Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in Pennsylvania

What if a landlord is responsible for his house burning down by not cleaning the chimney in the state of PA? I was involved with long term house sitting engagement for my cousin. He and his wife purchased a 65 acre farm in central PA, as an investment, and asked me to move in to the farm house to keep an eye on the property. In exchange for rent, I was to perform minor tasks involving taking care of the property and feeding and care of his three hunting dogs, ten feral barn cats and an aging horse. I was also informed that the property was completely insured, including the contents of the house. If not, then I would have purchased renter's insurance and added that to my automobile insurance. I was assured that I would not have to purchase renter's insurance.

The house had an oil burning furnace. Since the price of home heating oil was high in the winter of 2008, I had the option of utilizing the wood stove located in the kitchen.

In the fall of 2008, my cousin insisted on cleaning the chimney himself. He claimed to have the equipment to do so. He continually told me from September to December that he was planning on cleaning the chimney with my help. After waiting for him to do something or anything regarding this matter, I suggested that he hire an Amish chimney sweep. He turned this idea down.

As the PA winter weather approached, it was clear that I wouldn't have a choice in what to do. If the temperature fell within the house, the pipes would freeze. I would have to build a fire in the stove. I did.

My cousin had plenty of time to tend to this matter, but neglected to do so for unknown reasons.

On the morning of December 19th, 2008, I was awakened by a knock at the door at 4AM. Somebody outside was yelling for me to get out of the house; that the house was on fire. Quickly getting dressed, I rushed out the front door to find out what was going on; walked to the side of the house with the stranger that saved me.

The chimney was on fire. Since my cousin never repaired the outdoor pumps, all I could do was watch the house burn down while waiting for the tanker trucks. The man that saved me had called the fire department. I did have time to get my cat out of the house as the flames jumped from the chimney to the attic. It took over 30 minutes for the tanker to arrive destroying the contents of the house. The man that saved my life told me he had to leave because he was on his way to work when he spotted the fire. I never had the chance to thank him for saving my life as I was in shock over this occurrence.

Somebody came up to me and told me that there was a local hotel that would take me in for three days while I attempted salvage. I checked in with my cat and slept for about four hours before returning to the house which was less than a mile away.

When I arrived at the charred ruin, I made a list of destroyed items and my cousin arrived to check the damage. His insurance representative also showed up. During this time, I was still writing up my list. My cousin had mentioned that he had hoped that the insurance adjuster didn't see the creosote on the chimney pipe which was laying in pieces beside the house.

By the time that I had completed my list, I stepped outside of the ruins of the house to hand the list to my cousin to give to his insurance company. It was then he told me that the contents were not insured - just the house. I asked him to submit my list to his insurance agent anyway. He refused and he also refused to give me his insurance company's name, then drove off.

Since I considered my cousin "family", I thought he would do the right thing and give me partial reimbursement for my losses out of his insurance settlement of $160.000.00 . I asked him for 5% or $8,000.00 so I could file for bankruptcy and have some money to relocate. He gave me $500.00 cash instead.

Since this incident, life has been difficult. I had to move to NC to my retired father's home which resides in an area of high unemployment. I have also been hiding from my creditors since the fire and being 57 years old, work has not been easy to find.

My intention is to sue my cousin for negligence through a Pennsylvania attorney and courts. My loss was over $35,000.00 in contents, not to mention that I would have perished in the fire if not woken up by a stranger on his way to work.

Here is a link to the Reading Eagle newspaper describing the event.

http://readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=118362

Thank you for your attention in this matter.

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