Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Pennsylvania

My family and I moved into a house about 6 months ago on a land contract/ rent to own deal. About 2 weeks after moving in a next door neighbor started yelling at us about a number of things having to do with her property. Only thing is it's not her property. There's a piece of property in between us that a deceased person owns. And she was giving my husband a hard time about what he was doing in the yard. All he was doing was cleaning up the yard. She's yelled at me and our kids. I feel like we've been harassed. She's called the police on us and we've had to go to court twice already over her. Now we have found out there is an ordinance in our town that if the police get called to a residence 2 or more times the boro has to force the landlord to evict the tenant. The reason we're just renting right now is because the boro wouldn't let us sign the contract because of all the problems we supposedly caused while living there. Our landlord is the mayor and is evicting us and gave us 30 days. She filed papers at the magistrate for repossession of property before 30 days was up. Magistrate was unfair and wouldn't listen to us. We have been treated like garbage since the beginning. Please help. What can we do?


Asked on 10/14/11, 7:49 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Miriam Jacobson Retired from practice of law

Get a lawyer immediately to protect you in the eviction and to look at your "land contract/ rent to own" agreement. Normally, a landlord should be providing what is called "quiet enjoyment", meaning that you won't suffer from acts of neighbors that interfere with your being in the property. If he is also the mayor and is trying to evict you because her calls to the police were unfounded, he has a serious conflict of interest.

Before you get into details with a prospective lawyer, ask him or her if they've represented or been involved in any legal matters with the neighbor, the mayor and the township. If they have, look for a different lawyer.

THIS RESPONSE IS NOT LEGAL ADVICE, SINCE I DO NOT HAVE ALL OF THE INFORMATION THAT WOULD BE REQUIRED, AND I DO NOT HAVE A REPRESENTATION AGREEMENT WITH YOU.

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Answered on 10/14/11, 11:51 am


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