Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in Pennsylvania

I live in Pa, I am renting a house and I am behind on my rent. My wife never told me about the hearinf on May 31st. I am out of town until june 3. what happens at hearing if i'm not there? I have the ability to pay the past due amount. I understand that the lendlord gets a judgment I have certain amount of days to pay the past due arrears, is that correct? I can't get thrown out right away. Do I have a chance to appeal? The reason I ask is the landlord is friends with the realtor. On may 15th the realtor broke into my house and came after me for the rent. He was arrested and charged with several crimes including DUI. Because of this the landlord says he wont honor the remainder of the lease. What do I do after tomorrow,

Thank you,


Asked on 5/30/11, 8:30 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Andrew Solomon Law Office of Andrew A. Solomon

If you are not at the hearing today (and even if you were) you would probably lose, depending on the terms of the lease. Once you bacame delinquent with the rent, you breached the lease, and he has grounds to evict you. The district justice will probably find against you and order yout to vacate the premises in 15 days. If you don't the landlord can get an order for possession and the sheriff will come and evict you physically.

You can appeal the district judge's ruling, and so long as you pay the monthly rental into court, you cannot be evicted until the appeal is heard. Although you have 30 days to appeal, I would appeal immediately and begin paying your rent, on a timely basis, to the court. As you live in Delware County, this means that you would pay the money to the Office of Judicial Support in Media.

If you go this route, it would be best to have a lawyer. The following is a landlord-tenant web site (which although refers to Dauphin county) will tell you your rights and the procedures to file:

http://www.tenant.net/Other_Areas/Penn/harris/pa-toc.html

If you appeal, and continue to pay your rent into court, you can probably buy yourself an additional 6 to 9 months before any actual eviction takes place. But if you are 1 day late in paying the money into court, am eviction can occur immediately

Good luck

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Answered on 5/31/11, 12:03 pm


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