Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in Pennsylvania

This is a long story, bear with me.. We live in Pennsylvania, a family of 5. We have lived in a rental house for a year and 9 months. Our lease was up in July, so we have been on a month to month lease since then. Our landlord has been a bit of a problem since the beginning. Upon moving in, we noticed that the dishwasher was not working, and that there was no stove, although the lease stated that there was a stove and dishwasher. We brought our own stove, but had sold our dishwasher since we were told there would be one in the new house. The landlord claimed she would have a new dishwasher delivered over the weekend. It never came. We asked monthly, and her excuse was that her other tenant didn't pay rent so she was low on money. We ended up buying our own and installing it. She did not deduct it from rent. There have been several things that she has done, she has texted my husband in the middle of the night a few days before the first of the month asking for the rent early, she constantly uses foul language in her texts, and is always trying to intimidate us. Our rent is typically on time, but there have been a few months over the last year and a half that it was a few days late due to my husband's pay schedule. When it would be late we constantly got harassing texts from her with eviction threats. We have OVER paid rent many times, just to shut her up, and have always paid her outrageous late fees in full ($75 +$10 per day). She claimed we owed late fees that we had already paid, and basically doesn't keep good track of payments that we have made. She demands cash, and getting a receipt is pretty much impossible. We always have to track her down to get a receipt. She will ask us to leave the rent in the mailbox for her to pick up, says she will leave a receipt, and doesn't. Or will not pick it up for a few days and charge US a late fee for it. This past February, we paid our rent, along with March rent, because we knew we would be purchasing a vehicle in March, and didn't want to be behind. On March 5, she texted my husband and said we never paid rent for March, and owed late fees. He argued with her, she got belligerent, and verbally threatened eviction. A few days later we received a notice to appear in court, for a "Recovery of Real Property" hearing. We appeared, and presented a receipt for what we paid. Once she realized that we had proof of payment, she told the judge that it wasn't about money, that it's just not working out with us as tenants. When we received the Judge's decision, it stated that the judgement was in her favor, that we were responsible for the court costs, but also stated that possession of property was not granted. It was very confusing and contradictive. Since then she has been sending text messages saying that she was coming with a constable to padlock the door. We have not been able to pay our trash bill because the previous tenant has not paid, which we have been informed has to be done before we can put it in our name. We have to put our trash with our neighbor's trash just to have it removed each week. On top of all of this, we found out that this house is in foreclosure, and the property taxes have not been paid for the last 3 years. There is so much more, but this is the gist of it. What can we do, and how long do we have before we have to move? Can she legally evict us for no reason, just because she doesn't like us? We have been actively looking for a new house, its been difficult because we need to stay in this school district for our disabled child.


Asked on 4/08/16, 8:17 am

1 Answer from Attorneys

John Davidson Law Office of John A. Davidson

First, never pay anything in cash unless they provide a receipt. Next any time you pay rent never go alone. Sounds like her text are harassment. you should show them to the police.

Second, plan on getting away from his landlord ASAP.

No she can only evict you if you don't pay the rent. Also, her left fees sound like they may even be illegal. You need to talk to the folks that regulate landlords in your town.

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Answered on 4/08/16, 8:25 am


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