roommate advice

[heatherik]

I have been renting an apartment for 8 years and am on the lease. My landlord insists that roommates must be put on the lease as soon as they move in.
Without going in to details I will just say that I have a horrible roommate who is also on the lease and refuses to move. Are my only options to live with her or to leave my great apartment? Unfortunately it is a 5 year lease.

<small>[ April 01, 2003, 02:24 PM: Message edited by: emma ]</small>

[TenantNet]

You indicate this is a non-regulated unit. You are allowed under law to have roommates who are not on the lease (so don't let the LL tell you otherwise), but a LL could 'require' roommates to be on the lease in non-regulated units -- if you don't go along he could decide not to renew your lease. If rent regulated (check to see if you should be under regulation), the LL can't use that threat. In fact, under rent regulation if you chose to put a roommate on the lease, it would give the LL the option to give you a vacancy lease with a 20% increase. As for your situation, a five year lease can be good as it adds to your protections, but here it's bad as presumably the roommate has equal rights. If this person is on the lease, you can't force them out unless they fail to pay rent or are creating a [legal] nuisance.