What would you do?

[diabeticman]

I live in a duplex. My wife and the neighbors are getting along very well. OUr landlord is about to loose the duplex and we are going to end up looking for a new place. He has 30 days to fix both places. He is doing it very slowly.

Anyways Landlord keeps telling us that he is going to evict the neighbors and telling the neighbors he is going to evict us. He seems to want to cause trouble between us.

This guy has had our bathroom torn apart for 10 months. a plywood floor and drywall walls with holes in the drywall allowing cold PA weather in.


we started withholding the rent in aug to get this guy's attention. Until that month we paid an lawyer's office the rent on time every month. the lawyer's office said we had every right to do so.

So keep our fingers crossed that something good happens for my wife and I--Please.

[Cleita]

1. Just stay, pay the rent, and mind your own business. Do not fight with the neighbors.

I survived fifteen years of angry landlords, three of them, after rent control came into effect in my town. They never fixed anything after that, and tried to divide and conquer the tenants. We stuck together. We fixed things ourselves and paid the rent only the rent they were owed. My DH and I moved after he retired, but I understand some of the tenants we knew are still there and they have survived several new landlords after.

[quakerboy]

7. The neighbors arent the issue

The issue, as I read it, is the holes in the walls and a lack of a proper floor, which the landlord is not fixing.

[Cleita]

8. We dealt with a leaky roof, broken down plumbing

and a stair to the second floor that crumbled. We, the tenants, fixed all those things, deducted it from the rent, but otherwise paid what was owed to the landlord and we stayed there. In the case of my DH and I, for fifteen years. Other tenants even longer. I don't know what your laws are but it wouldn't hurt to go talk to the City Attorney and find out. We found out he couldn't evict us as long as we were paying the rent, if not in money, in repairs.

[elleng]

2. Both of you should look for new places

NOW.
I know, holiday-time, but find something to look forward to, like warm bathrooms!

[Warpy]

3. I really think you need to leave ASAP

because this is the type of situation that rarely improves.

The escrow account should be a good nest egg by now. I also think calls to the board of health and building inspector when you think you've found a place are great ideas.

Moving sucks, I know. I hate it. Sometimes it's about all you can do.

[diabeticman]

4. That's the part we are getting mix signals on. Some people have told us he hasn't fixed the place

especially the bathroom which is unable to be cleaned well.
Others say we can't touch it that it belongs to the Landlord until the house is officially condemned by the city.

[Warpy]

6. No, that's exactly why you find a new place and then make the calls.

Once the place is condemned as unfit for habitation you get the money. You have been putting the rent into an escrow account and that's an indication if it goes to court of how slow that landlord has been to fix anything.

However, doing it now means that you'll be left with nowhere to live if you can't find anything fast before the place is condemned. Condemned means you have to move out immediately which means putting your stuff in storage and cooling your heals in a less than ideal situation while you look for someplace to live.

[TreasonousBastard]

5. Dunno if the lawyer is yours, court appointed or...

whatever else, but landlord/tenant law is so varied that a lawyer working for you would be the best place to get advice. If you get along with the other tenant, see about your rights to stay there, but maybe think about moving if it looks like a long battle.

The landlord is going to lose the place? If he gets foreclosed on that could have lot to do with your rights-- another reason to have a lawyer.