Slum Lords. Do I have the right to take action?

cuteybaby_

So. Here is my story.

I moved in the my first ever apartment, I have been living here going on 3 years on March 10th, 2012.
My landlady at first was great, she was told me that if I was a few days late on payment, just to message her and she would have no problems. Also if I wanted to "fix" up the place she would take it out of our rent for the next months.

I knew moving into the place, it wasn't in that great of shape. It was an old home, made into a duplex. I had the top floor, there was another couple below me that had been living in this apartment for a few years. There is a busted window in one of the rooms that I noticed, I had asked in the beginning to have it replaced; but till this day never has. I understand now. She's a slumlord...and things started to happen rapidly with no actions.

First, my contract states, she provided a lawn mower and we the tenants were to mow. She had a rusted mower, I asked for it to be replaced. That was 2 1/2 years ago. It still has yet to be replaced.

That is a small tid bit of things wrong with this place..But my main concern now is. I have put up with so much things that have been addressed to have fixed, however never has there actually been any action towards any of it. And if so, its been months down the road. But now I have a problem that I don't think I could just let go, which I need someones help. So I turned to ask the question to you guys.


4 weeks ago, our drain in the basement started to back up. Now its complete sewage from our house, the pipes are copper and never been replaced in the house at all; they are busted. Because of this, the sewage from the house is poured into the basement. Well it had become so bad, that it flooded the basement to the stairs. It stayed like this for a week and a half. I called my Landlady, first time, no response. Next day. Called. She answer, saying she would have a plumber out as soon as possible. By this time, the stench from the basement of our own feces, urine, and other fluids of such started to seep into the pipes, making the bathroom, kitchen areas smell horrible. It cause us eventually to get sick. Plumber came two days later, drained our basement; but left what had been in the water sitting on the floor. Landlady calls, asking us to tell her what it looked like; I responded by stating someone of professional standards needed to be hired to disinfect the basement, the smell was still there. She returned said she will get it cleaned as soon as possible. It has now been another week and five days...the problem is still there. I complained once again for the health risk, she told us to leave if it was a hazard and go someone to stay. She has told us she can't find someone to clean it, so she is asking us to clean it up for a discount on our rent... I believe we are not responsible for having to clean it up. We have had to tolerate the smell already and have gotten sick from the bacteria of our own sewage, our washer and dryer are down there; laundry was not an option for the smell.
Sadly it had not been the first time it had flooded in the basement, this would be the third time.

Do I have any legal actions or anything to make my landlord understand that, making your tenants live in such conditions is uncalled for. There are broken windows, broken pipes, lawn never mowed for we can't mow it, no lawn mower. I pay 600 a month plus electric, and see now results in fixing anything breaking down. Stairs are collapsing to get to the door, stink bugs get in every corners of the house threw broken door, and none of this was caused by us at all; it was previously like this. Now I understand I knew a few things were now perfect in this house, but I believe for paying so much money it can be fixed up?

What do I do? If anyone has any answers or direction I can take. I"m just tired of asking and asking to have something more livable and only getting the run around; is she in breach of anything? I live in PA so if anyone knows the laws or actions I can take. Please....Im desperate!

Thank you, Hailey.

Answer
You cannot "force" them to fix things, but you can be relieved of any duty to pay rent until they do. Unfortunately, if it is bad enough, you can also be administratively evicted from a condemned building (as opposed to judicially evicted under complaint by the landlord), so you'd need a new place to live.

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