My question involves landlord-tenant law in the State of: Pennsylvania

Some help in understanding legal liabilities in the case I describe below would be greatly appreciated, I will attempt to explain the situation clearly and then present the questions I have.


A husband and wife are married and living together. The husband makes allows the friend to "live" in the house with them. The friend promises to help with improvements to the house in exchange for living on the property. The friend is paid by the husband for his work and has never paid rent. The wife never liked this arrangement, but accepts it with much resentment.

The friend spends most of his time not in the house, but in a structure he has built for himself on the household's property. ("friend" is an architect, and has much pride on the elaborate structure he built himself). The friend uses the house of husband and wife for bathroom, showers, and storage of some personal items.

He is usually on good terms with the husband, the wife dislikes him strongly. This arrangement continues for more than 5 years.

The husband dies and the wife inherits all of his property. She doesn't want the friend on her property.

The friend maintains he has a legal right to stay on the property due to (1) verbal contract made with the husband, and (2) squatters rights, claims to have spoken with a lawyer and met all the requirements for squatters rights for Pennsylvania law.

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Can someone help me make light of this situation from a legal perspective?


Legally speaking, is the friend a tenant? If not, what term applies to him?

Is the wife obligated to continue to uphold the verbal contract the husband made with the friend 6 years before his death? Does the wife have to make an order to evict off the property?

Without going into specifics of Pennsylvania law, can the friend invoke squatters rights to stay on the property?

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Thanks much in advance for the help