Pennsylvania’s pay and stay eviction law, found at Section 503(c) of the Landlord and Tenant Act of 1951, lets you stop an eviction by paying all back rent plus court costs to the constable, sheriff, or writ server any time before you are physically removed from the home.1Pennsylvania General Assembly. The Landlord and Tenant Act of 1951 – Chapter 5 Payment voids the writ of possession and you keep your home under the original lease. Two things have to be true: the eviction case must be based solely on unpaid rent, and the payment must cover the full amount down to the penny.
When Pay and Stay Applies
The statute is 68 P.S. ยง 250.503(c), and it only applies to cases filed exclusively for nonpayment of rent. If the landlord’s complaint includes anything else, such as property damage, lease violations, or an expired lease term, this remedy is unavailable even if unpaid rent is also listed.
Look at the judgment itself. The language “Possession Granted if Money Judgment Not Satisfied” is what signals pay and stay eligibility. A judgment that grants possession to the landlord without tying it to money owed means the court found grounds beyond nonpayment, and paying the balance will not stop the lockout.
What You Have to Pay
You need to cover the rent in arrears and the court costs listed on the judgment at a minimum. The Magisterial District Judge enters the amounts under Rule 514, which separates rent still due from any damages and from the costs of the proceeding.2Legal Information Institute. Pennsylvania Code 246 Pa Code r 514 – Judgment; Notice of Judgment or Dismissal and the Right to Appeal
Court costs depend on the size of the rent claim. The statewide cost table shows base filing costs running from roughly $100 for claims under $2,000 up to about $167 for claims between $4,000 and $12,000, and some counties add local surcharges on top.3Unified Judicial System of Pennsylvania. Magisterial District Judge Cost Table
Call the Magisterial District Court office that handled your case and ask for the exact pay-and-stay figure. Staff can give you the precise number. Do not rely on what the landlord says the balance is, and do not try to total it yourself from old invoices and ledgers. A shortfall of a few dollars means the eviction goes forward.
How Long You Have to Pay
The window is tighter than it looks. After the MDJ enters a judgment for possession in a residential case, the landlord must wait at least 10 days before requesting an order for possession, and has up to 120 days to make that request.4Pennsylvania Code and Bulletin. 246 Pa Code Rule 515 – Request for Order for Possession Once issued, the order goes to a constable or sheriff for service and execution.5Pennsylvania Code and Bulletin. 246 Pa Code Rule 516 – Issuance and Reissuance of Order for Possession Under Section 503(b), the writ must be served within 48 hours and executed on the 11th day after service on the tenant.1Pennsylvania General Assembly. The Landlord and Tenant Act of 1951 – Chapter 5
Your right to pay and stay lasts until the writ is actually executed, meaning the physical removal of you and your belongings. So even on the day the constable arrives, you can still pay and stop the eviction. Waiting that long is a serious gamble. Most tenants who use this remedy successfully do it well before execution day.
How to Make the Payment
If you pay before the scheduled eviction, coordinate with the constable and the landlord to arrange payment and get a written receipt. A certified check, money order, or cash should all work.
If you wait until the constable is at your door, bring cash. Constables generally will not accept checks on the day of execution because there is no time to confirm the funds clear. Ask for a receipt the moment you pay, and confirm out loud that the amount satisfies the judgment. Anything less than the full amount in an accepted form, and the lockout proceeds on schedule.
What Happens After You Pay
Once payment is accepted, the writ of possession becomes void, the constable or sheriff stops the lockout, and you keep your home under the original lease.1Pennsylvania General Assembly. The Landlord and Tenant Act of 1951 – Chapter 5 The landlord cannot use the same judgment to try the eviction again.
