My brother owns a house with a basement apartment. He let a guy move in for a cash deal, no rental agreement or lease and no rent receipts. The guy hasn't paid any rent for 4 months. My brother has asked him to leave and turned off his cable TV. He has never paid towards any utilities and when he discovered his TV service was disconnected he has been banging down my brothers door, threatening to hurt my brother physically and threatening to vandalize my brothers vehicle and property. Can we get away with moving the guys stuff out and changing the locks when he isn't home?

Nope! It doesn't matter that he has no written agreement. He has established residency. I'm assuming he gets mail there and has it listed as his official address. As long as he can prove he lives there, he has to be evicted legally.

Changing the locks is considered an illegal eviction in most places and opens your brother for a law suit.

On the other hand, if he can prove he has threatened physical violence and property damage, call the police and get a restraining order against him. Then you should be able to arrange for him to remove his belongings.

Your brother needs to give the tenant a written notice requiring the tenant to leave the premises. The period in which the tenant must leave will vary depending on which state or country it is in, but in many places will be at least 30 days. If, at the end of the period the tenant has not left, your brother will have to file in court for an eviction order.

You said he has not paid rent for 4 months. So your brother doesn't need to give him 30 days. He can give him a pay or quit notice giving him 3-15 days to pay in full or vacate. Local laws dictate how much time. And since you neglected to give us a general locale we can't tell you how much time is needed.