If you don't have a written lease in over a year you are considered month to month tenant. That means 30 days notice from the landlord to you, or 30 days notice from you to the landlord. If the house is for sale, I'm sure the landlord is hoping you will stay until the house has a contract on it so it will keep money flowing to pay the mortgage. What you should also be aware of is, if this is a short sale situation, the bank doesn't have to accept any offer that comes in. Depending on what is going on between the lender and the landlord, it could always move from a short sale to the bank taking steps towards foreclosure on the property. If you have a good relationship with your landlord, I would ask those questions. You should probably think about moving, however, it normally takes at least 30 days for a property to go to settlement after the landlord has a contract. As for the repairs, yes he should keep up with repairs, but this is a situation where he can sell the house "as is", so this is probably why he isn't making the repair. I hope this helps you. Feel free to contact me anytime if you have any questions.

Here is some good info:

http://www.oag.state.md.us/Consumer/landlords.htm

If the term is less than a year, you can have an oral lease, and most likely if you are paying the rent and he is letting you stay there, that constitutes some rights for you. The link has info on who to contact if there is a problem. But the smart thing to do would be to find another place as soon as you can......