Looking for Philadelphia landlords

[Eric Armstrong]

I have a couple questions about the landlord laws in Philadelphia. My mother in law rents there and I trying to figure out who would be responsible for certain costs. 1. Her neighbor noticed there is a small crack in a window pane. Prop management company has asked her to try to identify who did it and to send them a letter to repair it. 2. Can a landlord charge a tenant for trash removal services? Weekly trash service, not random large bulk items. Shouldn't it be a part of the monthly rent and not a separate change? 3. What is the law for maximum fee for late rent? Thanks Eric

[Ethan Giller]

@Eric Armstrong, it seems like all of the answers you're looking for should be contained in the lease for the property.  All of those items can be negotiated with wide leeway between two private parties signing a contract (i.e. a landlord & tenant signing a residential lease).

Charges that are not specifically contained in the lease are generally not enforceable.  If the lease is written to be very landlord friendly then certain provisions may not hold up in court either.

[Eric Armstrong]

@Ethan Giller thank you and you are right. The problem is landlords punt things in leases all the time that aren't legal or don't conform to the landlord tenant code.  This is why I'm looking for someone familiar to Philadelphia specifically. For example, my county says a late rent fee can't be more than 5% of rent, but that doesn't stop me from putting a higher amount in the lease.  If the tenant doesn't know better they may agree to it. 

[Paulette Midgette]

Hi @Eric Armstrong,

I will address your questions in the order you asked them:

1.  If you can't identify who cracked the window pane you will need to eat the cost of repair.  There is nothing you or the management company can do without having proof of how it happened and/or who did it.

2.  In Philadelphia the owner of the property (the landlord) is responsible for trash pick up.  I don't know of any landlords in Philly charging a separate fee for trash collection.  However, It is possible to prepare the lease with the trash collection as a separate cost and this is certainly an option.  But why would you?  It would be more prudent to wrap it into the monthly rental.  If I am a potential tenant and I see an additional fee for trash pick up that I hadn't seen in other leases coupled with the fact that no renters I know is paying such a fee, I would try and negotiate a waiver or simply walk away.

3.  Pennsylvania has no statue for late fees on rentals.  As far as I know Philadelphia has no ordinances or regulations governing late fees either.  However, there are industry standards that most landlords follow (or at least good and fair ones).  I typically see late fee charges in a range of $25 to $35 dollars. As @Ethan Giller noted this fee would be included in your lease and it is then up to the potential tenant to accept or reject.

[Eric Armstrong]

Thanks @Paulette Midgette

Shocked there is no late fee limit set.  I'm sure there are people out there abusing the system.

[Joe White]

@Eric Armstrong Trash fees can be added into the lease - in fact the Realtor Association lease has it built in to be selected or not. The maximum late fee that can be charged in Philadelphia is 10%. 

But that does get hefty. We often use $75 and also charge for any back charges the landlord faces, such as bounced check fees ect.

[Ethan Giller]

@Eric Armstrong, I'll also say that in my experience as a professional landlord in Philadelphia, the judges there are *very* tenant friendly.  So if there is something in the lease that seems excessive, unfair, unreasonable, or vague, and it does go in front of a judge, the tenant is likely to win.  We've personally seen the following happen in eviction court:

-Judge rules that tenants "didn't know what they were signing" with a lease that has a 2-year term instead of a 1-year term, and were able to get out of it after 1 year.

-Judge rules that damages intentionally caused by tenant upon vacating were a "cost of doing business" and the landlord should pay for them.

-Judges invalidating *all* rent already paid during lease term resulting in a monetary judgment against the landlord, because landlord failed to supply just one of the required permits or disclosures (rental license, rental suitability cert, lead safe cert, Partners for Good Housing pamphlet).

-Judge ruling in tenants favor to not pay rent during periods of "excessive property violations", even though there was clear documentation that the violations were all tenant-caused, and then tenant denied access to the unit to repair the damages.

-Judges allowing new trial dates or continuances for months or appeals of non-appealable agreements because the tenant has a sob story.  The rules are very strictly enforced if the landlord has a scheduling request though.

The list goes on.  So while there are certainly predatory landlords out there, it is usually the opposite problem with the tenants being the ones abusing the system.  Most of the time there is no cause for conflict of course, and any time that there is a rental issue that ends up in court the landlord should re-examine their screening and operating procedures to see how future problems can be avoided.  But I just wanted to dissuade the notion that there is systemic landlord abuse in Philly.

[Scott C.]

@Ethan Giller Unfortunately, many tenants know how to work the system and take advantage of the laws.

[Steve Babiak]

Originally posted by @Ethan Giller:

@Eric Armstrong, 

...

-Judges invalidating *all* rent already paid during lease term resulting in a monetary judgment against the landlord, because landlord failed to supply just one of the required permits or disclosures (rental license, rental suitability cert, lead safe cert, Partners for Good Housing pamphlet).

... 

 Although I agree with you that many of the things you listed in your prior post are tenants "taking advantage of the system", the one item I left behind in that quote does not fall into that category IMO - there is a burden on the landlord to comply with all laws, rules, ordinances, and regulations so it's not the tenant's fault the landlord did not comply for whatever reason (usually ignorance). This type of court ruling is intended to counter those landlords who chose to operate unlicensed in the city, which is definitely an abusive behavior these types of landlords engage in; as a side effect, some well intentioned but uninformed landlords also feel victimized by this type of court ruling. But in the end, the landlord must follow the law ... and failing to follow it leads the judge to declare the rental illegal and hence not entitled to any tent, even rent that may have been collected already.

[Paulette Midgette]

Hi @Joe White, can you provide me with the source for the 10% late rule in Philadelphia.  I have looked everywhere I can think of and couldn't find it. 

[Joe White]

It came from one of my classes at Temple University - either my Real Estate Law or Property Management Course.

But DIG's resource page is a good reference if you are a member. It should be there.