Housing issues / eviction

Although I cannot provide advice on your specific situation, I wanted to provide some general information on what options a person may have for getting an abusive partner to leave a home that both parties live in. First, if a person qualifies for an order of protection, s/he may be able to apply for one and ask that the abuser be removed from the home and that he/she stay away from the victim, i.e., the person remaining in the home. Depending on the facts of the case, a judge will make a decision as to whether or not this should happen. Here is a link that explains restraining orders in your state in more detail. [HYPERLINK TO RO PAGE]
Another possibility for getting someone out of a home may be through the housing court system. If someone is the only tenant on the lease of the house/apartment in which both people are living, the tenant may be able to take the other person to housing court to evict him/her. However, even if the other person is not listed as a tenant on the lease, s/he may be considered to have tenancy rights if s/he was paying a portion of the rent and/or acted as tenant in other ways. If someone is not considered to be a tenant but rather was staying in the home with the consent of the sole tenant, the person living in the home may be considered a “licensee” - which means that the person was invited (given “license”) to live in the home by the sole tenant. When a sole tenant wants the other person out, it’s as if s/he is revoking (terminating) the “license” to live in the home. In these situations, the eviction procedures may be slightly different than those for evicting a paying tenant. You may want to get legal advice from an attorney to figure out exactly how the law in your state would consider the legal relationship between you and the person who you want out of your home and the proper eviction procedure. Alternatively, the court clerk may be able to direct you to the appropriate forms.

[ADD THIS IF THE PERSON SAYS THEY ARE BOTH ON THE LEASE OR IF YOU ARE NOT SURE: However, if both people are on the lease, I do not know if the housing courts would assist with one lease-holder trying to remove another lease-holder from the lease. It may be possible that a lease-holder may be able to try to evict a roommate or occupant who is not on the lease but not evict another lease-holder. It may be the case that only the landlord could move to evict a tenant to remove his/her name from the lease. Again, I am not specifically knowledgeable about STATE’s housing laws and cannot say whether or not you may be able to utilize the housing court system. Hopefully a lawyer can advise you about this if you want to explore this option.]

I also wanted to mention that although I am not specifically familiar with your state’s housing laws, generally, in most states, a person cannot just “kick out” another person and change the locks once that person has lived in a location for more than a certain amount of time. If someone locks another person out, depending on the state’s laws, s/he could face criminal and/or civil penalties for “illegal eviction.”
It may help you to contact an attorney in your area with more knowledge about the housing laws. Here is a link to our Finding a Lawyer page for referrals, some of which may be free or low-cost if you qualify. [HYPERLINK]
[ADD THIS IF THERE IS AN EARLY LEASE TERMINATION LAW - LOOK AT THE LINK BELOW TO FIND HER STATE AND SEE IF THERE IS ONE: Also, here is some information about a law in STATE that allows a domestic violence victim to end his/her lease early if certain requirements are met - I am not sure if you were considering this or not but here is some information about it just in case from the National Housing Law Project. Please note that page [FILL IN] of the manual discusses the early lease termination law for STATE.]
Anyone who is trying to remove an abusive person from the home may want to make certain to consider his/her safety. If you may want help to think through how to try to accomplish your goal in a way that allows you to try to stay safe, you may want to connect with a local domestic violence advocate - here is a link for local organizations in STATE that help victims. [HYPERLINK]
Here, too, is some information on safety planning. [HYPERLINK]