Hi Newb with some questions.

[auroradiem]

My ex common law partner is currently living in a house owned by myself and my mother. I have been paying all utilities and mortgage since we broke up 8 mths ago. She changed the locks on the doors and refused to give me a key, while she was away I changed the locks. Her friend broke into the house and the police were called. The police indicated that she has the right to change the locks and prevent me from entering. I want to know if I am allowed to move my adult daughter into the house, if i can move back in and what is required to evict her from the property so that I can have use of my property again. I have our 15 yr old son living with me since January and would like the house back because that has always been his home. We are in Ontario. I am so confused because I keep getting conflicting information from law enforcement, and the advice I have gotten from advice lawyer and via a free lawyer consult have been polar opposites.

[NBDad]

Is the ex partner currently paying any kind of rent?

Were you actually "common law" (ie. 3 years living together and/or have a child together).

Are you current involved in any kind of court action respective to the assets?

Your situation is crossing into two different areas...one of common law vs. that of landlord tenant.

She changed the locks on the doors and refused to give me a key, while she was away I changed the locks. Her friend broke into the house and the police were called. The police indicated that she has the right to change the locks and prevent me from entering

Police are incorrect. You could show up with a locksmith while she is at work and have the locks changed. Nothing she can do about it.

Even treating this as landlord/tenant, you have a right to inspect the property as long as 24 hours notice is given.

Worse case scenario, move back in some day while she is at work. Hi honey I'm HOME Just make sure you have a voice recorder running at all times.

It's been 8 months so it could be a little dicey at this point, but technically you can do that. Expect her to run to a lawyer and try to get exclusive possession, but you could always counter with "I can't afford to pay all the expenses with this home PLUS maintain my own".

Your OTHER option is to begin eviction proceedings and treat this as landlord/tenant. I would have your co-owner do so rather than you initiate it. That should at least get her out in 30 days. (little less if you pay the fees to fast track it).

[good_mom]

NB Dad has some very good points.

If you do choose the eviction option. I would suggest that you go in and take pictures with a date stamp on it befor you start the eviction process.

This way if she causes any damage to the house you have proof of the stat of the house prior to the eviction.

[HammerDad]

One note - unless there is a restraining order restricting your from being around the ex, you are entitled to reside in your residence.

IMO - it may simply be easier to evict her.

Send her a notice for rent. Ensure that rent is fair market value and not some absurd amount. If she refuses to pay, you send an eviction notice.

You can also evict a tenant if you are allowing family to move in. So if you give notice to your ex that your adult daughter is moving into the house, and she has 2 months to vacate, you should also be able to get away with it.

Because she is common law (if she meets the test for being common law as set out by the posters above), she has little entitlement to the house if any. Common law is different than marriage and there are no automatic entitlements to the house.

I'd say she is in kind of a grey area, that she may have been common law and now she is essentially a tenant. So I would go the landlord/tenant route to get her out.

[Mess]

She changed the locks on the doors and refused to give me a key, while she was away I changed the locks. Her friend broke into the house and the police were called. The police indicated that she has the right to change the locks and prevent me from entering.

You inform the police that she does not own the house, you do, and she does not have the right to change the locks and prevent the owner from entry. The police were absolutely wrong on this issue. They are not experts in either family law or landlord tenant law.

Getting her evicted requires going through the Sherrif's office, and it can take months. You can save money by using a paralegal for this issue.

You should take her to civil court/small claims court to get payment for rent and utilities for the last 8 months. You can fill small claims yourself, it is designed to be simple for you to self-represent, or you can hire a paralegal for a fraction of the cost of a lawyer.

By beginning a small claims case, you are establishing her as your tenant, not your spouse. By beginning the process of eviction through the landlord tenant system, you are doing the same. You need to get this out of the family court system, it doesn't belong there, which is why the police gave you misinformation.

If you wish to have the house for your own use, you may evict a tenant on those grounds.

Once you start treating her as a tenant, she MAY wise up and just move on.

[auroradiem]

Common law applies to this situation. I have our 15 year old son living with me. She pays nothing at all towards the cost of the house. I do not take any money from her whatsoever. I gave her notice that she will need to leave the house soon as I was thinking about putting it on the market. She responded to that by changing the locks and refusing to give me a key (until she says the house is sold). After I put on the new set of locks she called the police. There has been nothing "official" yet in terms of court proceedings but I get whiffs of information that she is planning to accuse me of abuse. I would like to know if it is legal or even a good idea to move my adult daughter into the house while my ex is still there? It IS a very grey area. Ideally I would like to be back in the house before the start of the school year for our son. I have owned the house since 1977.

[good_mom]

My question is this...can he not go the police and file a report stating the facts of the situation, he ownes the house, she is has been a tenant for 8 months... and that he has been advised that she will put false charges against him?

[auroradiem]

Expect her to run to a lawyer and try to get exclusive possession, but you could always counter with "I can't afford to pay all the expenses with this home PLUS maintain my own".

