Landlord Atlas

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Rent Control (none; just-cause ordinance only)

Verified September 16, 2026 Correction October 2, 2026 All Pennsylvania topics →

Philadelphia has no rent control: no Philadelphia law limits the amount of rent or the size of a rent increase, and Pennsylvania sets no statewide limit.

Cited to Philadelphia Code 9-804 (unfair rental practices: code violation freeze, retaliation, security deposits, rent increase notice, good cause required) and 25 more sources · Verified September 16, 2026

Pennsylvania also has no law saying whether its cities may adopt rent control, so Philadelphia has simply never enacted one. What Philadelphia does require is a reason to end a tenancy. Since January 22, 2019 a landlord has needed good cause to end or refuse to renew a lease of less than one year, including one that has become month to month, and on November 1, 2026 that requirement extends to every lease. A rent increase needs 60 days' written notice for a tenancy of one year or more and 30 days for a shorter one. A landlord must take part in the City's eviction diversion program for at least 30 days before filing, may never use a lockout, and may not collect rent or recover possession at all without a rental license and a Certificate of Rental Suitability. Pages that call Philadelphia rent-controlled are wrong, and so are pages that say a Philadelphia landlord may end a short tenancy for any reason at all.

What is in force

Philadelphia has no rent control or rent stabilization of its own. Nothing in The Philadelphia Code limits how much rent a landlord may charge or how much rent may go up, and Pennsylvania has no law that sets a statewide limit either. Pennsylvania also has no law that addresses whether its cities may adopt rent control, in either direction, so the plain fact is that Philadelphia has never enacted a rent limit, not that it is forbidden to. What Philadelphia does control is the reason a tenancy may end. Since January 22, 2019, Code Section 9-804(12) has required good cause before a landlord may end or refuse to renew a lease of less than one year, including a lease that has become month to month. On November 1, 2026 that requirement extends to every lease, however long, under an ordinance the Mayor signed on May 7, 2026. Philadelphia also requires 60 days' written notice of a rent increase for a tenancy of one year or more and 30 days for a shorter tenancy, requires a landlord to take part in the City's eviction diversion program for at least 30 days before filing, and bars a landlord from collecting rent or recovering possession at all without a rental license. There is no vacancy provision, because there is no rent limit to lift: a landlord may set the rent for a new tenant at any amount.

What housing is covered

The good cause requirement in force today reaches any residential premises in Philadelphia at the expiration of a lease of less than one year, which the City reads as including a lease that has converted to month to month. A lease of one year or more is outside it until November 1, 2026, when the requirement extends to every lease and gains one exception, for a unit the landlord has occupied as a primary residence since the tenancy began. There is no construction date cutoff, no minimum number of units, and no exception for a single family home, a condominium or a corporate owner. The rent increase notice requirement does not apply to property under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, and applies to a lease executed or renewed after January 30, 2016. A rental license is not required for a unit occupied by the owner or a member of the owner's family, or for limited lodging licensed separately, and property owned and operated by the Philadelphia Housing Authority and its subsidiaries in compliance with federal maintenance standards is exempt from the license and its fees. The Certificate of Rental Suitability is not required for a rental to a member of the owner's family. The screening law does not reach a unit owned, operated, subsidized or financed by a government program or governed by an affordability restriction, though a tenant based subsidy alone does not take a unit out of it. Free legal representation in eviction cases is limited to households at or below 200% of the federal poverty level living in one of ten ZIP codes the City has phased in so far.

Eviction and termination rules

Philadelphia requires good cause to end a tenancy at the expiration of a lease of less than one year (Code Section 9-804(12)). The law lists habitual non-payment or habitual late payment of rent, breach of a material lease term, nuisance activity, substantial damage beyond normal wear and tear, refusing the landlord lawful access after written notice, refusing to sign an extension on materially the same terms, the owner or an immediate family member moving in, refusing a proposed rent increase or lease change where the landlord offered the option and the tenant had until 15 days before the lease expired to accept, and taking the unit off the market for renovations with 60 days' notice, prompt return of the deposit and a right to come back at the market rate. The list is open ended, so a court or the Fair Housing Commission may accept another reason. The landlord must state the cause in writing on the same schedule as a rent increase notice, which is 30 days for a tenancy of less than one year and 60 days for a tenancy of one year or more. If the landlord does not give that notice, the lease renews month to month unless the tenant chooses otherwise. A tenant may challenge the claimed cause in court or by complaint to the Fair Housing Commission within 15 business days of getting the notice, and no notice to vacate, non-renewal or termination takes effect while a challenge is pending before the Fair Housing Commission unless a court finds it was filed in bad faith. A landlord's account of the cause is presumed true if backed by time and date stamped video, time and date stamped photographs, or a police report with corroborating investigation. On November 1, 2026 the same requirement extends to every lease, the notice must state the basis with reasonable specificity, filing an eviction case or serving a diversion rights notice counts as an action to terminate, two grounds are added, and the landlord's own primary residence is carved out. Separate limits apply whatever the lease length. While a notice of violation is outstanding against the property, a landlord may not end the lease except for non-payment, nuisance, waste or the tenant having caused the violation, may not re-let to someone else, and may not change the lease terms. A landlord may not end a lease or change its terms in retaliation for a violation being found, a complaint being filed, a tenant joining a lawful organization or otherwise exercising a legal right, or for an incident of domestic violence or sexual assault; where the notice comes within a year of the triggering event the landlord must prove it was not retaliation. A landlord must enroll in the City's eviction diversion program, give the tenant notice of diversion rights, and take part in good faith for at least 30 days before there is any lawful basis to evict, unless eviction is necessary to stop or prevent an imminent threat of harm. Lockouts and every other form of self-help eviction are prohibited outright: only a Sheriff or a court appointed landlord and tenant officer may carry out a judgment for possession. A landlord without a valid rental license, or who has not met the Certificate of Rental Suitability requirement, or whose license is suspended, may not recover possession or collect rent for the whole period of non-compliance and must attach the license to any eviction or rent claim. A tenant who is a victim of domestic violence or sexual assault may end the lease early without penalty on 30 days' notice, asked for in writing within 90 days of the incident report, protection from abuse order or consent agreement, and may ask the landlord to split the lease so the abuser is removed and the victim stays.

