Removing a Roommate From Your Lease

Only your landlord can take a roommate's name off your lease. That takes a written change the landlord signs, usually an amendment that releases the roommate or a new lease without them, and the landlord can make its approval depend on the tenants who stay qualifying to pay the full rent. If a roommate refuses to leave, your options depend on their status: you cannot evict a co-tenant who signed the lease, a subtenant who rents from you can be removed only through a court eviction, and in California an owner can remove a single lodger (someone renting a room in a home the owner lives in) with written notice. You cannot force a roommate out by changing the locks, removing their belongings, or cutting off utilities: a co-tenant has as much right to be there as you do, and a tenant who sublets is the subtenant's landlord and has to follow the same eviction rules as any landlord.

How does a name come off a lease?

A lease is a contract between the landlord and each tenant who signed it, so taking a tenant off changes the contract, and the landlord has to agree. Until it does, a roommate who moves out still owes the rent. California's tenant guide explains that even when a landlord approves a new tenant taking someone's place, the original tenant is released only by a written agreement among the landlord, the original tenant, and the new tenant.

Michigan Legal Help suggests that roommates who no longer want to live together ask the landlord whether they can end the lease early, change the existing lease, or move into separate units. For how to word and sign the change, see lease addendums and amendments.

What the landlord can ask for before it agrees

The landlord does not have to release anyone, and a release leaves it fewer people to collect the rent from, so it can set conditions. Ask for them in writing. They can include:

• Applications from the tenants who stay, with proof of income and a credit check showing you can cover the full rent without the roommate.
• An application from a replacement. In California, a landlord can charge an application screening fee to cover checking an applicant's credit and references. See adding a roommate to your lease for that side of the process.
• A new lease instead of an amendment. A new lease can come with a new rent and end date, so compare it with your current lease before you sign. Rent increases must still follow applicable limits: for units covered by California's Tenant Protection Act, the rent cap continues if any tenant from the prior tenancy remains lawfully in the unit, even under a new lease. If no one signs anything, the current lease stays in effect with the roommate still on it.
• A decision about the deposit. Ask whether the landlord will refund any of it now or keep holding all of it. If it keeps it, the roommates who stay or the replacement can buy out the departing roommate's share; what happens when a roommate moves out early covers that buyout and the final bills.

When the roommate agrees to go, put the move-out date and who pays their share until then in writing, send the landlord a written request naming the roommate and the date, and keep a copy of the release or new lease signed by the landlord and every tenant.

What you can do when a roommate refuses to leave

A co-tenant on the lease

"Roommates cannot evict one another," Michigan Legal Help says, because the eviction process is available only between a landlord and a tenant, and TexasLawHelp.org adds that only a court can order an eviction. Your options:

• Negotiate a move-out date. Michigan Legal Help points to mediators, including county Community Dispute Resolution Centers that may charge on a sliding fee scale.
• Report lease violations to the landlord in writing. Only the landlord can act on them. Michigan Legal Help warns that most leases make roommates jointly liable for each other's activities, so a case over one roommate's conduct can be filed against everyone on the lease.
• Wait for the lease to end. The landlord decides whether to offer a new lease to you alone. If the roommate stays, only the landlord can end their tenancy, and a just-cause law can stop it: California's Tenant Protection Act requires a listed reason to end many tenancies after 12 months, and a lease running out is not on that list.
• Get a protective order if the roommate has threatened or abused you. A court order can bar a roommate from the home even though they are on the lease. In California, if a court order excludes a co-tenant from the unit, you can send the landlord a written request with a copy of the order, and the landlord must change the locks at its own expense within 24 hours; the excluded co-tenant stays liable for the rent.
• Leave yourself. Ask the landlord to release you or move you to another unit; you stay liable unless the landlord releases you or a law gives you a right to terminate. In California, Civil Code section 1946.7 lets qualifying survivors of abuse or other covered crimes terminate without landlord approval by giving timely written notice and qualifying documentation. They generally owe no more than 14 calendar days of rent after notice.

If the issue is unpaid rent, see what to do when your roommate won't pay rent.

A subtenant who rents from you

If you are on the lease and the roommate pays rent to you, Michigan Legal Help explains that the payment probably makes you their landlord, and that when a landlord-tenant relationship exists, "you must use the eviction process to get that person out of your home." Notice alone does not let you end an unexpired fixed-term sublease; you need a lawful basis for early termination. Applicable state or local just-cause rules also require a permitted reason to end a tenancy; Berkeley applies these protections to subtenants who have lived in the unit for at least 14 days. If termination is allowed, give the written notice your sublease and applicable law require, and if the subtenant stays past it, file an eviction case. In Texas, only a sheriff or constable can carry out the court's eviction order. TexasLawHelp.org notes that your landlord may also be able to evict a subtenant, and that you generally remain liable to the landlord for the rent unless the landlord and the subtenant sign a lease together.

A lodger in a home you own and live in

California has a faster route. Under Civil Code section 1946.5, an owner who lives in the home and rents a room to a single lodger, while keeping access to all areas and overall control of the house, can end the arrangement with written notice. California Courts explains that notice generally follows the rental payment period, with at least 7 days: ordinarily 7 days for weekly rent or 30 days for monthly rent. Once the notice period ends, the lodger can be removed as a trespasser. The rule does not apply when more than one lodger lives in the home, and a lodger who disputes being a lodger may leave the owner needing to file an eviction case. In Michigan, by contrast, an owner who rents out a room is the renter's landlord and must use the eviction process, according to Michigan Legal Help.

A guest who never paid rent

TexasLawHelp.org explains that a guest who is not on the lease can be asked to leave without an eviction, but that a guest can become a tenant or subtenant, especially after living there continuously, contributing money, or using the address for mail. In New York, anyone who has lawfully lived in a unit for 30 consecutive days is protected by the unlawful eviction law described below.

Why you cannot lock a roommate out

Self-help eviction means forcing someone out without a court order, by changing the locks, removing their belongings, or shutting off utilities. Here is how the ban reaches roommates in three states:

• California: the state's tenant guide treats a tenant who sublets as the subtenant's landlord, and a landlord cannot cut off utilities, change the locks, remove doors or windows, or remove a tenant's belongings to force a move. Under Civil Code section 789.3, the tenant can recover actual damages plus up to $100 for each day of the violation, with at least $250 for each separate violation.
• New York: Real Property Actions and Proceedings Law section 768 makes it unlawful for any person, including a roommate, to evict an occupant who has lawfully lived in a unit for 30 consecutive days or has a lease, by force, by cutting off essential services, by removing their belongings or the door, or by changing the lock without giving them a key. An intentional violation is a class A misdemeanor, and each violation carries a civil penalty of $1,000 to $10,000.
• Texas: TexasLawHelp.org says that to keep a roommate out by changing the locks, you need the landlord's permission and must pay the cost, and that everyone on the lease, including that roommate, is legally entitled to a new key.

See also self-help eviction and why it's illegal. Before the next roommate moves in, set the terms for how either of you can end the arrangement in a roommate agreement.