What to do if my landlord is trying to evict me for something that I didn’t do?

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What to do if my landlord is trying to evict me for something that I didn’t do?

My patio glass door has little cracks all through it. I did not touch or hit it. He’s telling me i have to pay for it and I told him im not because i didnt break it. I went online to see how this glass cracked so randomly and i came acrosss somethiing called spontaneous glass breakage. My glass door looks exactly what these articles and pictures are describing. He came over yesterday to fix my lock and asked me what are we going to do about the window. I told him that I’m not paying for the window because I didn’t break it and he said that he will file for eviction at the end of the month.

Asked on November 19, 2012 under Real Estate Law, Pennsylvania

Answers:

SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney

Answered 11 years ago | Contributor

If the landlord believes you have deliberately or grossly negligently (very carelessly) damaged his property, or that you have breached or violated any lease terms in regard to damage and paying for it, he can try to evict. To succeed, he will have to prove in court that you did in fact cause the damage and/or breach the lease. He will have to do this by a "preponderance of the evidence," or that it is more likely than not that you did this. You can try to refute his evidence and/or provide your own. Warning: make sure you  do not miss the court appearance, since if you do, you will lose by default (like forfeiting a ball game by not showing up).


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