10 Sep Can I kick out my boyfriend?
Photo:melodi2 /morguefile.comQ. Can I kick out my boyfriend? I’m the only owner of my house on the deed, but my ex-boyfriend lives here and paid half the rent until he lost his job in January. He hasn’t paid a penny, and we broke up. How can I kick him out or get him to pay?
A. This is now officially a landlord-tenant dispute.
Because your boyfriend was paying rent — at least until he lost his job –he can be said to have acquired the legal status of a tenant, said Anthony Vignier, a Kearny-based attorney and certified financial planner with Vignier Investment Group.
Vignier said you should consider bringing a cause of action in Landlord/Tenant court in the county where you live, and try to have him evicted for nonpayment of rent.
The forms and other helpful information can be found in on the court’s website.
“Hopefully this will work,” Vignier said. “If you successfully acquire a judgment of possession, a constable will lock him out.”
If the eviction does not work, you should see a lawyer.
“You do not want to `kick him out’ as you can be charged with a misdemeanor offense if he can prove that he is a tenant by producing bills, proof of rent payment and correspondence showing he lives there,” Vignier said.
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This story was first posted in September 2015.
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