| Support Center

Hello, I have a tenant who has not paid rent, I believe to have to give her a 7 day notice to quit, prior to giving her an eviction notice. She owes me money for rent, bills, damaged property and from other issues. What do I include in the notice to quit, and can I add other stuff in the eviction notice and/or do I need to go to small claims court as well? Thank you very much.  Here is a longer explanation of my situation: My daughter's mother has been staying at my house since September 2016. I had agreed to let her stay at my house for $300 (+ bills) a month, on a month by month basis (to see if it worked out)(no contract were signed), on the condition that she paid rent on time every month  and acts respectfully (she has struggled with substance abuse and been very abusive towards me in the past). She has been late in rent every month. She has yet paid the full rent for December nor has she paid January's rent. She constantly is making excuses to delay paying and not paying rent. She has damaged my belongings and property. Through their actions and behavior, she and her son have both caused great strain to myself and my daughter. We had agreed that she would pay the oil bill, if I paid the electric, water and gas bills. I have had to lent her 189.90 for the oil, that she still owes me. ( For the record: I barely use the heat (55 at night and 65 during the day max.), the water, and electricity as I am only home 3 nights a week. My ex-wife has been at my house 7 days a week. She also has her son there 1/2 time. They take many showers a day. They have the heat on at 78 degrees all day when it is 20 outside. She has refused to sleep with more then 1 blanket (she says she does not like the colors of the other blankets) so has the electric heater next to her on high all night. Considering that she uses the majority of all of the utilities, I thought that it was more then fair that she paid for the oil. This is something that we both agreed on. She is now telling me that it is not legal for a landlord to charge full price for the oil if there are common spaces. I am not sure if that is accurate. The thing is, I did pay $450 to get the tank when we first moved in, I then advanced her 189,90 for a 1/2 tank, She then paid 130 and I paid 100 for another 1/2 tank; so I did not have her pay for all of the oil.)  She also had me get an internet contract under my name (she could not use her own name because she owes them money), and has not paid me back for that either. The oil tank is running low again, and she says she refuses to pay for any more.     My ex-wife has a history of stealing from me in likewise situations (I have proof); this is nothing new and has been going on for the last 18 years. She is also very abusive. She has been  moving my things around at her liking. In the process, she has damaged many of my things and the housing unit. She threw out my bed, because she brought bed bugs in from her previous apartment building, and left it on my porch. I have had many items and some money stolen since she has been there (no proof). She also owes me $440 from a check (I wrote her a $700+ check for her yoga training in exchange for small checks she had that she wrote in my name and when I went to the bank the $440 check was missing (if it was lost, she could just request another from where she got it)), that she has not paid me back for in months. She also owes me $1900 from a beauty line that I invested $500 dollars in in exchange for 1/2 of the profit (she only paid me $100 out of the $2000 she owes me for that so far) When I told her to pay me back or I would take her to court, she said that if I took her to court she would get full custody of my daughter (she used to have full custody but we signed a joint custody agreement on front of a notary, which she now says is not valid). I went to court and believe to have to hand her a 7 day notice to quit, followed by an eviction notice (at least 30 days before the end of t

I would most definitely hire an attorney for this situation. GOOD LUCK!!!!