Hello,
I own 2.5 room townhouse (3rd room is small and includes the W&D in one of the closets), of which one room is rented out to a friend of mine (for over a yr). I started staying at my boyfriends most of the time so I decided to rent out my bedroom (moving my stuff to the small room), but always kept it as my primary residence (and only took clothes from the place, all of my furntiure is there, my mail goes there, I do not pay rent or have a lease anywhere else, and would stop by/spend the night occassionly). I found a girl who was a friend of a friend who wanted to rent a bedroom (agreement was to rent 1 br in the townhouse and noted that she would currently be living with my friend). There was no written agreement and she was a tenant at will. She notified me the day she moved in that she did not have all of the money (asked for first and last) and asked if a partial payment would be acceptable, to which I agreed (felt like I had little choice as she had moved her stuff in). After she was living in the place for a week, I found myself needing to stay at the place for the next couple of weeks, so I notified her (via email) that I would be around for a couple of weeks and would be using the small room, she was still to keep the bedroom we had discussed and asked if she had any issues with it. She did not say there were any problems, however, when the 1st came around, I contacted her 3 times over 2 days regarding payment to which I finally got a reply that "she can not commit to payments at the time due to the situation being different than what we agreed and that she can not afford to move out" and that she wanted to meet with me the following week to discuss. She had also borrowed money that week because her car got towed (her fault) and did not have the cash on her. With as much money that is on the line, I asked that she contact me that day to resolve and that I was not comfortable waiting til the next week (her withholding rent affects my livilood and quality of life). When she did not contact me, I sent her an email/text issuing her 30 day notice and asked for payment in 5 days (including the money she borrowed) or I would issue a notice to quit for non-payment.
She claims that she is a victim due to the fact that I "completely changed the terms of the verbal rental agreement." I understand it is different than her expectations, but to me, the agreement was to rent a room in an owner-occupied townhouse, which she is doing. I am under the impression I had the right to rent out the other room or find a new tenant if my friend ever moved out, without her "consent." It is the difference between renting a room in a place vs renting the entire place. I have only spent 4 days in the house, and offered to spend no additional nights there (and have not since this rent dispute started) if she would pay the rent (and borrowed money) she owes and move out at the end of the 30 day period, to which she has not responded.
I know MA protects tenants, but I want to know what my rights are as a landlord/owner. The complete withholding of rent and implied intentions of not moving out (which means that I can not rent it to anyone else), plus not paying back the borrowed money, filing fees to take this to court, and the fees I may have to pay to a lawyer is really overwhelming me. She is also trying to spin the situation by sending me emails like "Please be advised to stop sending me threatening texts/email," which stresses me out because I have never said anything even remotely threatening (I am well aware that as I landlord I have to resolve this through the proper legal process and that anything I send to her could be part of the court proceedings).
What can I expect the outcome to be in court if this goes before a judge? Do the same landlord-tenant rules apply to room renters in an owner-occupied property?