Pennsylvania tenant and landlord rights come primarily from the Landlord and Tenant Act of 1951, the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act, and a handful of specialized statutes covering utilities, carbon monoxide, abandoned property, and manufactured home communities. These laws set hard deadlines and dollar limits on security deposits, require landlords to keep units livable, prohibit discrimination and self-help evictions, and give tenants specific remedies when the rules are broken. There is no statewide rent control, so the lease itself does a lot of the work.
Security Deposits
During the first year of any lease, a Pennsylvania landlord cannot collect more than two months’ rent as a security deposit. Starting in the second year, the cap drops to one month’s rent. After you’ve been in the same unit for five years, the deposit cannot be increased even if the rent goes up.1Pennsylvania General Assembly. The Landlord and Tenant Act of 1951
Once you pass two years in the unit and your deposit is over $100, the landlord must place the money in an escrow account at a federally or state-regulated financial institution and tell you, in writing, the bank’s name and address and the deposit amount. From the third year on, the account must be interest-bearing. The landlord may keep one percent of the deposit per year as an administrative fee; the rest of the interest is yours, payable annually on the lease anniversary.1Pennsylvania General Assembly. The Landlord and Tenant Act of 1951
Getting the Deposit Back
Within 30 days after the lease ends or you surrender the unit, whichever comes first, the landlord must mail you a written list of any claimed damages along with payment of the remaining balance. Skip that step, and the landlord loses the right to withhold any portion of the deposit and loses the ability to sue you for damage to the unit.2Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Code 68 P.S. 250.512 – Recovery of Improperly Held Escrow Funds
If the landlord sends the damage list but still withholds money you’re owed and doesn’t pay within 30 days, you can sue for double the amount improperly withheld. The landlord has to prove the deductions were for real tenant-caused damage, not ordinary wear and tear. One trap tenants fall into: if you don’t give the landlord a forwarding address in writing when you move out, the landlord is off the hook for not returning the deposit.2Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Code 68 P.S. 250.512 – Recovery of Improperly Held Escrow Funds
Habitability and Repairs
Every residential lease in Pennsylvania carries an implied warranty of habitability. The landlord has to deliver and maintain a unit that is safe and livable, which at minimum means working heat, potable water, safe electrical systems, and sound structural conditions. Serious pest infestations and persistent mold can also breach the warranty.3Justia. Pugh v. Holmes
If a landlord refuses to fix a condition that makes the unit uninhabitable, a tenant has two main self-help options. Under repair and deduct, you hire someone to make the repair, pay for it, and subtract the cost from your rent. The deduction cannot exceed the rent owed for the remaining lease term, so a tenant with four months left at $800 a month cannot deduct more than $3,200. Get written estimates first and give the landlord a chance to do the work.
Rent Withholding
The stronger remedy is rent withholding under Pennsylvania’s Rent Withholding Act. When a dwelling is certified as unfit for human habitation by a code enforcement agency, the tenant’s duty to pay rent is suspended. Instead, the rent goes into an escrow account at a bank or trust company approved by the local government. No tenant can be evicted while rent is held in that escrow.4Pennsylvania General Assembly. City Rent Withholding Act If the landlord fixes the unit within six months, the escrowed money goes to the landlord. If six months pass without a fix, the money returns to the tenant or can be used to make the unit livable.
Carbon Monoxide Detectors
Rental properties with fossil-fuel-burning heaters or appliances, fireplaces, or attached garages must have an approved carbon monoxide detector centrally located near the bedrooms and near any fuel-burning appliance. Before each new tenancy, the landlord must confirm the batteries work and the device is functional, and must replace any detector that was removed or broken during the prior tenancy.5Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Statutes Title 35 P.S. Health and Safety 7225 Once you’ve moved in, testing the detector, replacing batteries, and replacing a stolen or damaged unit become your job. Notify the landlord in writing if you spot a problem with the device. Local municipalities may impose stricter rules than the state baseline.
Lead Paint in Pre-1978 Housing
If the building was built before 1978, federal law requires the landlord to disclose any known lead-based paint hazards before you sign a lease, hand over the EPA pamphlet “Protect Your Family from Lead in Your Home,” share any testing reports, and get your signed acknowledgment. A landlord with no knowledge of lead paint still has to say so in writing. A knowing violation can expose the landlord to triple the tenant’s actual damages plus civil penalties of up to $10,000 per violation.6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 U.S.C. 4852d – Disclosure of Information Concerning Lead Upon Transfer of Residential Property
Fair Housing
The Pennsylvania Human Relations Act prohibits housing discrimination based on race, color, familial status, religious creed, ancestry, age (40 and older), sex, national origin, and handicap or disability. That reaches further than the federal Fair Housing Act in two spots: Pennsylvania explicitly protects people 40 and over from age-based housing discrimination and specifically covers people who use guide or support animals because of blindness, deafness, or physical disability, along with handlers and trainers of those animals.7Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Human Relations Act
A landlord cannot refuse to rent based on a protected characteristic, offer different lease terms based on those characteristics, or misrepresent whether a unit is available. Landlords must also allow reasonable modifications to a unit at the tenant’s expense when needed for a disability, and must make reasonable accommodations in rules or policies so a person with a disability can fully use the housing.8New York Codes, Rules and Regulations. Pennsylvania Code 43 P.S. – Chapter 17. Pennsylvania Human Relations Act
If you believe a landlord discriminated against you, file a complaint with the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission within 180 days of the alleged discrimination. PHRC staff will help you draft and file the complaint.9Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission. Filing a Complaint
Rent Increases and Late Fees
Pennsylvania has no statewide rent control or rent stabilization, and as of 2026 no municipality in the state has enacted local rent control either. There is no cap on how much a landlord can raise the rent or how often. The practical limit is the lease: a landlord cannot raise rent during a fixed-term lease unless the lease allows it. For a month-to-month tenancy, the landlord must give reasonable notice before an increase takes effect.
