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I need some tenant / landlord advice for the state of Pennsylvania, specifically Delaware County if it maters. Long story short, my landlord has decided to sell the house we rent. This is no big deal to us, we were planning to move anyway and are actually buying a house. We close on January 6th and planned to move out at that time. We have no written lease. We have 2 dogs, and the landlords parents contacted us about 2 weeks ago telling us that people were complaining that the house smelled like dogs and said that we have to get rid of them. I politely explained there was nowhere we could put the dogs for nearly 2 months, and it wasn't an option. Today, I came home to a letter taped to my bedroom door. It's dated November 21, from a lawyer in Philadelphia. It's an eviction letter, and states the following; " November 21, 2011 My name and My girlfriends name Address RE: Premise (address) Dear (me) and (my gf) Please be advised that I represent (my lovely landlord) the owner of the premise (address). As you are aware you have been tenants of (mr lovely landlord) in the premise of (lovely house) on an oral lease on a month to month basis. Mr lovely landlord has advised you that you must vacate the property as he is selling it and you have in addition animals in the property which you have refused to remove. Please consider this correspondence formal notice that you must vacate the property within 30 days of the date of this letter or eviction proceedings will be initiated. Should you fail to comply with this demand you could be liable for additional costs including court costs and attorney's fees. Thank you for your courtesy and cooperation Sincerely, Some Jackass, ESQ PHM/mb Enclosures cc: mr lovely landlord " Additionally, there's a letter from his family inside (I should explain, the landlord is a total spineless loser and his family does everything for him- including pay the mortgage) The letter is dated today, and says that although the attorney letter is dated nov 21 they're "allowing" us to stay until January 2 so we can get through the holidays. blah blah blah, please comply with this notice and remove all belongings before Jan 3. I don't want to go in depth with it, but the landlord has put me through enough bullshit in the last couple of years, I am not going to make this easy on him and simply move out before going to closing on my own house Jan 6th. My questions are; 1.) Is this even a legal eviction notice? it's dated Nov 21, but was taped to my bedroom door today. It's not signed by him, nor was it delivered by him. 2.) What are the laws in PA regarding eviction? If my understanding is correct, after the date which he has told us to vacate by, only then can he go to court and try to legally evict me, right? How long would that take? We plan to be gone the weekend of the 6th. 3.) What are the laws regarding showings? He has told me I have to leave and take the dogs with me for showings. He has between 1-3 showings 3 days a week (average) ranging from 1 hour each to 2 hours each. He typically gives me only a few hours notice, and has had several showings at inconvenient times (during work hours, very early weekend) what are my rights regarding these showings? 4.) Can I legally put a locking door on my bedroom? I don't trust him around my belongings while I'm gone, and would like to lock my bedroom down while people are here for a showing.
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Dec 1, 2011 00:46
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Ashcans posted:I am not a lawyer, but there are a couple things in your narrative that are confusing. You say that this is about a 'house we rent' but then you also talk about notices being posted on your bedroom door, and locking that door specifically. Are you renting an apartment/house or are you renting a room in a house? If its just a room, who else lives in the house? The landlord? His family? Just other renters? Whether or not the place is owner-occupied can make a difference in what he is allowed to do. You might want to clarify that for people. We've been here almost 2 years, originally he lived here too. He moved out a couple months ago. It's just us here now. Robo Olga posted:Maybe you could also clarify the dog thing. From the notice it sounds like he is saying you don't have permission to have a dog there and you have two? We have had the dogs since well before we moved here, he was fine with them. Actually, he wanted to get a third. I should just give a few more details to help better understand the situation- We worked together for a couple of years, the owner of the company died and we bought the company from the previous owners wife. He has basically just run the company into the ground, I started doing my own thing a few months back and as soon as I left he basically had nothing left. I was the only reason we made any money, and got sick of carrying him. Shortly after that he decided to sell the house, which was no problem. He told me he was going to put it on the market in January (this was late September). Come early October, he puts a for sale by owner sign up, about 2 weeks later it's replaced with a relator sign. Immediately the showings started, 1-3 a day multiple days a week with only a few hours notice. I still was able to comply, not a problem, whatever. Nobody that has seen the house has made an offer, his parents pay the 2 months mortgage that he's behind, they start getting pushy about the house selling when they realize basically they have to continue to pay it or it gets foreclosed on. He tells his parents that it's because of the dogs. Literally said that everybody that has seen the house said they weren't interested because it smells like a dog- which is horse poo poo. The house has hardwood floors, we mop at least twice a week, and the dogs both get groomed every Monday. If anything, the house smells like pine-sol and tropical shampoo. I talk with him, let him know we go to closing on January 6th and will be out that weekend. He said that was fine. I also offered to help him repaint since his mom seems to be convinced the house smells like dog because the odor is "in the paint". I should mention, his mom has MS and has never even been to the house. The real reason nobody is interested in the house is that he's asking 285, every comp in the area is priced at 275 or lower, and in much better condition (I know, since I was just at every other house in the neighborhood looking to buy) This house is unfinished, and has many serious flaws. There is half done construction done downstairs were he decided to build a bar but ran out of money after knocking the wall out, so instead there's just an odd wall that comes out with a large gap behind it to the crawl space. The downstairs bathroom has plumbing issues which cause the sink to overflow when you do laundry, and has left water stains on the walls and floor. There's also a shower, with no shower door or faucets. Oh, and mold on the ceiling. The plumbing upstairs leaks, and there's mold under the sink which smells musty. The cabinets look like a 5 year old installed them and are missing pieces. There's no backsplash along the wall in the kitchen- he removed the tile, ran out of money, and just painted over the old grout. Theres also a hole in the kitchen wall for an exhaust fan that doesn't operate. I could go on all day, basically the place is in shambled and he's asking about 35-40 over what it's worth. I tried to explain this to his mother, but she's convinced it's in great shape and the problem is my dogs. If you want to talk about odor, the only room that smells (other than the musty smell that comes and goes in the kitchen due to mold) his former bedroom smells god awful. He used to come home poo poo faced on a regular basis and pissed in the corner of the bedroom (yes, I'm serious.) This rear end in a top hat has put me through hell over the last year. I spoke with an attorney this morning, who was actually my former landlord. He told me not to worry about anything at this point, I don't have to be out until the 3rd and I'm leaving the weekend of the 6th. Even if they file on the third I would be out well before the hearing. He also said it's my choice to leave for showings, I am under no obligation to remove myself or my dogs from the premise. Sounds like I have some leverage to stay until the weekend if he wants to have another showing while I'm hear. positech fucked around with this message at 20:02 on Dec 1, 2011 |
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Dec 1, 2011 19:59
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