Can out tenant evict their roommate?
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Can out tenant evict their roommate?
We leased our house to 1 tenant and have a signed year lease. The tenant wanted roommates so all parties signed that 2 roommates had our permission to live there. A month later the tenant wanted us to work up a document that said the roommates would pay their share of the rent until the lease was up. The tenant and roommates signed it. Now the tenant wants to kick 1 of the roommates out. The roommate has not violated any of the lease agreement. Does the tenant have the right to kick out 1 of the roommates?
Asked on November 28, 2011 under Real Estate Law, Indiana
Answers:
FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 13 years ago | Contributor
The issue that I see is whether or not the one main tenant that you rented your home to has a sublease with one or more of the other tenants residing in your home or are you their landlord? If the subsequent tenants pay their rent to you, then you are their landlord and you have the say if they reside in the unit or not by evicting them or not.
If your initial tenant gets paid rent from the other two tenants directly in his or her name and you then get paid the rent, then there is a sublease in your home that is being rented and the initial tenant is essentially the landlord as to the other two occupants. Whether he or she has a basis for evicting the one roommate is an unknown since you have not stated the reason why the one roommate is desired to leave the premises.
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