What a Landlord Cannot Do in Pennsylvania
The main limits Pennsylvania law puts on landlords — lockouts and utility shutoffs, entering without notice, retaliation, deposits, fees and discrimination — each with the statute or official source.
In short: a Pennsylvania landlord cannot evict without a court order, cannot punish a tenant for asserting legal rights where state law protects them, and must follow the state's rules on entry, deposits and fees shown below.
| Lockouts & utility shutoffs | Self-help eviction is prohibited: a landlord may not change locks or shut off utilities to evict; the landlord must use the court process. No statewide statutory damages amount for lockouts was found. Utility companies must give tenants 30 days' notice before shutoff for the landlord's nonpayment (68 P.S. § 399.6, per AG guide). |
|---|---|
| Landlord entry notice | No statute. The AG guide says the tenant must give 'reasonable access' for maintenance/repairs or showings under the implied covenant of quiet enjoyment; the lease usually controls. |
| Landlord retaliation | No general statewide anti-retaliation statute. Limited protections: a lease may not be terminated or non-renewed because of participation in a tenants' association (§ 205); retaliation for exercising rights under the Utility Service Tenants Rights Act is prohibited (68 P.S. § 399.11). AG guide confirms 'no general provision' prohibiting retaliation; some municipalities (e.g., Philadelphia Code § 9-804) prohibit it. No statutory presumption period. |
| Security deposit limit | First year of the lease: no more than 2 months' rent. Second and later years (or any renewal): no more than 1 month's rent. After 5+ years of tenancy, a rent increase cannot require a higher deposit. Text verified in the official PDF of the Act (palegis.us 'view-statute?txtType=PDF' link from the cited page). Waivers are void. Applies to residential rentals only. |
| Penalty for withholding | Double the amount by which the deposit (plus unpaid interest) exceeds the actual damages caused by the tenant, if not paid within 30 days. Landlord bears the burden of proving damages. |
| Late fees | No statutory cap. AG guide: late fees 'should not be excessive' and should bear a reasonable relation to the landlord's costs (guidance, not a statutory limit). Source: None in statute |
| Rent control / increase limits | No statewide rent control or rent-increase cap, and no statute that expressly bans local rent control. No statute authorizes it either, and home-rule municipalities may not set duties or requirements for businesses unless a statewide statute expressly allows it, so a local rent cap would face a serious legal challenge. Pennsylvania has no express rent-control preemption statute; the limit comes from § 2962(f), which bars home-rule municipalities from determining duties, responsibilities or requirements placed on businesses except as expressly provided by statute. |
| Statewide ban on refusing Section 8 / source of income | No statewide protection. The Pennsylvania Human Relations Act covers race, color, familial status, age, religious creed, ancestry, sex, national origin, handicap/disability and guide/support animal use, but not source of income or voucher use. Source: 43 P.S. 955(h) (PHRA s. 5(h)) |
| Cameras & privacy | No landlord-specific statute. Viewing or recording a person without knowledge and consent, for sexual gratification, while the person is fully or partially nude in a place with a reasonable expectation of privacy (or recording intimate parts not intended to be publicly visible) is criminal invasion of privacy. Intercepting oral, wire or electronic communications is a third-degree felony unless all parties consent (two-party/all-party consent state). Audio recording by cameras inside or around a rental can violate the Wiretap Act without all parties' consent: https://www.palegis.us/statutes/consolidated/view-statute?txtType=PDF&ttl=18&div=0&chapter=57§ion=03&subsctn=0. Tenants also have an implied covenant of quiet enjoyment. |
| Other rental fees | No statewide statute limiting move-in, convenience or other rental fees in the Landlord and Tenant Act. Source: 68 P.S. 250.101 et seq. |
Can I sue my landlord in Pennsylvania? · All Pennsylvania tenant rights
General legal information, not legal advice. Laws change and local rules can differ; check the linked official source or talk to a lawyer about your situation.