Requesting Repairs in Pennsylvania Rentals

To get a repair made in a Pennsylvania rental, tell your landlord about the problem in writing and allow a reasonable time to fix it. No statute sets a number of days; if the dispute reaches court, a judge decides what was reasonable for that problem. If the landlord does not act, ask your local code office to inspect, then pick a remedy: the warranty of habitability, a court-made rule that every lease promises a safe and sanitary home, lets you repair and deduct or withhold rent anywhere in the state, and in cities, an official finding that the home is unfit for human habitation lets you pay rent into escrow instead. State law gives little protection from retaliation, so check local rules, such as Philadelphia's, before you hold back rent.

Step 1: Send a written repair request

The warranty-of-habitability remedies all start with notice. In Pugh v. Holmes (1979), the state Supreme Court held that a tenant claiming a breach must prove that the landlord was told about the defect, had a reasonable opportunity to repair it, and failed to. A dated letter or email shows when the landlord was told, and so how long it has had to make the repair. Include:

• Each problem, where it is in the unit, and the date you first noticed it
• How it affects your use of the home, such as no heat in two bedrooms
• The date by which you expect the repair, and the days and times you can let a worker in
• If you may fix it yourself, a statement that you will repair it and deduct the cost from rent if it is not fixed by that date, because Pugh requires a repair-and-deduct notice to describe the defect and the steps you will take

Send the request in a way you can prove later. MidPenn Legal Services suggests certified mail plus regular mail, keeping a copy for your records; a saved email or a maintenance-portal confirmation also gives you a dated record. The Attorney General's tenant guide says you must give the landlord reasonable access to make repairs, so answer scheduling requests promptly. The same guide says a lease clause that rents the unit "as is" or makes you responsible for all maintenance and repairs is unenforceable.

How long counts as reasonable depends on the problem. MidPenn gives two examples: a landlord can be expected to restore heat within 24 hours in winter, but may have 30 days to repair a furnace in summer. Our guides to landlord repair response timelines and reporting maintenance issues cover deadlines in other states and what a strong request includes.

Step 2: Ask your local code office to inspect

A written violation notice from an inspector gives you independent evidence of the problem. Inspections are local in Pennsylvania: the state Department of Community and Economic Development explains that each municipality may adopt and enforce its own property maintenance code, separate from the statewide construction code, and the Pugh court noted that many municipalities have no housing code at all.

Philadelphia. Report the problem to the Department of Licenses and Inspections (L&I) through 311's online form or by calling 311, or (215) 686-8686 from outside the city. L&I aims to respond within 3 business days to a home without heat between October 1 and April 15, and within 20 business days to other maintenance complaints. If the inspector finds violations, L&I issues a Notice of Violation that gives the owner up to 35 days to correct them, and it may take the owner to court if the work is not done.

Pittsburgh. Call 311, or 412-255-2621 from outside the city, or use the city's online complaint form. The Department of Permits, Licenses, and Inspections sends an inspector, who gives the owner a written Request for Compliance and time to make the fix. If a second inspection finds the problem unfixed, the owner gets a second request; if a third inspection finds it, the department files a criminal complaint with the magisterial district judge, the local court for minor cases, who can fine the owner.

Boroughs, townships, and other cities. Call your municipal office and ask who enforces its property maintenance or housing code. Ask the inspector for a copy of any violation notice and keep it with your repair letters.

Step 3: In a city, ask whether the home can be certified unfit

Pennsylvania's Rent Withholding Act creates rent escrow, meaning you pay rent into a held account instead of to the landlord, but only after an agency certifies the dwelling as unfit for human habitation. It covers every city: Philadelphia, Pittsburgh (a city of the second class), Scranton (second class A), and the third-class cities. It does not apply in boroughs or townships.

The certification must come from L&I in Philadelphia, from the department of public safety in the other covered cities, or from a city or county public health department. Once it is issued:

1. Your obligation to pay the landlord is put on hold, and so is the landlord's right to collect. The rest of the lease stays in force.
2. If you stay in the home, you pay each month's rent into an escrow account at a bank or trust company that the city or county approves.
3. If the home is certified fit within six months, the escrowed money goes to the landlord. If it is not, the money is returned to you, though escrow funds can be spent to make the home fit or to pay utility bills the landlord owes and will not or cannot pay.
4. The act bars evicting a tenant for any reason while rent is being deposited in escrow.

