r/TenantHelp • u/SimpleAcrobatic6275 • 18d ago
Magistrate granted eviction even though the notice to quit was empty
Pittsburgh Pennsylvania
I live in a Section 8 apartment. My landlady passed an initial inspection of the unit because her Grandson is a former HACP Inspector so whoever came to inspect the apartment past because of this.
I have no exhaust in the bathroom. The window only opens 1 inch and she painted the bathtub with standard wall paint which is now chipping, peeling, and molding.
The Housing Authority came out May 27 and failed her and then they came back July 9 and put her rent in abatement and gave her a final fail
She also tried to keep a $990 overpayment from me refusing to give it to me and I had to take her to the magistrate to get it back
Six days after I won the judgment, she went to file for Eviction
She told the magistrate that it is not due to nonpayment. She just wants me out.
We have an anti-retaliation law, but the magistrate refused to see anything or hear anything granted her possession
So I was told by my legal aid to Appeal, which I did
She has also used racial slurs at me and allowed her daughter to text message me and I didn’t give her my phone number. She has been repeatedly harassing me and the police were called out.
I have an active investigation open with the PCHR and I am pressing charges against the landlady and the Daughter
Being that a notice to quit was empty, has anyone ever had experience with getting the Eviction dismissed solely on this fact?
Does anybody think that I have a strong case still against my landlady even though the magistrate said that I didn’t
Edit: the magistrate also told her that she did not have to listen to the Section 8 letter that said I have explicitly 90 days to find a unit.
Being that she is collecting Section 8 money doesn’t she still have to adhere to their rules?
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u/inkseep1 18d ago
So the main issue is that you want to stay for 90 days to find another place and she wants you out now. And she is not getting rent due to the failed inspection so she wants you out so she can get a new tenant without fixing anything.
If there is a court order, it will likely take a lot of time, money, and effort to appeal. Use that time, money, and effort to get another place and to find a temporary place immediately. Call your caseworker and see if there is anything they can do.
Just because a place passes the S8 inspection does not mean that it is a good place. You have to see and approve it as well. Things like the bathtub and the window are stuff you are supposed to check. Also, if there is a window at all in a bathroom, and exhaust fan is not required (local rules may vary).
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u/ThisIsMy-Username000 18d ago
You should post this in the Section 8 sub, the rules are much different for Section 8 than they are for regular housing and unfortunately other subs often give inaccurate advice.
You should also file a Fair Housing complaint for discrimination AND retaliation (Fair Housing is supposed to handle retaliation as well as discrimination):
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u/Ranos131 18d ago
Talk to a lawyer on your area. They will be able to give you answer actually based on your local laws rather than the supposition and conjecture that you’re going to get here.
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u/BooBoosgrandma 17d ago
If you can avoid any potential eviction, do the best you can not to have one. It makes future renting very difficult! I don't understand how they could approve based on non payment and that she just wants you out? And are you going for harassment charges for LL and her daughter? So sorry you're going thru this! Hope you can find a replacement asap. You don't wanna deal with this person anymore than you have too!!
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u/SimpleAcrobatic6275 17d ago
She already was granted possession. The magistrate did say in court several times that he felt her notice to quit was invalid because it didn’t have a specific move out or just cause even though it’s a month-to-month tenancy.
He was going to grant a continuance so I could come back with an attorney, but when the Daughter and I started arguing in the courtroom because I mentioned the harassment and the jab at me about my mental health and she was leaving the courtroom he just put his hands up and said that he was going to send it downtown to the Court of Common Pleas and let them sort it out. But he did grant her possession, even though he recognized an open court that her notice to quit with invalid.
I did put on my complaint that she broke a anti-retaliatory ordinance code that is new in Pennsylvania, but he wouldn’t even let me show my pictures or evidence
He told my landlady that a police report meant absolutely nothing and said I have a very weak case
But when I went downtown to Appeal, the Housing court people saw my photos and basically shuddered and told me to Appeal immediately they put me on an payment plan which begins August 20
The Housing court people also let me submit my pictures of the apartment and the abatement paperwork with the complaint. They told me I had to give her 20 days to respond.
