Can We Force a Cotenant to Move Out?
My boyfriend, my roommate, and I have all lived together in a rental in NSW for the past year. It's become clear that we can't continue living together due to ongoing conflict and very different perspectives. My boyfriend and the roommate used to be close friends, but their friendship has completely broken down.
A few weeks ago, my roommate started dating a new girlfriend. I don't know her personally, but she's become involved in our disputes.
The main issue started when my roommate took my keys and moved my car without asking me. When I messaged him asking why he had done it, he became extremely angry. Since then, he's ignored both my boyfriend and me whenever he sees us.
Instead of resolving things with us, he involved his new girlfriend. Despite never having met me, she sent me a threatening Facebook message saying she was going to come to our house and fight me. I blocked her immediately and reported the message.
When my boyfriend and I told our roommate about the threat, he reacted with a laugh emoji and replied, "Well, you treat me like shit," before sending more messages defending and justifying what she had said. For context, the main thing he claims is "treating him like shit" is that we only allow a maximum of three cars at the house due to limited parking.
Since receiving that threat, I genuinely don't feel safe in my own home. Our roommate himself didn't make the threat, but he openly defended it and dismissed our concerns.
All three of us are named on the lease. He has said he intends to move out, but we don't think he actually will because he has accumulated a large amount of belongings and tends to hoard things. We recently followed up asking about his plans, but instead of answering, he just sent back a meme.
My question is: In NSW, is there any legal way to require a co-tenant to leave in circumstances like this, where they didn't personally make the threat but defended and encouraged it? Or are we essentially stuck waiting for him to leave voluntarily?
Posted Jul 30, 2026, 2:13 PM UTC