roomy

[southside]

ok i was in a situation a while ago.so i decided to take on 2 roommates to help out with my rent. now one was a friend and the other was not. all was going fine til my friend got on my nerves. he is a pig. and he smokes weed and cigarettes. i have asked him to leave by the 1st of may. the other guy can stay me and him get along well. this has caused a lot of tension in the apt. and on top of it all he (my friend) is saying that he has the right to charge me for leaving. i won't lie. i have no idea what my rights are. i know that i have rent control and my name is the only one on the lease. any advice?

[NYCkid]

Sounds like you did nothing wrong. Your name is on the lease. You are giving your roomate ample notice to find a new place. He is not legally (I assume) even allowed to live there. Your "friend" who is telling you to pay him should explain to you how he got this idea, especially since you are not telling him to leave (if I understood your story correctly).

Good luck finding new roomates.

[consigliere]

Unless your lease grants you greater rights, you have the right to have only one roommate under the roommate law.
 
To terminate the tenancy of the unwanted roommate, you should have a written notice of termination served on that roommate by a third party or a process server, in the manner that a notice of petition and petition are served in housing court.
 

[Chimera]

He can't legally charge you for moving out. Could he be asking to be paid off in order to leave? As consigliere noted, he must be served with a 30 day notice of termination. If he refuses to leave, you'll have to take him to court in order to get him evicted, which could be a lot of trouble.

[eastsidah]

Be carefull. If you are charging this guy over 1/3 the rent he can sue for the excess amount and recieve triple damages. It is also ground for eviction from a rr apt.