Legal question: Screwed the pooch

Factual Questions
1

What? No, that’s not what I meant, you sickos! Why would you even open a thread with this name if you thought I meant…? You’re sick.

What I really mean is that I rent a room of my house to a tenant. I guess that makes her a boarder, 'cept I don’t buy the food or anything. Utilities are split 33/33/33 with us and the other roomie. I told her when she moved in that no pets were allowed. Her dog, long story short, has shown up anyway. It started puking on the carpets, and so now I’m evicting her. Well, that and her attitude toward my reaction to it (“I don’t see why you’re so upset. It’s not a big deal.”)

The catch: There’s no lease. So I have multiple questions here.

  1. I told her she has til the end of the month to leave. That was at least July 30th I said that. How do I make sure the dog isn’t here for that month?

  2. Should I type up an eviction notice and slip it under her door? If I do that, I’ll mail myself a dated copy for evidence. The other guy is moving out with her, since she’s a good lay, apparently. Should I give him one too? Do I need a lawyer or someone to do it? If so, the problem is, then, that she could claim a 30-day window or something from the date she’s served. I want her gone now!

  3. I can prove the date she moved in (and thus must be gone by) by finding a receipt for the Uhaul she rented to move. I’m sure that would convince a judge in a he-said-she-said battle. How can I get the UHaul company to give me one? Farse or legal force somehow?

  4. Her arguments. Which of the following hold any water and/or how should I react? “Show me in the lease where it says I can’t have a dog.” “I’ll just squat here then.” “Touch my dog, I break your face.” “I rent from the 15th to the 15th. I pay you on the 7th because you don’t cash the checks for over a week!” In reality, she pays on the 7th for the 1st to the 1st.

Help, people!

2

See here for laws in your state.

3

You own the house?

IANALawyer, but it’s not clear that you’re in a landlord-tenant relationship, if you’re sharing the common spaces and there’s no lock separating her (and his) rooms from the rest of the house. It’s possible you can just throw her out at any time.

But at any rate, I’d try to get some kind of voluntary agreement – if it escalates too much, you both lose, but you’ve got more to lose than she does (though she really needs to understand that you own the house, and that’s who the cops are going to listen to first.)

I’m not sure you’re going to get the dog out before her, though. Keeping the peace is probably more important. You could ask her to clean the carpets, but good luck with that.