Philadelphia Safe Healthy Home Act: Complete Landlord Checklist for November 1, 2026

Philadelphia, PA — Originally published June 2026. Updated October 22, 2026. In April 2026, Philadelphia City Council passed the final two bills in the Safe Healthy Homes Act package (Bill 250330 passed by a vote of 15 to 1). Mayor Cherelle Parker signed them into law on May 7, 2026. The laws take effect November 1, 2026.

This law is new, and the details are still developing. The court filing procedures, forms, and fees that go with the Safe Healthy Home Act have not been finalized. We are following guidance from our eviction attorney, who expects the new rules to apply going forward from November 1 and not retroactively. We will update this page after November 1 as the rules take shape. This page is general information, not legal advice.

The law takes effect in days. Here is exactly what you need to know and what you need to do.

What Is the Safe Healthy Home Act?

The Safe Healthy Homes Act is a package of three bills introduced by Councilmember Nicolas O'Rourke in partnership with tenant advocacy organizations. The full package includes:

  • Bill 250329 — Right to Repairs: Authorizes a proactive rental inspection program run by L&I, ties rental license issuance and renewal to a clean L&I compliance record, and clarifies licensing requirements
  • Bill 250330 — Right to Safety: Expands good cause eviction to all leases regardless of length, strengthens retaliation and harassment protections, and codifies tenant organizing rights
  • Bill 250331 — Right to Relocation: Established an anti-displacement fund for tenants displaced from unsafe housing — this bill passed separately in June 2025 and is already law

Bills 250329 and 250330 are what take effect November 1, 2026. This guide covers both.

What Changed — The Key Provisions Every Philadelphia Landlord Must Know

1. Good Cause Eviction Now Covers ALL Leases

Before the law: Good cause requirements only applied to month-to-month leases or leases under one year. Landlords with longer leases could choose not to renew without stating a reason.

After November 1: Good cause applies to every lease regardless of length. If you want to terminate a tenancy or not renew a lease, you must have a legally defined reason and give the tenant written notice of it. If you do not give proper notice, the lease can renew month-to-month.

Valid causes include non-payment of rent, documented lease violations, owner move-in, and a bona fide sale to a buyer who will live in the unit (with required documentation and at least 60 days' notice). What changed is that the previous exemption for longer leases is gone entirely.

2. Rental License Rules — New Posting and Notification Requirements

Your rental license is effective from the date it is issued, not the date you apply. There can be a significant gap between when you submit your paperwork and when L&I processes it. Do not assume you are covered from the day you file. You also cannot get or renew a license while you have unresolved violations (unless a timely appeal is pending).

Within 7 days of receiving each of the following, you must post it in a conspicuous place visible to tenants or deliver it to them:

  • Your rental license, together with the notice describing the consequences of non-compliance. For one- and two-unit properties, email delivery is allowed only with the tenant's written consent.
  • Any notice of license suspension
  • The results of any covered appeal

This is a new hard requirement.

3. Certificate of Rental Suitability — New Eviction and Rent Rules

Two major changes here that will catch landlords off guard:

Eviction filing: You cannot file for eviction without a Certificate of Rental Suitability issued within 30 days before the filing date, which must be provided to both the tenant and the court. If your certificate is expired or missing, you are barred from filing. In an eviction or rent case, you also carry the burden of showing you were in compliance, including your license, certificate, and the code violations for the tenancy.

Tenant requests: Tenants now have the right to request a Certificate of Rental Suitability at any time, once every 90 days. You have 10 days to provide a current one. If you fail to, you are legally barred from collecting rent until you do.

4. Violation Disclosure — Notify Tenants Before the Deadline

If you receive a notice of an unsafe, unfit, or imminently dangerous condition, or a Fire Code violation, you must give it to the impacted tenants no later than 24 hours before the correction deadline. If you fully correct the violation on time, no notice is required. This is a tight window.

5. Expanded Retaliation and Harassment Protections

Bill 250330 makes it explicitly illegal to take any adverse action against a tenant because they:

  • Organized with other tenants or joined a tenant organization
  • Filed a code violation complaint with L&I or any city agency
  • Communicated in good faith with government officials or testified in court about property conditions
  • Exercised any legally protected tenant right

Adverse actions covered include refusing to lease, restricting access to common areas, changing lease terms, and any other retaliatory measure. If you take action against a tenant within one year of a violation, a tenant complaint, or a correction, you carry the burden of proving it was not retaliation.

The law also adds tenant harassment protections. Examples include failing to give 24 hours' notice for non-emergency repairs or entry without reasonable justification, threatening or reporting a tenant to a government agency (including immigration authorities) in retaliation or to force them out, and disclosing a tenant's medical or health information.

You also now have a legal obligation to confer in good faith with tenant organizations about lease terms and property conditions, and you may not interfere with lawful organizing such as distributing literature or holding meetings in reasonable spaces.

6. Proactive Inspection Program

Bill 250329 authorizes L&I to create a proactive rental inspection program targeting all rental properties on a regular cycle, with a target of July 2030, where feasible for health and safety. No more honor system — L&I will be able to inspect your property without waiting for a tenant complaint.

If you have deferred maintenance or known violations, the clock is ticking.

7. Rent Abatement for Habitability Breaches

If L&I issues a violation against your property and the correction deadline passes with no appeal pending, there is now a legal presumption that you breached the warranty of habitability. The tenant can claim rent relief and the burden is on you to rebut it. A violation that is uncorrected and classified as unfit, unsafe, or imminently dangerous can entitle the tenant to a full rent abatement.

