Security Deposits in Philadelphia
Pennsylvania law limits how much deposit your landlord can hold. It also sets a 30 day deadline to give your money back. This playbook shows each step to get your deposit returned.
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In the first year of your lease, your landlord can collect at most 2 months of rent as a security deposit. From the second year of the lease on, your landlord can hold at most 1 month of rent as a deposit. After you have lived in the home 5 years, a rent increase cannot raise your security deposit.
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Before you hand back the keys and vacate the property, clean the home and take photos of each room. The photos are your proof of the condition you left. After you move, send your landlord a letter asking for your deposit back and keep a copy. The landlord has 30 days to answer you in writing.
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Your landlord has 30 days after your lease ends or you move out to send a written list of claimed damages. The rest of your deposit money must come with that list. Give your landlord your new address in writing when you move out. If you skip this step, the landlord is freed from the refund deadlines outlined.
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If no written list arrives within 30 days, the landlord loses the right to keep any of your deposit. The landlord also loses the right to sue you for damage to the home. If the landlord wrongly keeps your money past 30 days, a court can order them to pay you 2 times the amount owed. In court, the landlord must prove any damage they claim you caused.
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