[o0ojeneeo0o]

I live in Ausitn, TX and I bought a brand new house last year and allowed my friend to move in with me. She does pay rent, but I never had her sign anything.

We've been getting into a lot of arguments and recently she went overboard and I asked her to leave. She refused and I had to call for police assistance. When the police arrived they told me that I have to give her 30 day notice because she's considered family or something because she does pay rent. They also said I have to go to court and file to have her evicted. I told her I was going to do this and she said I didn't have to and that she would just get a letter that I write notarized with me stating that she would be out in 30days.

I have a few problems here:

1. She has lived with other people before and when she moved out she started taking stuff, throwing things around and breaking mirrors and picture frames and such. What can I do if she does this to my home?

2. Her cat has become a huge problem. The litter box was originally in her bathroom but we got an additional roommate and they share a bathroom and the new roomy doesn't like the cat. I told her that she could leave the litter box in the downstairs bathroom because she knows I do not want the litter getting all over the carpet in any of the rooms. She has recently moved it into her room and has it on the carpet. Her cat likes to kick the litter out as well as her feces and smear it all over the ground. Her cat is also not spade and is currently in heat. She is leaving small amounts of blood on the carpet and my furniture. I asked her to leave her cat in her room, but she refuses. Can I make her get rid of her cat before the 30 days?

3. Thus far she is extremely rude to me and screams at me when I go into her room to bring her cat inside. She tells me that because the cat is her property I'm not allowed to touch her and she says that because she pays rent I am not allowed to be in her room at any time without her permission. Before all this craziness, she borrowed a lot of my clothes and I know she still has many of them in her room. How do I get this back from her? Is it true that I cannot go into her room even though it's my house and she has never signed anything?

Thus far she has not gotten anything notarized with me and she keeps telling me that she has to work so she has to sleep early or something. I can't even talk to her without her blowing up.

Please help!

Thank you in advance for your advise!

[froggy7]

Yes, she is a tenant, so you have to abide by the normal rules regarding landlord/tenant relations.

1. I'd keep an eye on her when she moves out. She can't destroy stuff that doesn't belong to her. Hopefully one of our actual landlords will give you some advice on this one. I'd hate to think that your only option is to sue for the damages, but it may be.

2. You can't make her get rid of the cat before the 30 days is up. The cat was initially accepted in the house, so you can't change the terms of the agreement without giving adequate notice.

3. This is tricky, and I will leave it to the experts. In my layman's opinion, yes, she can require that you give adequate notice before going into her room. However, she doesn't have a right to steal your possessions, which is linked to the first question.

And one thing that you are missing is that this is a two-way relationship. She is on a month-to-month tenancy (assuming that she pays monthly and not weekly), and that tenancy can be changed by either side with 30-day notice. (Generally the 30 days goes from pay period to pay period, so if she pays on the 1st of the month and you gave her notice today, it wouldn't take affect until August 1st. However, since you two have a less-formal arrangement, you may be able to get by with a strict 30 days.) So you give her a written letter stating that the rental is not being renewed after 30 days, and she will have to move. Then, if she doesn't move in that time, you can take her to housing court for an eviction. The notice has to be written, but I don't think that it needs to be notarized.

[Fr_Chuck]

Yes, you did not think you could just throw her out did you?
She rents from you, so you have to give her notice and evict her.
You need to give her a written notice if you have not, if she talked you out of doing that, she just bought time from you.

1. if you knew she had trouble before, I have to say your choice to let her move in was sort of poor, I hope you got a large deposit when she moved in. If she does start to destroy things, then you call the police.

2. she rents from you, no you can't just walk into her room, you would not want her just walking into your room?
If her cat is causing damage you can withhold that damage from her deposit, and if that does not cover it, sue her for the damages, be sure and document all damage

3. it is "your" house, but her room is "her" room, it is not your room and you have no right to go in without proper notice. You can give her a 24 hour notice that you will inspect the room.