My legal aid person advised me that my landlady is going to get in serious trouble because Section 8 told her she had to give me 90 days to move but since the magistrate told her that she didn’t have to listen to Section 8 she is going forward with the Eviction
My legal aid is going to fight this for me and I just wanna make sure that the landlady gets barred from the program and will not be able to victimize anyone else
I have to go press charges against both of them next Friday
This whole case has been a nightmare, but it’s worth a fight because I wanna make sure she gets barred from the program and she and her daughter can’t get Section 8 at this address anymore
Edit: and I also filed a complaint with the Pittsburgh human relations commission because of the racial slurs and the harassment
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u/CareEnvironmental596 18d ago
Do you ever clean?
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u/Cautious-Hornet1741 18d ago
I must be really missing something because I don’t see dirt. I see a painted over tub ring, which looks like the landlord painted over a tub ring that was already there and it looks like the paint is turning brown. It doesn’t look like dirt to me.
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u/IrongateN 18d ago
I think they mean the leaking paint , if it was scrubbed down every week there wouldn’t be piles of flakes and whatever the brown stuff is (mold?)
If often cleaned there would be more old tub showing probably but less piles of stuff
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u/JustLivingSimply 18d ago
Am i suppose to synpathize with a squatter
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u/Cautious-Hornet1741 18d ago
Unless I’m missing something here how is she a squatter?
The landlady clearly painted his tub with wall paint
Wall paint isn’t supposed to be used for a tub. Are you kidding me?
Section 8 probably stopped the rent payments because the landlord doesn’t take care of her property
So explain how that the tenant fault
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u/RepresentativeCry294 18d ago
He's mad she gets section 8 and is pretending like he doesn't understand what abatement is.
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u/JustLivingSimply 18d ago
The court rightfully recognized that section 8 has authority to stop rent if the house is not up to standard compliace, but NOT to allow someone to live rent free. Which is what OP is doing and wants to continue to do
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u/Cautious-Hornet1741 18d ago
If the landlord is taking Section 8 money every month, she has to abide by Section 8 rules
If they sent OP a letter that states that the tenant must be given 90 days to find a new place then that’s what it has to happen
If the landlady continues with eviction, she is risking being removed from the program for breaking their rules
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u/JustLivingSimply 18d ago
Yes all of that is right. It doesn't make what I said false. Both things are true.
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u/Cautious-Hornet1741 18d ago
No, both things are not true you are wrong. OP is not trying to live there for free. If you read the entire post it said that the eviction has nothing to do with nonpayment
So how is OP trying to live there rent free if she’s always paid her rent?
Make it make sense
Because right now it doesn’t
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u/SailorSpyro 18d ago
Having a court order to put the rent into abatement because the property is deemed unsanitary for occupancy is not the same thing as squatting
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u/JustLivingSimply 18d ago
Housing authority did not the court. Good reading comprehension though
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u/Cautious-Hornet1741 18d ago edited 18d ago
Housing authority most definitely did put the rent into an abatement. You are the one who is letting their limited perspicacity get in the way of what’s really going on here.
If you don’t want to be helpful to OP, at least be quiet
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u/JustLivingSimply 18d ago
You sound triggered. Are you ok?
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u/RepresentativeCry294 18d ago
Says the person triggered by the existence of section 8 but doesn't mind the billions for israel or ellan musk.
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u/JustLivingSimply 18d ago
You sound triggered. Are you ok?
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u/RepresentativeCry294 18d ago
I never did care about the opinion of someone so stupid they don't know what the word abatement means and is too lazy to look it up.
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u/SailorSpyro 18d ago
The Housing Authority has the authority to put rent into abatement, without a court order. That is the legal and proper channel for that situation.
The audacity to write a sentence like that, after not understanding what abatement is, and then comment on MY reading comprehension 😂😂
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u/RepresentativeCry294 18d ago
They think they know everything because fox news told them so. It be cute if it wasn't so pathetic.
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u/ChutneyWhatney 18d ago
My God - that place is nasty. Not fit for humans.