[mlcplus3]

I live in a little boro in pa own a duplex home have been renting upstairs for 5yrs when tenant moved out boro came in like storm troopers and gave me a dead sea scroll of impossible,ex.painting all decks and wood work out side in the winter.when tenants don't have use of yard.any way I had already told my niece she could live there and she put her stuff in there.since I have a lynch mob after me and her dog staying up there and she's down stairs I am not receiving rent yet.would it be cheaper for me to convert to single family.I have a front door to hallway and the 2 units have separate doors in the hall way.if I take out doors and both electric bills are in my name and I have only one heating control could this be considered a single family home we are family and privacy is not an issue.could this keep them @ bay until I can afford to complete there list. They said they are going to start fining me $1000/day I don't want to kick out my niece.help please!

[joypulv]

Either the tenant reported you, and the complaint went to the Building Inspector, or you were renting under Section 8? 'Boroughs' don't come storming in to rentals just because someone moved out. And there are no laws about anything having to be painted, but there are laws about removing lead paint. There are codes for residences in general and more codes for rentals, so it's impossible to know if you can get around the list of violations just by converting to a single family. Or if you can let anyone live there, family or not. Faulty plumbing and wiring, old gas space heaters, etc. You go to Zoning and ask about converting (generally not as simple as taking doors off and having one heating system), or about leaving the unit vacant (may be no distinction), and find out too which code violations pertain to which type of living space. Bring the list of violations with you and write down which is which, and take notes.

It's also impossible to know what's cheaper for you, since we don't know what rent you were getting and what costs to repair are. You need to be informed and organized.

Consider renting a room downstairs to a contractor (young, just divorced, etc) and paying for part time repairs each month, keeping in mind that materials are going to be a large part of it. That's a long shot, but you could ask around.