How to Evict a Tenant in Pennsylvania: Laws, Process, and Timeline
Pennsylvania Eviction Timeline 2026: Two Genuine 10-Day Waits, One Narrow Retaliation Statute
The Landlord and Tenant Act of 1951, 68 P.S. § 250.101 and following, governs eviction statewide; Philadelphia layers its own Municipal Court procedure and a city pre-filing requirement on top. This page covers the lawsuit itself: notice, filing, the hearing, the order for possession. Deposits, repair remedies, and lease terms are on our Pennsylvania landlord-tenant law guide.
Grounds and Notice Periods
| Ground | Notice Period | Statute | Curable? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Non-payment of rent | 10 days from service, after a demand for rent | § 250.501(b) | Yes, late: in a case brought only for unpaid rent, the tenant can stop the eviction at any point before the officer actually delivers possession by paying the arrears and costs (§ 250.503(c); Pa.R.Civ.P.M.D.J. 518) |
| Lease violation or end of term, lease of one year or less or with no fixed term (including month-to-month) | 15 days | § 250.501(b) | § 250.501 gives no cure step; only the lease can |
| Lease violation or end of term, lease longer than one year | 30 days | § 250.501(b) | § 250.501 gives no cure step; only the lease can |
| Illegal-drug grounds: a first conviction for selling, making, or distributing drugs on the property, a second drug-law violation there, or a police seizure of illegal drugs on the leased premises | 10 days | § 250.501(d); grounds listed in § 250.505-A | No; the Act treats these as a breach and grounds for removal, with no cure step |
Those periods are defaults, not floors: § 250.501(e) lets the lease shorten the notice or waive it altogether, so read the signed lease before counting days.
The Court Process
- File. Once the applicable notice has run, the landlord files a landlord-tenant complaint at the magisterial district court. Philadelphia has no magisterial district judges; its cases go to the Municipal Court, which runs its own procedure, and city law adds a step before anything can be filed (see below).
- Serve. The court mails the complaint and sends it out for service by a sheriff or certified constable, who hands it to the tenant or an adult in charge of the premises and also posts it there, at least 5 days before the hearing (Rule 506).
- Hearing. Rule 504(a) requires the magisterial district judge to set it not less than 7 or more than 15 days from the date the complaint is filed.
- Judgment and the first 10-day wait. A landlord who wins gets a judgment for possession, and the tenant has 10 days from the entry of judgment to appeal to the Court of Common Pleas (Rule 1002B(1)). The appeal stops the eviction only if, when filing it, the tenant deposits with the prothonotary money or a bond equal to the lesser of three months’ rent or the rent actually in arrears on the filing date, and then deposits each month’s rent within 30 days of the appeal and every 30 days after that (Rule 1008). Miss a deposit and the prothonotary ends the stay on the landlord’s praecipe. A residential tenant who can’t afford the first deposit and is within the income limits can instead file a tenant’s supersedeas affidavit and pay rent into escrow: if this month’s rent is already paid, monthly rent at 30-day intervals; if not, one-third of the monthly rent at filing, two-thirds within 20 days, then full rent every 30 days (Rule 1008, indigent-tenant subdivision). The 1995 amendment to 68 P.S. § 250.513(b) that asked for the whole judgment was suspended by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in 1996 to the extent it conflicts with these rules (Rule 1002, Official Note).
- The order for possession and the second wait. If no appeal is filed, the landlord may ask for an order for possession after the 10th day and within 120 days of the judgment (Rule 515). The officer must serve it within 48 hours of receiving it (Rule 517; § 250.503(b) sets the same 48-hour service), and the forcible removal can’t happen until the 11th day after that service (Rule 519B), counted from service, not from the order.
- Execution. On or after that day 11, the sheriff or constable carries out the order if the tenant is still there. An order not executed within 60 days of issuance lapses (Rule 519C) and has to be reissued.
In Philadelphia, a residential landlord first has to enroll in the city’s Eviction Diversion Program, give the tenant a written notice of diversion rights, and take part in good faith for at least 30 days before the landlord has a lawful basis to evict (Phila. Code § 9-811(2)). The only carve-out is an eviction needed to stop an imminent threat of harm, such as physical harm or harassment; skipping the program is a defense the tenant can raise and cannot waive.
What This Costs
Confirm the current filing and service costs with the magisterial district court clerk before filing.
What a Landlord Cannot Do
The court rules hand the physical removal to one person: only “the officer executing the order for possession” may force entry and put the tenant out (Rule 519B). Nothing in the 1951 Act gives a landlord a lock-change or utility-shutoff route around that. Retaliation coverage, by contrast, is narrow: § 250.205 stops a landlord from ending or refusing to renew a lease specifically because a tenant or family member took part in a tenants’ organization or association. Full stop — nothing about code complaints, nothing about repair requests, no automatic window that kicks in after some number of months. A tenant retaliated against for filing a habitability complaint has no dedicated statewide statute to point to under this section.
Domestic-violence protection works on the back end of a case rather than the front. A residential tenant who is a victim of domestic violence gets 30 days instead of 10 to appeal a possession judgment, filing a domestic violence affidavit on the court’s form with the notice of appeal (Rule 1002B(2); 68 P.S. § 250.513(b)); § 250.513(e) defines a victim as a person with a protection from abuse order, or other suitable evidence the court accepts. Stopping the eviction during that appeal runs on the same Rule 1008 deposits as for any other tenant. It buys time inside a pending case; neither provision contains a right to walk away from the lease early.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Pennsylvania’s retaliation statute cover a habitability or code complaint? No. § 250.205 bars only retaliation tied to participation in a tenants’ organization — it names no other protected activity and sets no presumption window. A code complaint or repair request has no dedicated statewide retaliation protection under this section.
How long does a Pennsylvania tenant have after losing an eviction case? Two separate 10-day-scale waits, not one. First, 10 days to appeal the judgment to the Court of Common Pleas. If no appeal is filed, the order for possession has to be served within 48 hours of the officer receiving it, and removal can’t happen until the 11th day after that service — counted from service, not from the order itself.
Can a tenant who pays up stop a non-payment eviction? Yes. When possession is sought only for unpaid rent, paying the officer the rent in arrears shown on the order plus costs, any time before possession is actually delivered, satisfies the order (§ 250.503(c); Rule 518).
Does the domestic-violence appeal rule let a tenant end a lease early? No — Rule 1002B(2) and § 250.513(b) lengthen the appeal window to 30 days; they don’t touch the lease term, and the deposits needed to stay in the unit during the appeal are the same Rule 1008 deposits every tenant makes.