Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Pennsylvania
my gram gave me a house to live in, no rent needed to be paid, just the utilities that were put in my name. She died in February of 2013 and now my dad served me with eviction papers, what can I do?
1 Answer from Attorneys
You say your grandmother "gave" you a house to live in. A gift means that she deeded the house to you. If that is the case, there would be no eviction papers because you would own the house.
Rather than making a gift of the house to you, I suspect that your grandmother only permitted you to live in the home rent free and that there was no formal lease. If my assumption is correct, then what you can do is move because you have no right to remain in the property. When your grandmother died, if the house was still owned by your grandmother, then the land would have passed as per your grandmother's will or via the intestacy laws to your grandmother's children. The heirs/beneficiaries who own the property do not have to honor your grandmother's deal with you. If you want to stay, then offer to pay rent until you can find another place to live or else make other arrangements to get out. If you do nothing, then the owner of the property or the estate for your grandmother will file a legal action to get you out, which it sounds like was done already. If I were you, I would plan to be out within 10 days after the hearing.