To pay or not

[Sinamenone]

What is the name of your state? Pa
Good afternoon,
My friend is renting a 2br apartment in Philadelphia. She recently found out that her “landlord” owes $5k on the duplex house she lives in & he doesn’t have a renter’s license.
Should she continue paying him rent?

 

[quincy]

What is the name of your state? Pa
Good afternoon,
My friend is renting a 2br apartment in Philadelphia. She recently found out that her “landlord” owes $5k on the duplex house she lives in & he doesn’t have a renter’s license.
Should she continue paying him rent?

Yes.

 

[not2cleverRed]

Should she continue paying him rent?

Yes. And she should document those payments.

 

[zddoodah]

She recently found out that her “landlord” owes $5k on the duplex house

So? Most landlords "owe[] [money] on the" premises that they rent out - i.e., have mortgages on the property. Why do you think this is relevant, and why do you have the word "landlord" in quotation marks?

Should she continue paying him rent?

That depends. Does your friend want to continue living in the premises? Does your friend mind having an eviction on her record?

 

[LdiJ]

What is the name of your state? Pa
Good afternoon,
My friend is renting a 2br apartment in Philadelphia. She recently found out that her “landlord” owes $5k on the duplex house she lives in & he doesn’t have a renter’s license.
Should she continue paying him rent?

Are you talking about property taxes? As long as the landlord has not broken/breached any of the provisions in the lease, your friend has no basis to refuse to pay rent. Even if he has breached some provisions in the lease her remedy might be different than not paying her rent. She certainly could report him for not having a license to rent property, but that might do her out of a home.

 

[Sinamenone]

She’s afraid if he loses the house for not paying his mortgage she’ll b out on the street. She does want to stay but she feels if he doesn’t have a renters license then he isn’t really a landlord.

 

[Sinamenone]

Are you talking about property taxes? As long as the landlord has not broken/breached any of the provisions in the lease, your friend has no basis to refuse to pay rent. Even if he has breached some provisions in the lease her remedy might be different than not paying her rent. She certainly could report him for not having a license to rent property, but that might do her out of a home.

I’ll tell her. He owes $5k on the mortgage.

 

[Zigner]

She’s afraid if he loses the house for not paying his mortgage she’ll b out on the street. She does want to stay but she feels if he doesn’t have a renters license then he isn’t really a landlord.

Please have your friend log on to ask her own questions about the matter that she is involved with. She will likely have information that you are not privy to. Thank you for understanding.

 

[Sinamenone]

Please have your friend log on to ask her own questions about the matter that she is involved with. She will likely have information that you are not privy to. Thank you for understanding.

Ok, I’ll tell her to sign up

 

[quincy]

She’s afraid if he loses the house for not paying his mortgage she’ll b out on the street. She does want to stay but she feels if he doesn’t have a renters license then he isn’t really a landlord.

The landlord could be subject to fines if he has not met all of the requirements in Philadelphia for renting out the apartment, and the landlord could face foreclosure if he fails to make his mortgage payments.

Right now those are the landlord’s problems and shouldn’t have an affect on your friend’s tenancy as long as your friend continues to make timely rent payments and comply with the other terms of the lease.

Have your friend get signed receipts for payments and it might be smart for your friend to start looking at other rentals, just in case.

 

[zddoodah]

She’s afraid if he loses the house for not paying his mortgage she’ll b out on the street.

OK...does she have reason to believe the landlord isn't paying his mortgage? If so, what is that reason? All you told us in the original post is that the landlord "owes $5k." As mortgages go, that's a TINY amount.

She does want to stay but she feels if he doesn’t have a renters license then he isn’t really a landlord.

That's wrong.

Has your friend spoken with her landlord about her concerns? If so, how did that go? If not, why not? While the lack of a license might violate the law, does the lack of the license have any meaningful impact on your friend? If so, please explain.

The bottom line is that, if your friend stops paying rent, the landlord is likely to seek to evict her.

 

[quincy]

Here are links to some resources for tenants in Philadelphia, which your friend may find helpful if she eventually needs legal assistance:

https://www.palawhelp.org/organization/community-legal-services

https://clsphila.org/services/