Roomate wont pay rent????

I have a room mate who is NOT on the lease and she is over 2 weeks late with her portion of the rent. She keeps coming up with lame excuses and this is the third month in a row that she has not made rent. i dont have the money to cover her and the leasing office is threating eviction. I recently went to home depot and changed the locks. all of her stuff is in the apartment. my question is can i keep her stuff to hold over her head for payment of the rent? i just need to know the easiest way of getting her to pay the rent. what legal action can i take? how screwed is my credit? thank you

THIS WON'T threaten your credit unless you do not pay your lease pmt. If the LL acknowledged her rents and included her in the rent payments, then it is the LLs responsibility to evict her/him.
You cannot hold personal belongings over the heads of people you sublet to in order to get your rents, you changed the lks(wrong) and are putting yourself in the position of a LL, and that makes you legally wrong.
subletting is scary and if you do not place your sub-letters on the same leases as you, you just opened a can of worms for yourself.
Give him/her an ultimatum, pay up or get out...one way or the other...Courts & sheriff removal along with small claims, or leave peacefully and pay rents, cuz if you don't, your going to small claims court anyway.

HELL YEA i would do that same thing. keep her stuff until she has pd you some money. i wouldn't let her back in until she has paid and when she does i would tell her to get her **** and go. you can't afford her half and plus ruion ur credit. what a friend and a roommate...i would have done this the second mth. she needs to know this and u can't take chances anymore cause u both are about to get kicked out.

Legally you can hold her Belonging up to 90 days but must give her her Personal belongings..ie: Clothing and toiletries. But that is here in Canada I dont know where you are at...You can also go to your Landlord and Tennants Act (Board)

Well I hate to tell you this but even though she is not on the lease she is a tenant and is protected under your state's landlord tenant act and as such you're in trouble. Let me explain:
If you do not have a provision in the lease that you signed, that says that you can not have the ability to sublease and or have room mates, then it's ok to have room mates that are not on the lease, however the law of your state will most likely consider that room mate your tenant and you the landlord and as such you both fall under the landlord tenant law of your state.
That I know of; all states require that you provide your tenant with a written eviction notice for non payment before you can then proceed to take them to court and evict them. In all states it is illegal to do what you did which is called "self help eviction" when you changed the locks. If she gets an attorney I'm afraid your in hot water. Resolve the issue and get a lawyer.
Good luck

simply, she in for the duration, get an atty or paralegal (cheaper) and file an eviction notice

u cannot change the lock or withhold items if she has been a resident for longer than 30 days. give her a 3 day pay or quit notice, have a friend give it to her, here are the legal forms to do so http://www.blumberglegalforms.com/Forms/...
then after 3 days take copy of letter to court, file a court date, go there and have her formally evicted.

It is illegal to change the locks, in fact if you do that she can call the police and you will get arrested, evict her properly.