Landlord disputes with tenants are almost unavoidable. Misunderstandings may arise from trivial things such as cleaning or garden maintenance to more serious matters surrounding rent or termination of the lease. Either way, it is important to resolve any issues...
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New CDC Eviction Moratorium Impacts Landlords through October 3, 2021
On Saturday, July 31, 2021, a waive of relief could be felt across the country by landlords as the CDC Order preventing many evictions expired. Landlords had been inhibited by the CDC’s ban on evictions since September 4, 2020, and with each extension the frustration...
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Issues Federal Residential Eviction Moratorium Effective Through December 31, 2020
We dealt with the eviction moratorium by the PA Supreme Court from late March through May 11th, despite no relief being provided to landlords who did not receive rent. We fought in court, and although our emergency case was found by the PA Supreme Court not to be an...
Decision handed down regarding Pennsylvania evictions
As a litigator since 1984, I have lost a few cases which I felt I deserved to win, won some cases I thought were questionable, but have almost never felt as though I was denied the opportunity to have any court actually consider the facts and law presented by me. On...
Recent Developments in PA Rental Registration and Inspection Cases
The last few months have seen several important developments in rental registration litigation in Pennsylvania. The most recent development was a series of Commonwealth Court decisions on May 17th, which will have a significant impact on the pending rental...
Use of Criminal History to Deny Rental Applicants and Fair Housing
For many years I have used criminal records histories to screen applicants for my own rental properties, and taught others how to search online for PA criminal records histories of their own rental applicants. I have done this without considering the race, national...
Facts and Figures about Pittsburgh’s anticipated 2016 Rental Registration Ordinance
In November of 2014, the Pittsburgh City Council had a public hearing on Ordinance 2014-1020, the Residential Rental Housing Registration Ordinance which would impose on each residential rental unit in the city a $65.00 per year registration fee. That hearing...
PROA Regroups for the Long Haul on Student Housing Legislation
Bradley S. Dornish with twinkle.verma@thomsonreuters.com After over a year of hard work finding the right language, a committed sponsor in the legislature, and the right timing to move forward, we had in HB 809 sponsored by Representative Sue Helm a vehicle we...
In Act 167 PROA Sees Another Victory for Landlords Dealing with Abandoned Tenant Property
Since the passage of Act 129 in the summer of 2012, landlords in Pennsylvania have had far more direction from PA law on how to handle personal property left behind by tenants who have vacated their rental units than was ever previously available. Our state...
Magisterial District Court Landlord/Tenant Dockets Now Available Online
For years, I have been showing landlords how to search the Pennsylvania Unified Judicial System web portal for free and detailed information about potential tenants’ criminal records, traffic citations and more. The one glaring absence in the online information...