Evictions for drug use in PA

[Kapil Sehgal]

I have a condo rental unit in West Chester, PA. I found out from the condo association office that the police has been out to the unit a few times on drug usage and charges have been filed. When I called the police department for details, they told me they could not share the police reports with me, since I was not a “party in the case”. They also told me that if I filed for eviction in district court, a police officer will come to the court and bring the police reports with him to the hearing.

I filed for eviction in district court. When I called the police department to request an officer’s presence at the court hearing, the same person denied giving me the aforementioned feedback and said, to quote, “this is not how things are handled”. She asked me to talk to the police officer who went to the unit and request him to come to the hearing. So far I have left 2 voice mails for 2 officers in the police department and my voice mails have been returned.

Does anyone know what my rights are as a landlord in this situation and how I can get the evidence needed for the purpose of the court hearing. Without the evidence, the tenant will deny everything. 

[Matt A.]

I know Im a little late responding to an old thread, hopefully its been resolved by this point. Im searching for PA eviction process as I have an inherited tenant that has refused to make any meaningful contact since I closed on this property 3 weeks ago. To that point, rent was due yesterday and I filed for eviction today at the magistrates office. The existing lease had a waiver of notice (good thing) and another clause to "follow all local, state, and federal laws"

The girlfriend (who IS on the lease) has a guilty plea entered in late November... and as a lesson-learned when inspecting leases during due-diligence I've fount the PA Judicial portal to be a Godsend.

https://ujsportal.pacourts.us/Default.aspx

This little gem lets me research by party name (tenant) in Criminal (statewide) and also local matters by magistrates office. Ive found some great stuff here that would also cause me to have had the seller evict the tenant before I got stuck with him... would have made life a whole lot easier.