Can I tell a roommate that they can’t have a party on the premises?
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Can I tell a roommate that they can’t have a party on the premises?
This roommate has been given 30 days notice to vacate because of verbal abuse to me. Some items of mine have come up missing, but I can’t prove anything about that.
Asked on September 13, 2011 under Real Estate Law, Texas
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 13 years ago | Contributor
Does the roommate rent to you (i.e. is he or she a subtenant of yours; or do you own the property and rent out to the roommate), or do you both rent from someone else?
First, though, there is no eviction for "verbal abuse," and no right to generally say "no party" unless that was in a lease. There can be evictions for significantly bad conduct which disturbs the peace or violates other residents right to peaceful or quiet enjoyment, but this has to be fairly significantly bad behavior--not just the occasional party or some nasty name calling.
If the roommate rents from you, you could possible potentially look to evict the roommate for violating your right to peaceful enjoyment or disorderly conduct; or if the roommate rents a month to month basis, with 30 days notice you can either tell them you are terminating their tenancy or are proposing new lease terms (like no parties).
However, if the roommate does not rent from you, then *you* can't evict the roommate--the landlord can, but a co-tenant cannot. In that case, the best you can likely do is to notify the landlord of the problems and see if the landlord both believes there are grounds to evict and is willing to take action.
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