I apologize if I am not using the quote function properly. My research indicates that exclusive possession is only available to married couples? I have further looked into it and POSSIBLY she may try under the pretense of saying that I am abusive and that she requires the home for her own use, even though we were never married. Our son lives with me, so it would be most convenient to me to have the house back. It got very ugly, very quickly when I got wind of the fact that she was planning to move a friend into the house without my permission or knowledge as a boarder. She also made plans with this friend to empty most of the contents of the house into a storage locker w/o telling me.

[auroradiem]

Slughead 10 how do I treat her as essentially a boarder if she is the only one currently living in the house? (That was the thought process behind moving my daughter back into the house.)

[auroradiem]

My mother who co-owns the house is very wary of her. When I messaged my ex about moving out she called my mother and blasted her on her voicemail. I will try to talk to my mother again to see if she would be willing to give the notice of eviction in her name.

[stripes]

Why would you even be thinking about moving your adult daughter back into the house while this very angry woman is still there? (I'm assuming that the daughter is not also this woman's daughter). That sounds like adding gasoline to a fire. Treat her as a tenant, go through the procedures necessary to evict a tenant in your province, and then think about who will move into the house once she is gone.

Slughead 10 how do I treat her as essentially a boarder if she is the only one currently living in the house? (That was the thought process behind moving my daughter back into the house.)

[Mess]

She is not your wife, you are not married, it is not a maritial home, she is not co-owner, she has no financial claim to the home.

She is living there alone, and not paying rent. How many times do you have to be told this? Evict her.

In writing, by registered mail, inform her that she owes you 8 months rent and you are in the process of eviction so that you may take possession of the property for your own use. You MUST do this, give her clear notice, as the first step in any legal process.

Once you have made this first step, go to a paralegal that deal with landlord tenant issues - since you have no exerience with this yourself - and pay $100 or so to get the forms filled out and the process started.

If she has a lick of sense she will start packing and looking for a new place. If she doesn't have a lick of sense, she will be out on the street as soon as you can get a court order into the hands of the Sherriff.

Just do it.

[auroradiem]

It was my daughter's idea to move into the house. I am looking at the eviction process now Mess. I am trying to determine whether I need to start from scratch as my previous notification wasn't an "official" eviction notice. I was hoping to get her out of the house before sixty days from Aug 1st but that's probably not going to be an option. I am not sure that the 8 months back rent option will fly as I never required her to pay anything on the house. I did not want to inadvertently set up a "tenant" situation with her. It seems that it's a "tenant" situation in any case.
Thanks for the advice. I will be looking for a paralegal on Monday.

[paris]

I think what people are saying is move back into the house, and then treat her as a boarder. You can get her out faster that way. It's your house. Your 15 year old son is with you? Is she not paying child support to you?

Leave your adult daughter out of it. You said you want the house for yourself and your son before he starts school.

[Mess]

I stand corrected on the issue of notifying her that she owes you rent. This would become a tenant contract. That isn't necessarily a bad thing; you would then have a fairly clear legal path to have her evicted on those grounds. There are more resources and skilled paralegals dealing with tenancy than with squatters, however the tenant eviction process can take months.

If she is not a tenant, then she is a squatter. There is surprisingly little information about evicting a squatter in Ontario.

What I have been able to find out is that the police will not act without a court order. It is a civil matter, not a family court matter. I strongly advise you to stay out of family court on this. The process will take longer and be far more expensive, and you may not be represented by a paralegal, you will need a lawyer.

Absolutely the first step you need to take is to issue her with a notice of trespass. Here is a link to draft Notice of Trespass form you can use as a template. http://www.eaba.ca/index.php?option=...download&gid=5

If you do not give proper legal notice, you can't get anything through the courts. You have to be able to show that you took proper steps to get the person out of your premises. For the most secure delivery, send it by process server and get an affidavit of service. Otherwise, use a courier if you know she will be home at certain hours, or Canada Post registered mail. You can send by Canada Post and indicate that signature is not required, this will USUALLY be acceptable as special service, but double check with a lawyer or paralegal.

My second step would be to then verify with an independant witness that she is still on the premises, and then swear a complaint with a Justice of the Peace. You now have enough legal backing to get the police to remove her as a trespasser.

The police won't act without a court order. In the circumstances of squatting - not landlord/tenant - you should be able to get an order within a few days.

The longer you allow this to go on, the more you are tacitly agreeing to her residence, and the more weight she has in her defence.

I would write something like this:

"I have informed you since (date of 8 months ago) that you are not allowed to continue living there. You have illegally changed the locks and refused to leave the premises. I feel that I have given you more than sufficient time to make other housing arrangements. You are trespassing and I am beginning legal steps to have you removed by the police. If you do not leave voluntarily I will press criminal charges."

The part I bolded is important. You should be able to show to the courts a valid reason for waiting so long to take action. By stating this you are indicating that you were trying to settle the matter out of court. Referring to having informed her 8 months ago will somewhat cover you if you don't have anything in writing from earlier dates.

With this letter you attach the formal notice of trespass form I llnked to. You must be able to show that you have taken proper steps to notify her.

This is the minimum, if you get advice to take other steps, by all means do so.