Background: I live in the state of Pennsylvania in the US. I'm 21 years old, and I live with my mother and a roommate. Our landlord is a conservative wank****e who only cares about dead presidents, and our roommate is a drug addict who is addicted to Valium, Soma, Vicodin, and other various controlled and uncontrolled substances. These are all prescribed however.
We have no money for a lawyer, and no friends who are knowledgeable in this particular legal area.
The following is a log of the events that have transpired the past four days (with today being the least notable so far). Names, phone numbers, and other confidential information have been removed.
7/9/15
12:00 - 5:00 AM: Myself [REDACTED], father [REDACTED], and mother [REDACTED] awoken numerous times throughout the early morning by roommate [REDACTED] with complaints of chest pain. Informed by all of us to go to the hospital, but refuses. Situation culminates with 911 being dialed by roommate [REDACTED] from her phone [REDACTED] and EMTs being dispatched. EKG is performed and roommate [REDACTED] is informed that she has an arrythmia. She [REDACTED] refuses treatment because they will only take her to Lower Bucks Hospital, which she does not wish to go to.
7:00 AM - Verbal altercation in dining room between mom [REDACTED], dad [REDACTED], and roommate [REDACTED] over the earlier events. She [REDACTED] claims we do not care about her and is shouting and in tears. I [REDACTED] lost my temper and threw a plate on the floor which bounced off and hit her on the LEFT shin. Apologized, apology supposedly accepted.
2-3:00 PM - Landlord [REDACTED] knocks on door threatening to evict us or make us pay $75 more per month unless air conditioner is shut off. roommate [REDACTED] claims I intentionally hit her in her RIGHT arthritic knee, drawing a circle around it. Landlord believes this claim.
5:00 PM - Dad [REDACTED] shows up to retrieve some of his things. Altercation and physical threats from landlord's son [REDACTED]. Dad [REDACTED] calls police who mediate the situation and inform him that it is legal for him to be on the property as long as invited by rent paying tenants
6:00 PM - I [REDACTED] leave the house to stay the night at a friend's [REDACTED] place [REDACTED], giving the situation at home [REDACTED] time to cool down.
7/10/15
9:00 AM - Left friend's [REDACTED] place and spent the morning at Lake Caroline.
12:50 PM - Picked up from Lake Caroline by [REDACTED] and my mother [REDACTED]. Taken to my CRNP [REDACTED] for monthly [REDACTED] prescription/check in. Situation explained to him.
5:00 - 7:00 PM? - roommate [REDACTED] calls the police on myself [REDACTED] and my mother [REDACTED], refusing to state why. 3 police cruisers surround the house but do not enter the property nor approach.
10:00 PM: roommate [REDACTED] claims to call the police on myself [REDACTED] and my mother [REDACTED] again after overhearing us talking in my room from her room, assuming we were being mean to her and talking behind her back.
11:00 PM: No police officers have arrived, I [REDACTED] dial 911 and speak to the dispatcher (name unknown) who informs me that no call in was made, and I inform him that there is no need for an officer to be sent, and go to sleep.
7/11/15
12:30 PM: Mother [REDACTED] and landlord [REDACTED] sit down to discuss finances. Landlord starts a verbal altercation and claims we [REDACTED] owe him $900. Our records state we owe $450. He rejects this and shuts the electric off, telling us simply to get out.
12:50 PM: Landlord claims Peco (Electric Company) shut the power off. Mother [REDACTED] calls the police on landlord [REDACTED] due to unlawful interference with utilities. One officer [REDACTED] is dispatched, and the officer makes the landlord [REDACTED] turn the electric back on, and speaks to us about the domestic issues with both the landlord [REDACTED] and roommate. [REDACTED]. Landlord [REDACTED] continues to claim Peco (Electric Company) shut it off.
2:00-3:00 PM: The [REDACTED] family, including the landlord, his wife, his son, his son's wife, and his grandchildren begin cleaning out property belonging to dad [REDACTED], mom [REDACTED], and myself [REDACTED]. While he has the right to remove my father's [REDACTED] property from the premises, he does not have the right to do so with my own [REDACTED] or my mother's [REDACTED] property. When informed of what property belongs to who, the landlord [REDACTED] informs us that he does not care and will see us [REDACTED] in court.
Neither myself nor my mother have any experience in court. What we DO have is proof that he illegally shut the electricity off, illegally moved our property off of the premises, and most importantly he left his financial records here, which we kept and compared to our own records which bear his signature. His records only date back to March of this year, whereas ours date back to November 2014. Can we use these in court against him, or would it be considered theft and/or ignored?
The landlord has no signed contract with us, enters our house and rooms without notice (which is apparently legal in our state) and is extremely aggressive and threatening, though we have no witnesses of this outside of our wishy washy roommate who may or may not try to get ME locked up. I'm also unaware of whether or not some kind of renter's permit is necessary to rent rooms in a house within Pennsylvania.
So yes, any legal advice here would majorly help, I'm a total noob at this and pretty scared to be honest with you all.