The suspension ends when the dwelling is certified fit or your tenancy ends for a reason other than unpaid rent. See how rent escrow works for how Pennsylvania's version compares with escrow laws in other states.

Step 4: Use the warranty of habitability anywhere in the state

The warranty from Pugh applies in every Pennsylvania municipality. It does not require a code violation, though Pugh treats one as evidence a court weighs along with how serious the defect is and how long it lasted. Your right to habitable housing in Pennsylvania explains which conditions breach it and the other remedies, such as moving out. After notice and a reasonable time to repair, these two remedies may apply if a serious defect makes the home unsafe or unfit to live in. They do not cover cosmetic problems or damage you caused.

Repair and deduct

You hire the repair and subtract its cost from rent. Pugh requires the price to be reasonable and caps the deduction at the rent owed for the term of your lease. MidPenn advises getting a couple of estimates, not deducting more than one month's rent, and sending a copy of the receipt with your reduced rent payment.

Example: your rent is $1,100, and the landlord ignored your written notice about a broken furnace igniter. Estimates come back at $240 and $310. You hire the $240 contractor and pay $860 ($1,100 minus $240) the next month, with the receipt attached. If a court later decides the price was unreasonable, you may owe the landlord the part it found too high.

Withhold rent

You can stop paying and raise the landlord's breach as a defense if the landlord sues for possession or rent. The judge sets how much rent to cancel by the percentage by which the defects reduced your use of the home. After a hearing, the judge can order you to deposit all or part of the unpaid rent with the court while the case is pending, so keep the money set aside. The Attorney General warns that a court can evict a tenant who used a remedy improperly, and recommends getting legal advice first.

If the landlord files an eviction complaint, you can file your own claim against the landlord for breaching the warranty. In a magisterial district court, file it before the hearing. In Philadelphia Municipal Court, Rule 115 requires counterclaims over $2,000 to be filed at least 10 days before trial; claims of $2,000 or less are exempt from that 10-day requirement.

How far does protection from retaliation reach?

Pennsylvania has no general state law that stops a landlord from retaliating against a tenant who asks for repairs or calls an inspector, the state Attorney General says. Two narrow state protections apply everywhere:

• A landlord cannot end or refuse to renew a lease because you or a family member take part in a tenants' organization.
• A landlord cannot retaliate against you for paying the utility company directly to keep or restore service the landlord failed to pay for, and deducting those payments from rent.

Outside those protections and any local ordinance, a landlord may be able to decline to renew your lease after a repair dispute.

Philadelphia goes further. Philadelphia Code section 9-804 bars a landlord from retaliating against a tenant for filing a complaint that alleges a violation or for using a legal right, and the city's Fair Housing Commission (FHC) hears these complaints:

• After L&I, the Department of Public Health, or a utility cites the property, the landlord may not respond by raising your rent or giving you a notice to vacate.
• A lease shorter than one year, including a month-to-month lease, can be ended or not renewed only for good cause, such as habitually late rent or the owner or an immediate family member moving in, with at least 30 days' written notice. To challenge the notice, file with the FHC or in court within 15 business days of receiving it, and notify the landlord.
• File with the FHC before the landlord files an eviction case in Municipal Court; if the FHC accepted yours first, Municipal Court postpones the eviction hearing. If the landlord files first, the FHC cannot accept your complaint before the eviction hearing. At that hearing, Municipal Court Rule 134 requires the judge to postpone the case for at least 60 days and direct you to file with the FHC if you prove you have no overdue rent and either show outstanding L&I violations or claim retaliatory eviction.
• You must be living in the unit, and the FHC does not take complaints about units operated by the Philadelphia Housing Authority or HUD. For help filing, call (215) 686-4670.

Retaliation protections for tenants compares Pennsylvania's rules with those of other states.