8. Claims Can Reach Back Years

Tenant claims under the new law can be brought long after the events. Claims under the habitability and harassment provisions have a two-year court deadline, and claims under the unfair rental practices section follow Pennsylvania's contract limitations period. Ask your attorney which period applies to your situation. As a practical rule, keep all communications, signed documents, maintenance records, and lease files for every tenant for at least four years.

9. Penalty Structure

Non-compliance means:

  • $1,000 per violation or actual damages — whichever is higher. A continuing violation arising from the same underlying condition counts as a single violation.
  • Plus attorney's fees and costs
  • Rent abatement or refund for the period of non-compliance
  • Willful violations of the retaliation and harassment rules can trigger up to triple damages and possible suspension or revocation of your rental license, during which rent cannot be collected or increased

A few violations stack up fast. This is not a law where ignorance is a defense.

10. Safe Harbor for City-Caused Delays

One protection for compliant landlords: if you are penalized because of a delay caused by the city — their backlog, processing time — you have a defense. You are not automatically on the hook for bureaucratic slowdowns outside your control. However, proving that the delay was the city's fault rather than yours will not be straightforward.

The Five-Step Checklist: What to Do Before November 1, 2026

✅ Step 1 — Audit Every Rental License You Hold

Go through every property. For each one:

  • Is the license current?
  • What is the exact issue date (not application date)?
  • When does it expire?
  • Is a copy posted or delivered to every tenant? Do it now rather than waiting for the next renewal.
  • Set a calendar reminder to renew at least 30 days before expiration

If any license is expired or close to expiring, start the renewal process immediately. The new law ties license issuance and renewal to your L&I compliance record — outstanding violations can delay or block renewal.

✅ Step 2 — Know Where Your Certificates of Rental Suitability Are

For every property, ask yourself: can I pull a current Certificate of Rental Suitability within 10 days on demand?

If you had to think about the answer, the answer is probably no. Build the process now:

  • Log into eCLIPSE (the city's online portal)
  • Confirm your rental license is active for each property
  • Generate and save a current certificate for each property
  • Know how to repeat this process within 10 days whenever a tenant requests it, and within 30 days before any filing

A certificate is typically straightforward to generate when your rental license is active and you have no open violations. The bottleneck is almost always an expired or lapsed license or an unresolved violation, which is why Step 1 comes first.

✅ Step 3 — Fix Deferred Maintenance Now

If you have known L&I violations or maintenance issues you have been putting off, they just became urgent. The proactive inspection program is coming and you do not know which properties will be inspected first.

More importantly, under the new rent abatement rule, an uncorrected code violation past its deadline creates a legal presumption that you breached the warranty of habitability. Tenants can claim rent relief based on this presumption. Fix your deferred maintenance now, and set up a way to send tenants any violation notice at least 24 hours before its correction deadline.

✅ Step 4 — Extend Your Record Keeping to Four Years

Keep documentation going back at least four years. This includes:

  • All tenant communications (email, text, written notices)
  • All signed lease documents and addenda
  • All maintenance requests and work orders
  • All rent payment records
  • All inspection reports and violation notices

If your records are not organized or easily retrievable, build that system now.

✅ Step 5 — Get a Philadelphia Landlord-Tenant Attorney to Review Your Lease

The specifics of how Bills 250329 and 250330 will be enforced, including the new court filing process and any added fees, are still being worked out. Get professional legal advice specific to your portfolio. At minimum, have a Philadelphia landlord-tenant attorney review:

  • Your current lease language — especially non-renewal and termination clauses
  • Your current notice procedures
  • Your current maintenance and violation response process

Who Should Be Concerned — And Who Shouldn't

If you are already running clean, compliant properties — licensed, inspected, maintained properly, responsive to tenants — the Safe Healthy Home Act formalizes things you should already be doing. The $1,000 per violation penalty is not targeting you. It is targeting the landlord who has had an open violation for six months while continuing to collect rent.

If you have deferred maintenance, expired licenses, or properties that have not been inspected in years — this law is directly aimed at your situation. November 1 is almost here.

The bigger picture: This law may push some mom-and-pop landlords out of the Philadelphia market. Larger institutional investors who already have compliance infrastructure will adapt more easily. For small landlords who manage professionally, this is an opportunity to differentiate — your compliance becomes a competitive advantage.

Why This Matters for November 1

The November 1 date is real. These are not proposals. They are signed law.

With days left, focus on the essentials first: current licenses posted for tenants, a current Certificate of Rental Suitability for every property, and no open violations. Landlords who wait will face a scramble — and potentially open themselves up to liability for violations that already exist.

The time to act is now.

Sources

Need Help Getting Compliant Before November 1?

TrustArt Realty has been managing Philadelphia rental properties since 2012. We handle rental licensing, Certificate of Rental Suitability management, maintenance compliance, and all lease documentation for every property we manage.

If you are a Philadelphia landlord trying to navigate the Safe Healthy Home Act before the November 1 deadline, we offer a free property management consultation — no obligation.

📞 (267) 929-1500
📧 info@trustartrealty.com
🌐 trustartrealty.com

For more detail on the Safe Healthy Home Act, including a full breakdown of the good cause eviction changes, retaliation protections, and tenant organizing rights, read our complete episode breakdown: Philadelphia Rental Market May 2026: 19149 Zip Code Deep Dive & the Safe Healthy Home Act Explained →

TrustArt Realty is a licensed Pennsylvania real estate brokerage and Certified Residential Management Company (CRMC) serving Philadelphia landlords since 2012.