Sharing a home with roommates can be beneficial for a lot of different reasons. While sharing a space can help reduce certain expenses, many complexities can come with having roommates. Issues such as a roommate’s guest overstaying their welcome may come into play, but what can you do about it?
You can legally kick out your roommate’s guest if that kind of situation arises. Anyone who is not on the lease can be legally removed from the property, especially if the situation has become volatile.
In this article, I’ll be going in-depth into the rights you have as a tenant, as well as how to handle certain situations involving roommates and their potentially unwanted guests. If you’re interested in learning more about this topic, keep on reading.
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How to Handle Unwanted Guests in Your Space
As I stated above, you are legally allowed to kick out any unwanted guests from your home. If you have a guest staying temporarily in your home who has outstayed their welcome, they can legally be asked to leave if their name does not appear on the lease.
Below, I’ll explore how you can handle guests in your home that have outstayed their welcome, as well as the rights you have at your disposal in that kind of situation.
Give Your Guest a 30-Day Notice
Perhaps you have a guest in your space that is causing lots of problems, or perhaps they are not contributing to the ways they should, it may be time to ask them to leave.
If there is no written agreement between the tenants and the guest, you are legally allowed to kick them out as long as you give them a 30-day notice. The same goes for when a written agreement does exist between the tenants and the guests, and it has been broken, you are still legally allowed to ask them to leave.
Check Your Rental Agreement to See What’s Allowed
While you may want your roommates guest gone, your rental agreement between you and your landlord may not even allow them to be there, to begin with. It is important to check your lease before having recurring guests stay with you and your roommates.
Your property manager may notice if you have too many recurring visitors or tenants, and it is possible there may be existing restrictions that may cause your guest to be removed from the home.
Alert Authorities if the Situation Has Become Dangerous
In the case that a roommate’s guest has made your living situation feel unsafe or even dangerous, you can alert the authorities to have them physically removed from the home.
Seeing how they are not on the lease, you are legally allowed to remove them from your home, and you should definitely do so if the environment has become volatile. Seeing how the property is legally yours and not theirs, you have every right to remove them from your home, or have them physically removed by the authorities.
Anyone who does not legally reside in the house and refuses to leave has become a trespasser by law. You can easily alert the authorities that an unwanted guest is refusing to leave and is therefore trespassing.
What to Do Before Having Temporary Guests Stay With You
As I stated above, there are many ways to handle removing unwanted guests from your home that are legally justifiable. Below, I’ll explore some factors you should consider before allowing a temporary guest to stay with you and your roommates.
Have Open Discussions With Your Roommates
Before allowing someone to stay in your residence as a guest, it’s ideal to have open discussions with your roommates beforehand. Informing everyone how long this guest may be staying, as well as what this guest will be contributing, such as rent or any assigned chores, can be beneficial to the current tenants of the home.
Having these kinds of discussions beforehand saves everyone from a lot of discourse and confusion down the line, especially if everyone was not informed beforehand on how long this guest will be staying, as well as what this guest will be providing.
It is also helpful to have these kinds of conversations to ensure that everyone is comfortable with this new guest. Having these discussions, in the beginning, will save everyone from situations that may escalate down the line, such as asking a guest to leave the premises.
Create a Written Agreement
Creating a written agreement with your roommates and your temporary guest is key to keeping everyone accountable. It’s also a great way to ensure that your temporary guests understand the terms that are expected of them when they become a temporary tenant within your shared space.
Within this written agreement should be everything that is expected of everyone that lives within the shared space. This includes how much rent should be paid by each tenant, as well as any other chores and obligations that are expected of them.
It’s also crucial to state within the written argument that if any of these requirements are not met, the tenant or guest must leave the premises. Creating this kind of written agreement that everyone can refer back to can be beneficial to everyone, especially when obligations are not being met.
Understand What Your Landlord Allows
As I previously mentioned above, housing another occupant within your space may not be allowed, so it is important that you understand what management allows before you begin temporary housing a new individual.
If your landlord’s requirements aren’t met, or you begin breaking the rules, it’s a risk that could end in your landlord asking everyone to leave. Obviously, you don’t want this to happen, so it’s crucial that you abide by whatever rules and regulations your landlord has in place.
Your landlord may hold a limit in terms of the number of days that your guest can stay, so it’s important to be mindful of this. While some property managers may turn a blind eye, it’s still important to abide by rules that are in place to avoid confusion and frustration down the line.
It’s ideal that you let your landlord know when there will be a temporary guest living within your space. Keeping them informed on how many people will be living within your shared space, as well as how long they’ll be staying, is key to keeping everyone up to date on the situation.
Keeping your landlord up to date will also be beneficial to you if a situation were to arise where you want this guest gone. If your landlord is already fully aware of the situation, they will likely help you remove this unwanted guest from the premises.
Conclusion
In this article, I discussed whether you could legally kick out your roommate’s guest. Thankfully, you can legally kick your roommate’s guest out, seeing as how anyone who is not on the lease can be legally removed from the property. I also discussed what you should be aware of before allowing a guest to stay with you temporarily.
It is ideal that you give an unwanted guest who has overstayed their welcome a 30-day notice before asking them to leave the residence permanently. Before allowing a temporary guest to stay with you and your roommates, it is also ideal that you create a written agreement, so everyone knows what to expect.
Now you have all the information you need to protect yourself and your rights as a tenant.
