Tenant VS Subtenant

Hi all,
I have lived in a house for 2 yrs. I rent a room in this house without any contract and pay month by month. This entire house is rented by a woman who lives here more than 5 yrs. She offered this room to me. Every month I give her the rent and she sent to the LL. I have heard that there isn’t any contract between her and LL. Moreover she has been here before the current LL bought and this house.

In this house, there are 4 pp. (her son , another housemate and me). I have my own room only share kitchen, bathroom and laundry room. She and her son had moved to another place for 5 months without paying. At that time I and another housemate had to pay more than usual. Fortunately, LL decreased the rent for us. Then I found the new housemate but she moved out after 1 yrs. Then my old housemate and her son moved back again. The problem started.

Before she came back I was the person who take care everything in the house with the LL directly including paying the rent. When she was back, she took over everything. Moreover she acts like she’s in charge of this house. She has set the new rate for each room which benefits her. We had an argument about the rate. Finally I had to consent her because she said all her previous housemate accepted that.

Until now I think we can’t go along with each other. We just interact like the strange. But it doesn’t matter does it? The point is I want to stay in this house and don’t want to move to anywhere else.

Q: Can she evict me? If she can….Do I have any chance to fight?

Q: I just changed the new door lock in my room with the permission from LL. She asks me to copy my new key for her. Do I need to give it to her? Does she has the right to keep my room key?

Thank you for every advice.

I suggest you talk to the LL directly. Perhaps he will write up an agreement with you to rent the room. This would take the other roommate out of the picture since your agreement would then be with the LL, not the roommate.

If you sublet from the other roommate, the roommate can ask you to leave. Talking to the LL would clarify this. Get something from him in sriting to clarify your position.

If you sublet, you may have to give her your key becuase she is considered your LL. If you have an agreement with the LL himself, she is a roommate who is not entitled to a key to your area.