paid you.