Pennsylvania Landlord-Tenant Laws
Local rent regulation in Pennsylvania
No Pennsylvania statute expressly addresses local rent control; whether a municipality could regulate rents turns on the general limits of municipal power under state law rather than any express rent-regulation ban.
Verified August 12, 2026 · Full Pennsylvania rent-increase rules →
Pennsylvania landlord-tenant laws by topic
Pennsylvania security deposits
Pennsylvania caps security deposits at two months' rent in the first year of a lease and one month's rent from the second year on, and after five years of tenancy the deposit can't be raised at all — with a 30-day deadline after lease end or surrender to deliver an itemized damage list and refund the balance.
Pennsylvania rent increase notice
Pennsylvania has no statute requiring any specific notice before a rent increase; the practical floor for a month-to-month tenancy is the notice-to-quit rule — 15 days for tenancies of one year or less or of indeterminate duration, 30 days for tenancies over one year (68 P.S. 250.501(b)) — because a tenant who declines the new rent is on notice the tenancy can end on that same timeline.
Pennsylvania late fees
Pennsylvania sets no statutory cap on residential late fees and mandates no grace period — the Landlord and Tenant Act of 1951 simply doesn't address them — so a late fee must be written into the lease to be collectable and is enforced, if challenged, under general contract-law limits on penalty clauses.
Pennsylvania entry notice
Pennsylvania is one of the minority of states with no statute requiring advance notice before a landlord enters an occupied rental unit — the Landlord and Tenant Act of 1951 is silent on entry, so the lease governs, backstopped by the tenant's right to quiet enjoyment.
Pennsylvania eviction process
Pennsylvania's eviction path runs from a notice to quit — 10 days for nonpayment, 15 days for a lease breach on a lease of a year or less (30 days if longer) — through a landlord-tenant complaint before a Magisterial District Judge, with the hearing set 7 to 15 days after filing and judgment at the hearing or within three days.
Pennsylvania application & screening fees
Pennsylvania does not regulate rental application fees at all: no statute caps the fee, ties it to what a screening actually costs, requires a receipt or a refund, requires anything to be disclosed before the money is taken, or sets a state denial-notice duty, and there is no reusable screening report law and no rule on money taken to hold a home.
Pennsylvania deposit interest
Pennsylvania requires a landlord to pay interest on a security deposit over $100, but only once the money has been held for more than two years.
Pennsylvania habitability & repairs
Pennsylvania has no habitability statute, and a landlord's duty to keep a rented home fit to live in rests on the state Supreme Court's 1979 decision in Pugh v. Holmes, which abolished caveat emptor for residential leases and adopted an implied warranty of habitability.
Pennsylvania lease termination
Pennsylvania requires a landlord to give 15 days' written notice to quit before recovering possession where the lease is for a year or less or for an indeterminate time, and 30 days where it is for more than a year, but the lease may shorten that notice or delete it entirely and many Pennsylvania leases do.
Pennsylvania mobile home park laws
Pennsylvania's Manufactured Home Community Rights Act governs the lease of a space in any community of three or more manufactured homes, requiring a written lease, allowing a community owner to end or refuse to renew that lease only for four listed reasons, and requiring written notice within 60 days of a decision to close the community with at least 180 days before residents must leave and a relocation payment from the owner.
Pennsylvania Fair Market Rents (FY 2027) — HUD's benchmark rents for every Pennsylvania metro area and county.
How this record was verified: Direct read of the Landlord and Tenant Act of 1951 (P.L. 69, No. 20) text on the official PA General Assembly site (legis.state.pa.us HTM full text and section 512 page): Sections 511.1 (68 P.S. 250.511a), 511.2 (250.511b), 511.3 (250.511c), 512 (250.512), 501 (250.501). Absence of rent-increase, late-fee, and entry statutes verified against the full Act text and multiple concurring secondary sources.