Tenant keeps food and trash in room despite agreement not to

[Sarah Kuppert]

Hello,

I need some advice. I have a tenant who is renting my spare room for 2-3 months right now. She lived here since June 25. We have a signed lease until the end of July and she wants to extend it until the end of August.

She keeps uneaten food and takeout containers in her room in open bags. Despite having numerous conversations, which started out as a friendly "hey, this is not ok" to a sit-down talk where I made myself very clear that it is absolutely unacceptable for her to keep leftovers or food trash in her room, she continues to do so. 

We live in a tropical climate and food attracts roaches. On top of that, I have 2 little kittens who get into trash and food leftovers and eat things that might harm them (toxic foods to cats include lemon, avocado, and chocolate, just to name a few). I made it very clear to her that it is unacceptable, especially for the latter reason. 

She is very obese and probably has a lot of shame and disordered eating habits where she does not want to eat out in the open and maybe limited energy to clean up after herself. I don't want to shame her or create more emotional pain than she already has, but I need to find a solution besides kicking her out (the rent money is good and she pays on time)

What would be a reasonable and legal course of action in this case that could resolve this problem? Get a maid every 2 days who will clean up and make her pay for it? If I kick her out, would that be enough cause to keep the security deposit for lost rent? Should I adjust the lease somehow?

It grosses me out and stresses me out to live with a slob like this, but I don't want to do anything that's not legal or grossly unfair. Any suggestions on how to handle a situation like this? I have rented my room for over a year and never came across anything like this.

Thank you.