There is also no specific statute capping late fees. The Pennsylvania Attorney General’s office has said late fees should bear a reasonable relation to the costs the landlord actually incurs from late payment, and a fee clearly disproportionate to any real cost could be challenged as an unenforceable penalty. The lease language will usually be the only written standard either side can point to in a dispute, so read it before you sign.
Eviction Notice Periods
A landlord who wants you out has to follow the Landlord and Tenant Act. The process starts with a written notice to quit, and the required notice period depends on the reason:
- Nonpayment of rent: 10 days from service of the notice.
- Lease expiration or lease violation, lease of one year or less or month-to-month: 15 days.
- Lease expiration or lease violation, lease longer than one year: 30 days.
These apply to standard residential tenancies. Manufactured home communities follow different and longer timelines.10Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Code 68 P.S. 250.501 – Notice to Quit
If you don’t leave after the notice period runs, the landlord has to file a complaint with a Magisterial District Judge to get an order of possession. From the date of judgment, you have 10 days to file a notice of appeal. During the appeal, you can stay in the unit by posting a bond and paying rent to the court every 30 days. Tenants above the federal poverty level post the lesser of three months’ rent or the total unpaid rent; tenants at or below the poverty level post only the current month’s rent.
What a Landlord Cannot Do
A landlord cannot evict you by changing the locks, hauling your belongings to the curb, or shutting off utilities. Only a constable or sheriff can physically remove a tenant, and only after a court has entered an order of possession and the appeal period has passed. Pennsylvania’s Utility Service Tenants Rights Act separately makes it unlawful for a landlord to interfere with utility service as a pressure tactic. A tenant who suffers retaliation for asserting rights under that act can recover two months’ rent or actual damages, whichever is greater, plus attorney fees.11Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes Title 66 – 1531 Retaliation by Landlord Prohibited
Retaliation within six months after a tenant exercises rights related to utility service creates a legal presumption that the landlord acted in retaliation. The burden then shifts to the landlord to prove a legitimate reason for the eviction notice, rent increase, or lease change.
Belongings Left Behind After Move-Out
When a tenant moves out or is evicted and leaves personal belongings behind, the landlord cannot just throw them away. Under 68 P.S. ยง 250.505a, the landlord has to send written notice by first-class mail to the rental address and to any known forwarding or emergency address. The tenant then has 10 days from the postmark date to contact the landlord about picking up the property.12Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Statutes Title 68 P.S. Real and Personal Property 250.505a – Disposition of Abandoned Personal Property
A tenant who responds in time can request storage for up to 30 days from the date of the notice, with the tenant paying the storage costs. The landlord must use ordinary care in securing the property and make it reasonably available for pickup. No response within 10 days, and the landlord may dispose of the belongings.
There is a protection-from-abuse exception: if the landlord knows a PFA order exists for the tenant or an immediate family member, the landlord must wait at least 30 days from the notice date before disposing of anything. A landlord who violates this process faces treble damages, reasonable attorney fees, and court costs. If the lease sets different terms for abandoned property, the lease controls, except for the PFA protection, which cannot be waived.
Manufactured Home Community Residents
If you own your manufactured home but rent the lot underneath, you are covered by the Manufactured Home Community Rights Act rather than the standard rules above. The act requires every lease between the community owner and the resident to be in writing, and any community rules must be included in the lease.13New York Codes, Rules and Regulations. Pennsylvania Code 68 – Manufactured Home Community Rights Act
Community owners can evict only for specific reasons, such as nonpayment or repeated rule violations, and the notice periods are longer: 30 days for a lease under one year or month-to-month, and three months for a lease of one year or more. For nonpayment, the notice period is 15 days if served between April and September and 30 days if served between September and April.10Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Code 68 P.S. 250.501 – Notice to Quit Residents also have the right to sell the home to any qualified buyer without unreasonable interference from the community owner, and the owner cannot charge a sales commission unless they formally acted as the resident’s agent in the sale.