Other requirements

Philadelphia regulates a great deal about renting other than the amount of rent. Every rental property must have a rental license from the Department of Licenses and Inspections, and no one may collect rent on a property that needs one until it is issued (Code Section 9-3902). The license is renewed each year, is not transferable, and a new owner must get a new one within 10 business days of taking title. The application must name the owner, the managing agent with a street address rather than a post office box, and, where the owner is not a natural person or a publicly traded company, every individual holding more than a 49% equity interest or, if none does, the two largest interests. Since July 6, 2026 the application must carry a physical address for service, post office boxes and virtual addresses are not accepted, and an owner who lives outside Philadelphia must name a local agent with a monitored email address. At the start of every tenancy the owner must also give the tenant a Certificate of Rental Suitability issued within the previous 60 days, the owner's own attestation that the unit is fit and habitable and that fire protection and smoke detection equipment work, a copy of the City of Philadelphia Partners in Good Housing Handbook, and a link to the "How to Register" page on the City Commissioners' website. The Certificate is free, and the Department issues it only if every required license is held and no violation notices are outstanding. A rent increase needs 60 days' written notice for a tenancy of one year or more and 30 days for a shorter tenancy, stating the amount, the effective date and the new payment, delivered by hand or by first class mail with proof of mailing; for a tenancy of one year or more, a tenant who has had that notice and will not renew must say so within 30 days. Security deposits may not exceed the state ceiling of two months' rent in the first year and one month's rent after that, and where the first year deposit is more than one month's rent the tenant may choose to pay one month up front and the rest in three equal monthly payments, with the total unchanged; owners of two or fewer rental units are outside that installment right, counting units across all the entities they control. A tenant whose deposit is unlawfully kept may recover actual damages or, by election before judgment, one month's rent, plus attorney's fees and costs. A landlord may not accept any rent under a written lease before giving every party a fully executed copy. On screening, a landlord must publish uniform written screening criteria before taking applications and must give a rejected applicant a plain written statement of all the reasons within 3 business days, with copies of the third party documents used. A landlord may not automatically refuse someone solely for having an eviction record or a credit or screening score below a set number, must assess each application individually, and may not rely on an eviction case filed or a judgment entered four or more years earlier, a sealed record, a vacated or satisfied judgment, a case that did not end in judgment for the landlord, or most pandemic era cases. A rejected applicant may give notice within 48 hours that they dispute the decision and then has 7 business days to send evidence of an error or of mitigating circumstances, which the landlord must consider; if the unit is gone and the landlord owns five or more rental units in the city, the landlord must offer the next comparable unit. Breaking the screening law carries actual damages, punitive damages up to $2,000 per violation, and attorney's fees. Philadelphia also guarantees a free lawyer in eviction and subsidy termination cases to renters with household income at or below 200% of the federal poverty level who live in a covered ZIP code, currently 19121, 19124, 19131, 19132, 19134, 19139, 19141, 19144, 19153 and 19154, reached through the City's tenant hotline. A tenant may take any unfair rental practice to the Fair Housing Commission or raise it in court, and none of these protections may be signed away in a lease.

Notes and caveats

Changes since last full verification

The Verified date above (September 16, 2026) marks the last time every figure on this page was verified end-to-end against official sources. The changes below were published since then, each verified against the official source it names (what these dates mean).

Citations

This page records local law. Statewide laws — deposits, notice periods, late fees, entry, evictions — live on the Pennsylvania hub, and the state-level position on local rent regulation appears there with its own citations and verification date.