A Rental License is required to have a rental property in the City of Philadelphia. The process to get a Philadelphia Rental License can be daunting, but Grow Property Management has made it simple! Use our Philadelphia Rental License How To Slides below to guide you easily through the City’s system.
Use the above slideshow, one slide at a time to navigate through the Philadelphia Rental License system. A rental license is required on a per-unit basis for all rental properties. (The Rental License was formerly known as the Housing Inspection License).
The initial application may be submitted online through the City of Philadelphia’s eclipse system or in paper form, (view the Eclipse Brochure.) The rental license fee is $55 per unit. A single-family home, for example, would be considered 1 unit. A duplex would be considered 2.
If the property is owned by more than one person, you should each first have separate commercial activity licenses, and then once you do, you will put both owners’ names on the same Rental License application, along with both of your license numbers.
If you as the owner of the property reside outside the City of Philadelphia, you are required to list an agent on the Rental License application. This agent will receive city notices, orders, & summonses. A representative of Grow Property Management will sign section 16 of the application to act as an agent as part of our property management service.
Rental Licenses need to be renewed annually which can most easily be done through your Eclipse login. Each time a tenant rents your unit, you are required to provide them with a Certificate of Rental Suitability (free and easy to get Here), but if you don’t have a current Rental License, you will not be able to obtain the certificate, so it is important to keep it up to date.
For a guide on how to obtain each license mentioned above, visit the Licensing Section of this page, or click here.
