Tenant-Tenant not on lease dispute

[Stevebe33]

My roommate moved out of our apartment in July 2009. We have seperate leases which he still pays even though he is not currently living in the apartment and I pay monthly that end in May 2010. He found a person who agreed to take over his lease after getting approval from the property manager at our apartment complex. The property manager approved her application. She moved in during October and since that time has not signed and officially taken over the lease. She had her address changed and began having mail sent to our apartment and put the internet bill in her name at the beginning of December. She has not paid my roommate, me, or our apartment complex any rent and has not paid any bills which we agreed to split. My ex-roommate, who still has the lease in his name, and I agreed that she needed to vacate our apartment. Last week I told her she had to leave because she had not signed a lease, paid any rent to anyone, or any bills. I gave her until the end of the day to move her things out and I had the apartment complex put new locks on the front door and my old roommate had a pad lock put on the door to his room which she was staying in. Is there any legal action she can take against us for kicking her out? Does she have any rights to the property which she left in our apartment and was not able to take at the time we wanted her to vacate the property?

 

[Gail_in_Georgia]

Good lord. You've just done an illegal eviction on this person. Not only was this an illegal move on your part; you had no business doing this in the first place.

Only the LANDLORD can initiate the process of eviction and even in that case, THEY cannot evict anyone. Only a court can grant an actual eviction.

This person could, quite frankly, sue the socks off the both of you.

Gail

 

[Stevebe33]

The landlord changed the locks and told me that I was responsible for telling them to leave. If what I did was illegal why did the landlord have no problem changing the locks? They were never tenants because they never signed a lease after being requested to do so on several occasions. Since they weren't legal tenants how was the landlord supposed to collect rent from them-the old roommate (who now lives in Texas) was still legally bound by the terms of the lease he signed which clearly states he cannot sub lease but must complete a lease takeover. They have no rights and are not tenants which is why the landlord had no problem changing the locks and I am sure they know the landlord-tenant laws in VA.

 

[jacksgal]

No I am sure they do not know the laws! If they did they would know this was an unlawful eviction

 

[Stevebe33]

No I am sure they do not know the laws! If they did they would know this was an unlawful eviction

I just looked up the Virginia Code for this and this is what I found:

"Tenant" means a person entitled under a rental agreement to occupy a dwelling unit to the exclusion of others and shall include roomer. Tenant shall not include (i) an authorized occupant, (ii) a guest or invitee, or (iii) any person who guarantees or cosigns the payment of the financial obligations of a rental agreement but has no right to occupy a dwelling unit.

"Authorized occupant" means a person entitled to occupy a dwelling unit with the consent of the landlord, but who has not signed the rental agreement and therefore does not have the rights and obligations as a tenant under the rental agreement.

"Guest or invitee" means a person, other than the tenant or person authorized by the landlord to occupy the premises, who has the permission of the tenant to visit but not to occupy the premises.

So correct me if I am wrong, but what I am reading here states that in order to be considered a tenant and be granted the rights and obligations of a tenant you must sign a rental agreement. If they are considered anything under the law they are at most "authorized occupants" which is a stretch because our leases clearly state that subleases will not be permitted and even so, they are not granted the rights and obligations of tenants. So they had no rights to be considered and I did nothing illegal by telling them to leave. If I am interperting this incorrectly please let me know. I am curious what you are basing this being illegal eviction on?

 

[mightymoose]

Steve- you are correct, the person not on the lease does not have the same rights as a tenant, however, that person must be evicted the same as a tenant.

 

[Stevebe33]

Why would they have to be evicted the same as a tenant if they do not meet the standards of a tenant under Chapter 13.2 - Virginia Residential Landlord and Tenant Act? Why would they have to be evicted the same as a tenant who legally occupies the property when they have no legal basis to be in the apartment?

 

[jacksgal]

My roommate moved out of our apartment in July 2009. We have seperate leases which he still pays even though he is not currently living in the apartment and I pay monthly that end in May 2010. He found a person who agreed to take over his lease after getting approval from the property manager at our apartment complex. The property manager approved her application. She moved in during October

This made person a legal tenant regardless of lack of paperwork. At very least this person is a "tenant at will"