Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Pennsylvania

Hi, I have a landlord tenant issue. I am the landlord and we had pesky tenants for 6 months in 2017 and gave them a choice to break the lease without penalty. They took the option but took us to small claims court for moving charges and non return of deposit. We won in small claims court coz we did return the deposit and had proof of online bill pay. They just didn't cash the cheque. Then they took us to county court immediately. Now we have an arbitration coming up. The lawyer from the practice we employed has quit and a new attorney has taken over and we are not confident about him. I want to know if we can represent ourselves and what is involved? Is there a DIY method for arbitration ?


Asked on 3/23/18, 11:49 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
John Davidson Law Office of John A. Davidson

Could you represent yourself? Sure but consider this. Clarence Darrow perhaps the greatest criminal defense attorney of his time when charged with a crime got another lawyer to defend him. Now he knew the rules of evidence and crinal procedure yet he hired a lawyer.

You will need to figure out which of the 460 pages of civil procedure applies to your case and what those rules mean. Also how the local rules of civil procedure modiy those rules. Then you'l need to master the 38 pages of the rules of evidence affect what question you may ask. As well as what documents you may introduce and how to make them part of the record. By the way those pages are double columns.

So if you want to represent you'self you can the rules allow it. That said not the best of plans. There are plenty of lawyers out there so find one you like and hire him.

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Answered on 3/23/18, 12:11 pm


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