Roomate not paying rent

I have had a roomate renting one room in my house in CA for 3 yrs. Every month it is a struggle to collect rent. At this time she is 1 month behind in rent and 3 months behind in utilities. I am a single woman and due to increasing house payments am forced to have a roomate to enable me to make my house payments. Her refusal to pay in a timely manner puts me at extreme risk of losing my home. When she moved in we had a signed rental agreement. She claimed she lost her copy and needed to borrow mine for a court hearing she was involved in. Against my better judgement, I loaned her mine. It was never returned. I gave her another to sign but she has refused. I would like to give her a 3 day or quit notice but I am afraid she will vandalze my house if I do. I am not able to take the time off work to protect my property. I am also afraid I have no legal recourse since I have no signed rental agreement. What legal rights do I have to reclaim my property and get this woman out of my house?

You don't need to have a written lease to gain rights as an owner. It would have been nice to have it, but since it was lost you can merely attach a paper to the eviction paperwork stating such. It really doesn't matter since she hasn't paid rent. When she next pays, apply any payments received towards the utilities owed, not towards rent, and give her a receipt saying so. Do not accept any rent until she has caught up on all utilities.

You need to read the CA LL-Tenant laws. Especially read CA Civil Proc. Code 1161(2) which deals with eviction. You need to serve her with a 3 day pay or quit notice. If she doesn't pay up in full by the end of the 3 days*, do not accept any more money. File eviction against her. *The 3 days may not include the day it is served, holidays, or weekends in many states. Ask the clerk of courts if this is the case there and ask what the proper method of service is (handing it to her, having it served by an impartial party, regular mail, posting to the door of the unit, or certified mail. You MUST be sure you serve the notice in the correct method.) Keep a copy for yourself in a safe place away from the house (maybe in a locker at work or in your glovebox?).

To protect your property from damage, take dated photos of everything now and keep the film in a safe place (again- at work or a trusted friends?) If your camera does not date the pics, have it developed and have the developer date the pics. This will show the condition of all things before she was served. After that, you can prove she damaged the things and sue her for these damages.