One follow-up step most tenants miss: the landlord is supposed to file a satisfaction of judgment with the court after you pay. If the landlord does not, you can file a written request with the court asking for the judgment to be marked satisfied. If the landlord still fails to enter satisfaction within 90 days of your written request without good cause, they become liable to you for 1% of the judgment amount per month, with a minimum of $250 and a maximum of $2,500 per month.6Pennsylvania Attorney General. Consumer Guide to Tenant and Landlord Rights An unsatisfied judgment that sits on your record makes you look like you still owe the money, and that can sink future rental applications.
When Pay and Stay Does Not Help
Pay and stay only covers evictions filed solely for failure to pay rent. If the complaint names any other ground, the remedy is off the table. Common situations where it does not apply:
- Lease violations such as property damage, unauthorized occupants, noise complaints, or illegal activity on the premises.
- Holdover tenancy, where you stayed past the end of a fixed-term lease without the landlord agreeing to renew.
- Combined grounds, where the landlord lists nonpayment alongside any other reason. The extra ground alone eliminates the pay-and-stay option.
Read the original complaint and the judgment carefully. Both state the grounds. If you see anything beyond nonpayment, paying the rent balance will not stop the eviction.
Section 8 and Manufactured Home Residents
If you hold a Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher, you are only responsible for your tenant share of the rent. If you fell behind on your portion, you pay that portion in arrears plus court costs to stop the eviction. If the landlord filed because the housing authority’s share did not arrive, the case should not have been brought against you to begin with. Keep in mind that an eviction filing can still put the voucher itself at risk through the housing authority’s separate termination process, even if you resolve the court case through payment.
Residents of manufactured home communities have an earlier layer of protection. Under the Pennsylvania Manufactured Home Community Rights Act, the park owner must give you written notice of the amount owed and 30 days to pay before filing for eviction based on unpaid rent. Pay within that 30-day cure period and no court case gets filed. If the cure window passes and the case goes to a judgment for possession based solely on nonpayment, the general pay-and-stay right under Section 503(c) still applies as a backstop.7Pennsylvania General Assembly. Manufactured Home Community Rights Act
If You Cannot Pay the Full Amount
Appealing the judgment to the Court of Common Pleas is the alternative, but the deadline is 10 calendar days from the date of the judgment. Miss it and the right to appeal is gone. You also have to serve the notice of appeal on the landlord and the Magisterial District Judge, and file proof of service with the Prothonotary within 10 days of filing.
To stay in the home during the appeal, you post a bond or escrow to establish a supersedeas. For most tenants, the amount is the lesser of three months’ rent or the full rent judgment. Tenants with household income at or below federal poverty guidelines qualify for reduced requirements:
- If you already paid rent for the month you file the appeal, provide proof of payment and no additional deposit is needed at filing. You then pay one month’s rent into escrow every 30 days.
- If rent has not been paid, deposit one-third of a month’s rent when you file the appeal, pay the remaining two-thirds within 20 days, and then deposit one full month’s rent every 30 days.8Legal Information Institute. 246 Pa Code r 1008 – Appeal as Supersedeas
Section 8 participants calculate these escrow amounts using the tenant share of rent, not the full contract rent.8Legal Information Institute. 246 Pa Code r 1008 – Appeal as Supersedeas Fall behind on the escrow payments and the landlord can file to end the supersedeas and move ahead with the eviction.
Your Record After a Successful Pay and Stay
The eviction filing stays on your court record even after you pay. Pennsylvania has no statewide law allowing tenants to seal or expunge eviction records, even when the judgment has been fully satisfied.9Pennsylvania General Assembly. Advancing Pennsylvania’s Housing Futures – Sealing Eviction Records Tenant screening companies pull these records routinely, and many do not distinguish between a completed eviction and one resolved through payment. Philadelphia has a local Renters’ Access Act that limits how landlords can use older or non-judgment eviction records; most other Pennsylvania municipalities have no comparable protection.
Having the judgment marked as satisfied is the single most important step for minimizing the damage to future rental applications. Confirm that the landlord filed the satisfaction, and if they did not, send the written request to the court and track the 90-day clock.