Landlord/Tenant Law: It's Time for a Change

To date, we have been in touch with Suburban West Realtors Association, the Suburban Realtors Alliance, the Department of HUD and the office of State Representative Dave Delloso about this and now we're asking for your help.

Both the Suburban West Realtors Association and Suburban Realtors Alliance agreed and encouraged us to pursue this, so that's what we intend to do. The Department of HUD representative said, among many other things, that she "agrees that the Pennsylvania landlord tenant law has rarely been revised. It’s an Act from 1951, and so far has only been updated in 2012 with a section on abandoned property." So it's about time!

It isn't just because of COVID 19 that we see a need for a change in the Landlord/Tenant Law but we must admit hearing this story has given us the push we need to do what we can to help landlords. As landlords ourselves, we know and understand how difficult and frustrating it can be when a tenant takes advantage of a situation, and this tenant is certainly doing that.

If you read the beginning part of the story in the photo above, there's more to the story...we informed our friend that she could ask the tenant to sign a COVID 19 relief form that would allow her to collect $750 per month in rent in lieu of the tenant paying rent (part of the COVID 19 relief package). She brought the form to the tenant and explained what it was for and handed it to him thinking he would gladly sign. Instead, he threw the form back at her and refused to sign it. This happened on two separate occasions.

And there's even more this story...the tenant has done damage to the property (our friend has documentation, receipts and photos of the damage). But her hands are tied because Governor Wolf has put a ban on evictions and ejections by closing municipal courts (I contacted the Media Courthouse myself and confirmed that under no circumstances will any landlord be able to file anything for any reason through August 31st). And even though the ban on evictions doesn't cover tenants who do damage to a rental, the landlords cannot file for eviction or ejection, and we're hoping he doesn't extend this order.

And still there's even more...the tenant took his name off the utilities and because the landlords have a "landlord" agreement the utilities revert to to their name. So now, the landlords are paying the tenant's utilities as well. It is illegal for a landlord to shut off utilities while someone is living in their property. This is why landlords should reconsider about having a landlord agreement with the utility companies.

We started this PETITION to Governor Wolf called, "Change Landlord Tenant Law to make it fair for landlords and tenants" because for too long now landlords have been getting the short end of the stick. Years ago, it was the tenant who weren't being treated fairly so understandably the laws were changed in the tenants' favor. But because some tenants know how to work the system to take full advantage just like our friend and family member's tenants is, the pendulum now must swing in fairness for both the landlord AND the tenant. Also, judges need to be able to make wise decisions based on evidence and what is right and fair, not based on the tenant being the tenant. Not all landlords are wealthy. In fact, it's quite the opposite. It takes a lot of time, energy and money to run a business of rental properties. This seems to go unnoticed. Landlords play an important role in the market place and they provide housing, a necessary and essential business. Therefore, we are not asking for the law to favor landlords, we're just asking for the law to be fair to landlords and tenants alike.

So now we're asking you to please read our PETITION, sign it and then pass it on. Our goal right now is get 100 signatures (we're at 30 as we write this) and then schedule an appointment with State Rep Delloso. Contact your state representative's office to let them know how important this issue is to you. If you live in Pennsylvania and would like to contact your local state representative, click here to find your representative. If you would like to contact State Rep Delloso's office, you can reach him at 610 534-1002. Either way, ask them to help to bring balance and fairness to the Landlord/Tenant law.

We appreciate whatever you can do. If you have any questions about the PETITION or what our goal is, please feel free to contact us.

Please sign our PETITION and pass it on.

We wish you all love and good health!

Thank you!