All Forum Posts by: Chris K.

@Sean Buruschkin

Few thoughts: 

• The main duty that your landlord owes you is a duty to provide a "habitable" unit. But I'm not aware of any appellate court decision holding that a landlord must maintain a specific degree of temperature. In other words, no appellate court has set a minimum temperature. Instead, the landlord has a duty to provide you with something along the lines of safe, sanitary, and fit for habitation. I have no idea whether your situation would qualify. 59 isn't great but I could see a judge ruling otherwise --- especially if you have contradictory readings. 

• The landlord would also need to meet any local ordinances/codes that relate to the topic. Some areas have local laws that say the landlord must maintain a minimum temperature. No idea if Phoenixville has such a law. 

If you really cannot make it work with the landlord and had to build a case for yourself, I would start looking at the local ordinance/codes in different municipalities and try to see what they say the minimum temperature is. Let's say the average is like 66 degrees. If so, you could try to make an argument that the law requires your landlord to maintain something close to that temperature. That's my first thought. 

The problem is that lawyers are expensive and these residential cases almost never end up at the appellate level. So until that happens, it's hard to find a definite answer. 

It seems like the easiest solution is to have the landlord install some electric baseboard heat. It's inefficient but it might not be too terrible when combined with another heating source. 

Disclaimer: While I’m an attorney licensed to practice in PA, I’m not your attorney. What I wrote above does not create an attorney/client relationship between us. I wrote the above for informational purposes. Do not rely on it for legal advice. Always consult with your attorney before you rely on the above information.

@Alex Acosta

There's no standard form in Pennsylvania. You will need to work with an attorney or find a pre-existing form. It's not the easiest form to standardize since one could use option agreements for 100 different purposes. 

Disclaimer: While I’m an attorney licensed to practice in PA, I’m not your attorney. What I wrote above does not create an attorney/client relationship between us. I wrote the above for informational purposes. Do not rely on it for legal advice. Always consult with your attorney before you rely on the above information.

@Holly Schuster

There are many purposes behind opening an estate. One such purpose is to allow the court to oversee the distribution of the assets. This is important since a person may have died with both heirs and creditors. The court is basically giving all the relevant parties an opportunity to chime in on the distribution. 

The lawyer is correct that one must file a special petition to obtain something called a grant of letters if the deceased has been dead for at least 21 years. The court only needs to grant it if the petitioner can show "cause" --- basically a good reason for why the court should allow it to open. 

Depending on the situation, it may make sense to just go straight towards a quiet-title action instead of opening an estate for the mother. But it's VERY fact dependent. 

Disclaimer: While I’m an attorney licensed to practice in PA, I’m not your attorney. What I wrote above does not create an attorney/client relationship between us. I wrote the above for informational purposes. Do not rely on it for legal advice. Always consult with your attorney before you rely on the above information.

@Holly Schuster

What's the purpose behind opening the estate in this scenario?

Disclaimer: While I’m an attorney licensed to practice in PA, I’m not your attorney. What I wrote above does not create an attorney/client relationship between us. I wrote the above for informational purposes. Do not rely on it for legal advice. Always consult with your attorney before you rely on the above information.

@Muhammad Thomas

For property management, you may want to reach out to folks like @Marc Winter. I believe his company can handle some contracting as well. 

Note that each municipality has different landlord ordinances. They also have different requirements when it comes to the number of tenants you can put in each "dwelling." So you'll want to review that to make sure you are okay with all the differences.  

Disclaimer: While I’m an attorney licensed to practice in PA, I’m not your attorney. What I wrote above does not create an attorney/client relationship between us. I wrote the above for informational purposes. Do not rely on it for legal advice. Always consult with your attorney before you rely on the above information. 

@Steve A Spann

Some thoughts:

• To get title insurance for tax sale properties, you often need to take additional steps. It may involve bringing a quiet-title action.

• A lot of times, folk pre-emptively pay inheritance taxes in such a situation.

Disclaimer: While I’m an attorney licensed to practice in PA, I’m not your attorney. What I wrote above does not create an attorney/client relationship between us. I wrote the above for informational purposes. Do not rely on it for legal advice. Always consult with your attorney before you rely on the above information.

@Kris Haskins

I could give you 100 different names. Feel free to PM me. 

Disclaimer: While I’m an attorney licensed to practice in PA, I’m not your attorney. What I wrote above does not create an attorney/client relationship between us. I wrote the above for informational purposes. Do not rely on it for legal advice. Always consult with your attorney before you rely on the above information.

@Kat N.

I would say it depends. As a lawyer that hires other lawyers, most of the work they do for me is based on a specific project that I cannot handle for whatever reason (e.g. different location, odd subject matter, etc.). I consider them to be very valuable but I don't talk to them on a daily basis --- not even a weekly basis sometimes. With CPAs, I ask questions as they come up and we also do a more detailed review as tax season approaches. I don't really pay CPA's hourly but I assume it's sort of included in the year-end bill (which is okay).  

Most CPA/JD hybrids I meet tend to either be: (1) be a federal tax specialists/assassins; or (2) focus on one side of the practice over the other. That's fine but I'm not sure if it is always better than just hiring two separate professionals. For example, let's say you are dealing with a convoluted zoning matter. My guess is that most CPA/JD hybrids don't focus on zoning matters. So it depends on the facts. 

Disclaimer: While I’m an attorney licensed to practice in PA, I’m not your attorney. What I wrote above does not create an attorney/client relationship between us. I wrote the above for informational purposes. Do not rely on it for legal advice. Always consult with your attorney before you rely on the above information.

@Michael Romaniello

Assuming you feel the need, you generally want to hire an attorney licensed in PA to handle such a deal --- only for the simple reason that a CT-licensed attorney cannot really "practice" in PA. There are some exceptions to this rule (e.g. in-house counsel lawyers have a bit more freedom). But I, for example, wouldn't be comfortable representing a transaction in CT without a local lawyer in CT. 

Disclaimer: While I’m an attorney licensed to practice in PA, I’m not your attorney. What I wrote above does not create an attorney/client relationship between us. I wrote the above for informational purposes. Do not rely on it for legal advice. Always consult with your attorney before you rely on the above information.

@Tatyana M.

As a practical matter, you might be okay. But I'm not sure what exactly the benefits would be. For example, it's unclear whether you would have additional liability protection if you handle you act as your own property manager. This is because Pennsylvania law recognizes something called participation liability/theory. It basically stands for the proposition that if you --- as an LLC member --- personally do something wrong, you can be personally held liable even if you do it on behalf of the LLC.

Disclaimer: While I’m an attorney licensed to practice in PA, I’m not your attorney. What I wrote above does not create an attorney/client relationship between us. I wrote the above for informational purposes. Do not rely on it for legal advice. Always consult with your attorney before you rely on the above information.