A woman I am subletting to is ruining my life, what can i do?

[josephus]

I live in Los Angeles California and my original room mate (with whom I share the lease responsibilities) died leaving me an expensive apartment and I am currently unemployed. I rented my living room out to a woman who seemed nice and drew up a private contract that explained rent terms and said that I could evict her with two weeks notice (i figure this contract won't be helpful but I mention it anyways.) Well she soon turned into a nightmare, never paying rent on time and always smoking pot in the house and later I learned to my horror that she was prostituting herself through craigs list to pay rent. Last month I left town for the holidays and relied on her to deposit rent into my account. I rented my own room out to a friend who I put in charge of collecting mail. He leaves the mail for her every few days when he gets it. Anyways she didnt deposit the money so I asked her family members listed on facebook for her fathers name and phone number but refused to disclose the reasons out of respect to her privacy. I got a hold of him and he got a hold of her and got her to pay rent however she freaked out and said she would be suing me for harassment. I said that was fine and gave her notice to move out by the end of the month via text message. This was on the 7th on the month. I contacted her again today (the 26th) to remind her and she said that she had contacted the post master to let them know that I had been withholding her mail (a very serious and untrue accusation,) that she had reported the fact that I Was illegally subletting my apartment (this is true to my knowledge as I never updated my lease but the on site manager was aware of it) and that she had a letter waiting for me from her attorney when I got home (on the 30th of the month.) I am deeply concerned about what to do and would appreciate any advice. Although my contract that I drew up with her states my right to change the locks if she doesn't pay rent by the 3rd of each month I'm guessing that I cannot legally do that without going through the long eviction process. So obviously there are a lot of questions within this question and any insight to any particular parts is greatly appreciated. My main points of concern are as follows:

What legal actions can she personally take against me?
What precautions (if any) can I take to protect myself?
What is the quickest way to have her legally removed from the apartment?

As I said from the start I am living pay check to paycheck and relying on both of my tenants to pay me on time to pay rent, I have close to no resources. Please help me, anyone! Thanks to everyone who takes the time to read.

[chadburne48]

Really?

First of all, smoking pot and being a hooker are illegal. Call the police on her. She can't do that in your home. Problem solved. She will be out of the apartment. Seriously. If the cops get called by someone else, you will both be in trouble because you knew about the activity (if it's occurring in your home) and did nothing.

Also, your have it written in black and white that you can change the locks if rent isn't paid. You don't also have to wait to evict her.

Um...she can't pay rent and is a hooker but has a lawyer? She's bluffing. She wants to scare you into leaving her alone and it's working. You need to start the eviction process and get your life back.

[ardwyad]

Plenty of mess happening here. When your roommate died, the lease was probably voidable. You should have tried to leave then. The lease was a contract between the landlord and the two of you. When one of you died, the lease could have been voided. You tried to keep the place. You said the landlord knows of the arrangements, right? Well as long as the money keeps coming in, it's not worth the trouble to change things.

The new roommate's personal stuff is irrelevant. You want to get rid of her, but don't want to go through the long eviction process. You wrote an informal (read "full of legal holes because I'm not an attorney") rental agreement, whose terms you want to use (the two-week notice) but don't want to use because it's not legal enough.

What legal action can she take? Anyone can sue anyone else, if they can demonstrate financial loss. She could take you to small claims court and say that you wanting her to leave is costing her X dollars. Might have a point.

You, OTOH, have the right to live only with those people you want to live with. There are tenant-landlord laws that give the tenant a lot of rights; there is an exception for renting your home. So you might force her to leave on that basis.

What precautions? Well, it's a bit late to lock the barn door after the horse has run away. You should have checked her out better. Being in a financial pinch doesn't relieve you from due diligence. I think it's a bit late for your due diligence. And since she's angry because she thinks you violated her privacy (going to her parents), you're probably not getting a lot of cooperation from her.

You're looking for the "legal" way to get her to leave. "Have her removed" is a bit royal of you, isn't it? You'll probably need a court order to get her to leave. The court order will require a court appearance. You need 1) a good case and 2) legal experience if you want that order. Nothing you've said indicates your experience, so you'll also need to hire an attorney.

You might consider the fact that you'll have to leave your apartment. Sure, you have a lease, but your landlord will understand that you can't afford it. As long as he rents it, you'll be off the financial hook. (If you've been there a year, there's a good chance you're on month-to-month anyway, unless you recently signed another lease, not the best thing to have done.)

Outside the legal process, you might contact this woman's parents again, and ask if they'll let her live with them. This will give her an alternative to staying where you are. Of course, the parents probably know more about her drug and prostitution habits than you do, so your chances of success diminish with their reluctance. If she leaves, you can try to violate residential codes once more by subletting the living room. I guess you knew what you were doing, but renting a two-bedroom place, having a tenant in one and another in the living room isn't really the best plan. This makes for an awkward living situation, probably violating several codes *and* the lease, and makes you too dependent on roommates for rent. Might think about calling your own parents, too. ... Good luck!