legal question/housing

[matadorpoeta]

another one for the lawyers.

my friend lives in an apartment with her son. her mother was recently evicted from her apartment and had nowhere to go as she was paying unusually low rent and cannot afford to pay normal rent. so she moved in with my friend.

the catch is that they did not notify the owner of the building and the owner found out by chance. he wants my friend's mother out.

does my friend have any legal recourse to keep her mother with her?

it seems to me that if they simply offer the owner an extra $100 or so to cover the extra cost of water/gas the owner should not have a problem with an extra tenant, but according to my friend the guy is a jerk (though she didn't really answer my question of whether or not she offered him extra money.)

any thoughts?

 

[DNW]

Step 1: look at the rental contract. It usually stipulates who and how many people may live there. If it doesn't allow anyone else to live there, then your friend is SOL. The landlord might be an asshole, but it is his property and he--with few exceptions--generally has the right to specify who may live there.

Obviously, I cannot advise you on the law of your local jurisdiction on landlord/tenant matters. It's merely a worthless opinion commonly found on the Steez. TIFWIW.