Pennsylvania Eviction Notice Requirements

Pennsylvania's Landlord and Tenant Act requires a written notice to quit before a landlord files for possession. For unpaid rent, the notice period is 10 days after a demand for the rent. For a breach of the lease or the end of a lease term, it is 15 days for leases of one year or less or an indeterminate term and 30 days for leases longer than one year. A month-to-month tenancy is ended with at least 15 days' notice.

The notice to quit must be in writing and may be served personally, left at the principal building on the premises, or posted conspicuously on the property. The statute allows a lease to shorten the notice period or have the tenant waive the notice entirely, so check the lease. Mobile home park spaces follow separate, longer notice rules, and some cities add their own local requirements.

If the tenant does not leave, the landlord files a complaint with the local magisterial district judge, or with Philadelphia Municipal Court. The hearing is set 7 to 10 days after the summons. After a judgment, the landlord can request a writ of possession after the fifth day, and it is executed by a constable or sheriff on the eleventh day after service on the tenant. In a nonpayment case, the tenant can stop the writ by paying the rent in arrears and costs before it is executed.