How do I evict a roommate that is not on the lease and won’t leave?
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How do I evict a roommate that is not on the lease and won’t leave?
Asked on August 21, 2015 under Real Estate Law, Wisconsin
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 9 years ago | Contributor
Who are you, and what is their relationship to you? If you are the main tenant and on the lease from the landlord, and the roomate rents from you--that is, he or she pays you rent or picks up some of the bills or pays a portion of your rent for you, then they are your subtenant and you are subleasing to them. In that case, you can file an eviction action if they have not paid rent or if there is no written lease between the two of you, they are a month-to-month subtenant on an oral verbal lease and you can give them 30 days written notice terminating their tenancy and to move out--and if they don't move out then, file an eviction action. You can get sample forms and instructions from your county court. You should be able to do this yourself, though of course, an attorney would help.
If they are not paying rent and you are the main tenant, they are your guest you can ask a guest to leave at any time. If they won't leave, you then need to file an "ejectment" action against them ejectment is "eviction for non-tenants," and while it's conceptually similar to eviction, it's somewhat more complicated in some ways, and you would be well advised to let a lawyer handle this for  you.
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