Landlord died, who owns the house?

In Pennsylvania, my landlord died and his live-in girlfriend claims she’s now the landlord. I guess she’s going on the whole “common-law wife” bit, but when he was alive I wasn’t even allowed to give her the rent! he knew she’d spend it. Her name was and is not on anything having to do with the house, deed, bank accounts, etc. When landlord died, he was in the process of fixing some things. They still haven’t been fixed so I stopped paying rent. Legally, I wonder who owns the house? He has no family that has come to claim his property and if “possession is truly 9/10 of the law” then don’t I have a claim on the house? Also, if she sells it (to me) and her name isn’t on the deed, if a “legal” claimant comes along, can they take the house away from me? I have an appointment with a real estate attorney next week but in the mean time was curious if anyone out there had a real clue to what my rights could be. Thanks.
Thanks, you guys are giving me some really good idea and thoughts. I have no intention on just not paying rent and going on a shopping spree, but I just don’t want to pay her the money, because as I said, I don’t trust her. She claims she’s the executor of the estate, but I haven’t seen anything in writting to this affect. I think I’ll take a trip down to the Register of Wills and look this up. Until then, I’m putting the rent in escrow. Thanks everyone.

Hardship Withdrawls from TSA – Serious answer only please?

My hours have been cut at work , I have money in a TSA that I’m trying to withdraw to pay my bills and when things get better replace it for retirement.
Apparently the law changed this year and I can only withdraw based on hardship, I’m falling behind on my rent and I received a notice from the Association stating that rent must be brought up to date.
I submitted this letter with a hardship form and I’m told that unless the letter says that I will be out on the street unless I pay I can’t withdraw money. I was told by my financial advisor to find a way to get a threatening letter of eviction so that they stop giving me excuses and release the money.
Any ideas???

What do you do if you find black mold in your house?

We just moved into a house on June 15th, which we’re renting. The day we moved in we started to realize that around the back door it was COVERED with black mold. Now, I’ve read up on the type of mold that it is and it’s very toxic! Everyone in my house is sick, and my landlord won’t take care of it! What should I do? We’ve already contacted the health department, and they don’t seem to take us seriously. I’m not sure whether to contact an attorney, or not. We gave this woman $1200 to move in, and we’re in the process of planning a wedding too, so we can’t afford to just up and move out until the end of August at best. What should we do until then? I have a newborn in my house, along with 2 other children! PLEASE HELP!!

What can I do about my sister-in-law and neice?

My SIL is a terrible example of a mother, IMO. She is lazy, doesn’t clean up (has been evicted several times and kicked off of the state housing authority) due to this issue, has never taught her soon to be 14 year old daughter correct hygeine in any way shape or form. My Niece is a sweet girl but she does not wear deodorant, brush her teeth (which she has now over 13 cavieites and gum disease), bath regularly, change her under clothes daily anytime of the month, is overweight for her size (me too though so…), she also tells the tales of her “friends” who seem to do just about anything that is brought up in a conversation for example ( my friend-no real name given- sky dived and had a great time). There would be no concievable way this would happen around here most likely. Her mom did finally get a job at Wal-mart but she since her last eviction is living with her friends and they have a daughter who is bipolar and currently they were told not to stay because she had a fit, whatever.