Can you evict a housemate?

thillywabbit

Hello,
I recently moved out of home to go to college. I am renting the second floor of a house that has been converted into an apartment. It has two bedrooms and there is two people per room- so 4 tenants including me. (There are three other tenants who live downstairs) One of my housemates (other bedroom) is very disruptive and noisy- comes home at 5am slams the front door, shouts, forgets keys. She has woken up the tenants downstairs multiple times- they have got up and given out to her for her behaviour and asked her to be quiet.

I received a call from the letting agent yesterday saying that 3 complaints ("Anti-social behaviour") had been made against us by the tenants downstairs and I was told if there is another complaint that we will all be given notice to leave.

My question is: Is there a way for us to evict the noisy housemate and the rest of us stay? The other tenants bellow know that she's the disruptive one and have witnessed her making noise etc. and have never had any issues with me and the other two living upstairs. Would that serve as proof that only one of us has breached the contract??

Any help is greatly appreciated! I have never rented property so i know nothing about the legalities surrounding matters like this!

Lantus

If you are the sole lease holder and the other three are just paying you then lash her out on the street anytime you like after removing her of her key first of course.

If you all signed the contract together then you are all jointly severable which means her selfish actions will affect you. If this is the case you need to sit her down and explain the situation as best you can.

You may be able to have her removed from the lease but you may well need to find a replacement yourself and pay fees for contract changes. It could all take some time and the likely thing is she will not be too bothered about what happens to you if she is moving anyway.

Some tough love and harsh consequences may be required to ensure she doesn't put you all in the poo pile in the short term before you resolve long term.

thillywabbit

Lantus wrote: »

If you are the sole lease holder and the other three are just paying you then lash her out on the street anytime you like after removing her of her key first of course.

If you all signed the contract together then you are all jointly severable which means her selfish actions will affect you. If this is the case you need to sit her down and explain the situation as best you can.

You may be able to have her removed from the lease but you may well need to find a replacement yourself and pay fees for contract changes. It could all take some time and the likely thing is she will not be too bothered about what happens to you if she is moving anyway.

Some tough love and harsh consequences may be required to ensure she doesn't put you all in the poo pile in the short term before you resolve long term.

We all signed the contract jointly.
Would it be possible for me and the other tenants on the contract to lodge a complaint with the landlord? so it would be clear that nobody in the house is happy with her.

We've tried discussing this issue with them, but they dont care

thillywabbit

thillywabbit wrote: »

We all signed the contract jointly.
Would it be possible for me and the other tenants on the contract to lodge a complaint with the landlord? so it would be clear that nobody in the house is happy with her.

We've tried discussing this issue with them, but they dont care

What was her reaction when you brought it up with her and told her that her behavior is unacceptable?

tinz18

Did you know this girl before ye moved in together?

Rubberchikken

sit her down and talk to her.
if she's old enough to sign a lease, then she's old enough to suffer the consequences of bad behaviour.

Eldarion

Rubberchikken wrote: »

sit her down and talk to her.
if she's old enough to sign a lease, then she's old enough to suffer the consequences of bad behaviour.

Except they're all tied into the lease together and they'll all suffer the consequences of her bad behaviour.

OP if you've discussed this with the girl already and she has no intention of changing her ways then it's time to look for an exit. Take it as a life lesson and be very careful who you sign leases with in future.

biko

Bring everyone together and tell them about the complaints.
Then discuss what to do about it or you will all be homeless.

Make her understand that you may all suffer for her actions.

tinz18

biko wrote: »

Make her understand that you may all suffer for her actions.

Unfortunately there are some people out there that don't care about other people suffering for their faults. Definitely sit her down and drive home what'll happen. However I know when my friend was in a similar situation she had to go to the girls parents to get it resolved after talking to her several times- and this girl was 22 at the time and my friend was shocked she had to go to such lengths for common sense- some people have no shame. In future OP, always get an individually signed lease especially in the college years- there's always the risk of trouble makers or people needing to leave early because of dropping out etc.

