I am the listed "resident/tenant" on an apartment lease in NJ. I do not actually live in the apartment, but rather have 2 other individuals living in it. In one section of the lease, these 2 individuals are actually listed as "Occupants". These 2 individuals are neither listed as "residents/tenants" anywhere nor did they sign the rental agreement. It was verbally agreed that the occupants would pay the rent since they would occupy the apt. But they have been late frequently enough to cause several eviction processes to commence, which were later halted by payment in full, either by them or by me. Note, these eviction notices were filed against ME, not them, since I am the legal tenant.

Question: How can I legally "evict" these problematic occupants from MY apartment and would this even be considered an eviction? The property manager insists these 2 individuals have no legal tenancy rights and that a simple note from me to remove them from the lease and a request to change the locks is all that is needed. Second, if it comes to that, how do I handle their personal belongings if they do not remove items from my apartment?

Hello NJ:

You are their landlord, and you must evict them per NJ law. You have the lease. They only have a month to month tenancy. Therefore, it just might be easier to give them a 30 day written notice. If they don't vacate, you file the papers. Who is going to question your authority? You ARE their landlord, aren't you?? You made the agreement with them, didn't you? That makes YOU their landlord.

Whether you legally could have rented to them, or not, isn't the issue. What's at issue here, is you DID rent to them.

excon