tenant rights when landlord is selling

[Bria]

I am renting the first floor of a house in PA which my landlord has put up for sale. I've lived here for 6 years. In that amount of time my landlord has visited the property only once that I know of an that was just recently when she put it on the market. I've contacted her several times about the upstairs neighbors placing trash (old wood, mattresses, broken items,etc.) in the yard. Each time she promises to clean it up. Each time I wait a few months before doing it myself. The last time it was the realtor who did it. When I contacted him, he said that the landlord was supposed to come with a truck to haul it away. That was 2 months ago. Also, the washer here needed repaired. She agreed to pay for the repairs and told me to schedule service which I did. When the technician arrived and called his office to verify a payment method she hadn't arranged it. This happened 2 more times. Needless to say I'm stuck with a large box of parts and a broken washer. Now they want me to be available for them to show the apartment because I have dogs. I feel like the landlord should be dealing with this herself. Do I have to allow showings when the landlord can't bother to show up herself?

 

[HomeGuru]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Bria:

I am renting the first floor of a house in PA which my landlord has put up for sale. I've lived here for 6 years. In that amount of time my landlord has visited the property only once that I know of an that was just recently when she put it on the market. I've contacted her several times about the upstairs neighbors placing trash (old wood, mattresses, broken items,etc.) in the yard. Each time she promises to clean it up. Each time I wait a few months before doing it myself. The last time it was the realtor who did it. When I contacted him, he said that the landlord was supposed to come with a truck to haul it away. That was 2 months ago. Also, the washer here needed repaired. She agreed to pay for the repairs and told me to schedule service which I did. When the technician arrived and called his office to verify a payment method she hadn't arranged it. This happened 2 more times. Needless to say I'm stuck with a large box of parts and a broken washer. Now they want me to be available for them to show the apartment because I have dogs. I feel like the landlord should be dealing with this herself. Do I have to allow showings when the landlord can't bother to show up herself? <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

It is not your responsibility to clean up after the other tenants nor pay for fixing the washer. Check with your State Consumer Protecion office on how to deal with getting the washer fixed.
On the sale of the property issue, it is also not your job to show the place to prospective purchasers. Because you have dogs the landlord is wise to have u their at all showings unless the dogs are caged such that their could be no accident. The landlord has extreme liability if you are not present ie. dogs may bite someone looking at the place, dogs may run away, runaway dogs may bite a neighbor, get a neighbors cat, get lost, get into a dog fight, get hit by a car etc. You do not have to be at the landlords beck and call for the showings. Try and work out a mutual agreeable showing schedule with the Realtor as far as showing dates and times convienient to you. Since the property is listed by a Realtor, you can ask your landlord to have the Realtor present at all showings. This is a common request of Realtors especially when there are animals on the property.