Victor

Invite her for coffee. Bring landlord. Tell her she / her behaviour isn't wanted and you need her to move out.

Lantus wrote: »

If you are the sole lease holder and the other three are just paying you then lash her out on the street anytime you like

Reasonable notice is necessary. Reasonable becomes quite short for people engaged in anti-social behaviour.

The_Conductor

Victor wrote: »

Reasonable becomes quite short for people engaged in anti-social behaviour.

+1
Potentially it could be zero notice- depending on the extent of the anti-social behaviour.
If the landlord is going down this road- he needs to cover his ass three ways though- he'll probably end up at a PRTB tribunal to explain his actions- and where there isn't irrefutable proof- they tend to automatically find in favour of the tenant.

thillywabbit

tinz18 wrote: »

Did you know this girl before ye moved in together?

No i didn't

thillywabbit

biko wrote: »

Bring everyone together and tell them about the complaints.
Then discuss what to do about it or you will all be homeless.

Make her understand that you may all suffer for her actions.

We have done this and it has had little to no effect.

antoinolachtnai

It is really a domestic matter between the joint tenants who have formed a household together. It isn't really the landlord's problem. Don't expect him to resolve the problem for you or to mediate between you. You have to resolve it among yourselves. In the meantime you are each jointly and fully responsible in relation to the lease.

That said, if everyone but the one person is agreed that this person needs to move out, the best course could be to get the landlord to give notice in relation to the existing lease by reason of antisocial behaviour, and make a new lease which did not have the person responsible for the antisocial behaviour as a tenant.

Victor

antoinolachtnai wrote: »

It is really a domestic matter between the joint tenants who have formed a household together. It isn't really the landlord's problem.

Landlords are responsible to third parties (the neighbours downstairs) for the behaviour of their tenants. It has cost some landlords dearly.

antoinolachtnai

Sure, but the relationships between the joint tenants are of no concern to the landlord. The landlord only deals with the joint tenant as a group.

Mrs OBumble

antoinolachtnai wrote: »

Sure, but the relationships between the joint tenants are of no concern to the landlord. The landlord only deals with the joint tenant as a group.

That's the legally correct view.

But on a more pragmatic level, many LL's would want to resolve the situation without having to issue eviction notices. And IMHO that's the most civilized way to approach the matter, because it's likely to be faster and less stressful for everyone concerned.

antoinolachtnai

What role can the landlord play, really?

If the landlord becomes involved as a sort of referee, the outcome will not be good for the OP. The landlord will want to give the problematic joint tenant another chance.

It is not the job of the landlord to be a referee. The landlord is not a mediator for the joint tenants problems either. They have no role in the domestic arrangements of the tenants. That is not just a legal thing. It is a practical, commercial thing. It might be different if the tenants were paying some massive rent. But I'd imagine it's just a regular tenancy. It is a landlord's market, and there are other tenants out there.

If the joint tenant who is causing the problem has decided not to talk to anybody, I don't see what the landlord can really do anyway. He can't really impose sanctions or serve a warning on one tenant but not on the others. That's not the way it works.

It is really for the three agreeable tenants to sort out what they want to do and then approach the landlord if appropriate.

tinz18

I would say it depends on the circumstances of the lease whether the landlord gets involved or not. OP- you said that you didn't know the girl before you moved in or not- does that mean the landlord recruited the four of ye separately (then for some reason get ye to sign the lease altogether) and put ye in one apartment or did ye go to the landlord as a group?

B.A._Baracus

Sorry to hear your situation there, man. Talk about being stuck between a rock and a hard place.

It's very awkward because on one hand not only is the girl rocking the boat and stirring everything up. On the other hand, those tennants downstairs would sooner have all 4 of you's thrown out than just her. You did say three complaints were made and not just to her. So forget about them knowing she is the problem. They wouldn't care if you got evicted too.

Time to start looking for another place. Like best case is that some how she gets thrown out or leaves. You might think problem solved. But then you will still have three complaints. Any one of you guys comes in on a Saturday night just after having too many and makes a racket.... 4th and final complaint.