Hi,

I live in Fort Lauderdale, Florida and I own a condo. I took in a roommate since April 2007 to help with my expenses. She signed a l12-month lease. There has been some tension these past few months. She has access to everything except my bedroom and my bathroom; she has her own bedroom and bathroom. She has a boyfriend whom she swears only comes from Friday night until Monday morning, although that is not true. Nevertheless, regardless, he is there more often than I can for and enough to breach the lease. They each take at least 2 showers a day when he is there -which is at least 4 nights a week. She cooks big meals for him which uses up a lot of electricity. She uses my dishes, cups, pots, pans, and silverware, among many other things, which I would not mind if she actually washed them properly. She often bangs the doors in the condo, and this happens even more when her boyfriend is there, which is almost all the time.

We just had a discussion about these issues, although I had pointed out before, at different times, all the aforementioned issues and more. She does not seem to want to take responsibility for her wrongdoing. She says that her boyfriend will only come during the weekends but then again, she had claimed that he had been coming only during the weekends anyway... She says that she is doing better in terms of the cleaning. I did not bring up the option of her having to leave; she brought it up on her own. Now, she put me in a position where I have to take the decision of whether I want her to leave. Also, she believes that she is entitled to her security deposit, however, it is my belief that she has breached the lease many times over.

What are my recourses? Can I evict her? Is she really entitled to her deposit? Thank you in advance for any feedback that you can provide.

If you are counting showers, and timing how much they cook, you do not ever need to have a room mate. Or need to have figured that people have other ways of doing things, for example, I would always cook a full mean for supper ( big meal) and a morning and evevning showers are very normal for a lot of people.
I doubt if any of those are any breach what so ever. As for as the boyfriend being over, is that listed in the lease, when overnight guests can be there ? The number of nights per week ?
If this is in the lease and they are breaking that, you need to give her a formal warning, and if she continues, you can evict her for it.
And merely breaching the lease does not mean she loses her deposit, unless you have a monetary loss from daamges she does.

I have to agree with the above response, although I have been in your position. Your 'uncomfortableness' is not a breach of the lease. You need to become more flexible to others differences or do not rent your condo again.

I have to agree entirely with both previous answers.
I’ve worked with similar cases, and it's clear for me that you should consider being more flexible or, definitely, living alone forever. Different people have different habits, and it’s clear that you’re not prepared to live with a roommate or any other person.
Based on your description of the situation, you don’t have any kind legal argument. Your roommate definitely should receive her security deposit back and the most appropriate solution is for you to pay her security deposit back and after that live alone (or find a person that meets exactly your “cooking”, “boyfriend” and “shower’ requirements).

One more thing that I thought of. IF you decide to rent again (which I strongly suggest you consider carefully), you may want to consider a 'guest clause' in your lease. It is ALWAYS tough having someone in your house, using your belongings, but that is why she is paying your rent and why you have a deposit. Try and look at it as a business arrangement and maybe you can have a more neutral perspective. Also, read the deposit clause in your lease for the limitations on what you can and cannot use those monies for. Hope this helps!

Is there a breach in the lease? That depends on what's in the lease about overnight guests. What bugs me here is her claim he's only there on weekends. Since you live there also you should be able to know when he stays overnight.

If the lease started 4/1/2007 then you have less than 3 months to go. Unless you can absolutely prove a breach of the lease, I would simply inform her that you will not be renewing the lease and that you will expect her to be out by 3/31.

As for her security deposit, you have no grounds to keep that either way. The purpose of a security deposit is to protect the landlord against damage by the tenant. It can, in some states be used to cover unpaid rent. So, on the day she hands over her keys, you do a walk through and note any damages. You then repair them, deducting the cost from her deposit and return the balance.

Complementing Scott's answer, since you live in Florida, another solution would be to let your roommate use the security deposit as the payment of the last rental (or even the next one if you want her to leave earlier than the contract). I've worked with many cases where this was the best solution, since the landlord did not have the money to pay back the security deposit in the last month.
Or, if you have the money and does not want her anymore at your place, pay everything to her and start searching for another roommate - but remember: change completely the next contract so you can include all your specific requirements.