Landlord won't give lease, enters without notice

[Ross Miller]

Someone I know is having problems with her landlord. The landlord is part of a family-owned real estate business, with him taking care of leases, his father handling repairs/maintenance, and I'm not sure who else. 

The tenant has told me that the landlords father has entered her apartment on several occasions without notice. From what I've read, PA doesn't have a law requiring advance notice, but this man is using his key and entering the apartment without knocking. The most recent time, she was cooking in the kitchen and he walked right in the door. When questioned what he was doing, his response was "I'm going away for a few days and wanted to make sure everything was okay".

She has complained to the landlord about his father. The landlord said he would change the locks so his father wouldn't have a key. He hasn't done this even after several requests. 

She is leaving for a trip and is legitimately concerned about the old man entering her apartment while she's gone. I also learned that she doesn't even have a current lease. She was on a 1 year lease expiring in May, but she moved from one apartment to a different one owned by the same people. They never had her sign a new lease. 

She is at the point where she just wants to move out. She told the landlord she could just leave because he never gave her a lease. He said if she leaves, all her stuff will be there and he will lock her out so she can't get it. He also has her security deposit, and it seems unlikely he would be willing to return it voluntarily. 

I know that everything the landlord is doing is morally wrong, but does anyone have advice on action she can take or the legal ramifications of the landlord's (and his father's) actions?

[JD Martin]

Thoughts:

1. She shouldn't have said anything to him about leaving. 

2. If she wants to move, she could stealth pack all her soft items (clothes, cookware, etc), get those out and gone one day, then hire a mover to get everything else gone in a day. In an apartment she should be able to empty it pretty fast.

3. She can't have it both ways, i.e. "I don't have a lease" and "You can't enter the property" unless PA law addresses it outside the terms of a lease. Either she has a lease that can be enforced - i.e. write a letter/have an attorney write a letter pointing out the "entry" provision, or she has nothing and has to rely on whatever the state has prescribed. If that's nothing, then she needs to simply move.