As promised, here’s more information on the new Philadelphia rental property owner and landlord laws. This next one isn’t really that new — to the best of my knowledge it’s been on the books for a while — but it’s been reintroduced and I think every Philadelphia landlord needs to understand it. It’s called the due cause (or good cause) clause, and it changes how you end a lease in Philadelphia.
What Is Philadelphia’s Due Cause Law?
A lease is a contract. It has a start date and an end date. In a sane world, when that end date comes, both parties should be free to walk away. The tenant can choose to leave, and the landlord can choose not to renew. That’s how contracts are supposed to work.
Unfortunately, that’s not how it works in Philadelphia.
Under the due cause law, even though the property is yours, even though you have a signed contract, and even though that contract clearly states it ends on a specific date, you cannot simply tell a tenant you’d like them to move out at lease end. You have to provide a legally acceptable reason — what the law calls “good cause” or “due cause.”
Honestly? I don’t agree with it. The lease is over. The tenant should be free to go their own way, and the owner should be free to make their own decision. But under the current law, it’s effectively only the tenant’s decision. As a landlord, you have no choice but to continue renting to that tenant — apparently for the next three or four hundred years if they want to stay.
What Counts as Good Cause in Philadelphia?
There are a handful of reasons that meet the legal standard for ending a lease at the end of its term. The most common ones we see are:
- You’re going to sell the property.
- You’re going to renovate the property.
- You’re going to move into the property yourself.
These are the most common due causes a landlord would give, and any of them meet the legal basis to end a tenancy at lease end.
The Most Common One We Use
By far, the most common good cause we see landlords use — and one we use often at my property management company — is the intention to renovate. We frequently need to get into properties to do real renovation work, and renovation is a legitimate, valid reason under the law.
What If Your Plans Change?
Here’s where it gets interesting. Giving a due cause doesn’t mean you’re legally locked into actually doing it. What matters is your intent at the time you gave the notice.
You cannot fraudulently make an untrue claim. You can’t say you’re planning to sell if you have zero intention of selling. You can’t say you’re going to renovate if you have no plan to renovate. That’s fraud, and that’s illegal.
But if you tell the tenant you intend to renovate, the tenant moves out, you walk into the property, and you think, “You know what, this place really isn’t that bad — it doesn’t need the renovation I was planning,” that’s fine. That’s not illegal.
Same with selling. If you tell the tenant you’re going to sell, they move out, you walk into the unit and think, “Actually, this place is kind of nice. It brings back memories. I don’t want to sell after all” — that’s also fine.
The line is the intent to defraud. If you genuinely intended to renovate or sell when you gave the notice and your plans changed afterward, you’re okay. If you never intended to do it in the first place, you’ve got a problem.
I’m not an attorney and this isn’t legal advice — if you’re facing a specific situation, talk to a real estate attorney who knows Philadelphia law.
What This Means for Philadelphia Landlords
The practical takeaway is this: if you own rental property in Philadelphia and you want a tenant out at the end of a lease, you need a real, documented reason that falls into one of the accepted categories. You can’t just decide you’d rather rent to someone else, raise the rent significantly with a new tenant, or end the relationship because it isn’t working out the way you hoped.
This is one more reason that tenant selection up front matters more than ever. Once a tenant is in your Philadelphia rental, the law makes it very difficult to get them out — even when the lease is over. The screening you do before move-in is the most important decision you’ll make on that property.
Wrapping Up
Just a humble Philadelphia property management company owner doing my best to answer your Philadelphia rental property questions. I’ll have a few more videos and posts coming on the recent laws, so keep an eye out.
As always, happy rental property investing.
