Pennsylvania tenant screening laws

The Landlord and Tenant Act sets no limit on application or screening fees. No other Pennsylvania law on these fees was read for this page (Landlord and Tenant Act of 1951).

• Screening decisions are still subject to the state fair housing law (43 P.S. § 955(h)).See Fair housing on the Pennsylvania page
• An application may not ask about race, color, familial status, age, religious creed, ancestry, sex, national origin or disability (43 P.S. § 955(h)(6)).See Fair housing on the Pennsylvania page
• The FTC explains that consumer reports include credit, rental, eviction and criminal-history reports, screening recommendations and reports from a reference-checking service. Obtain a report only for a permissible purpose and certify to the reporting company that you will use it for housing. Apply the separate fair-housing rules to the decision (FTC: report types and permissible purpose).
• An adverse-action notice can be required when a report influences a denial, higher rent or deposit, or a co-signer requirement. The FTC says the report need only play a part in the decision, including when it prompts further investigation. These examples do not authorize a charge or condition that another applicable law prohibits (FTC: adverse actions and mixed reasons).
• The notice must identify the reporting agency with its name, address and phone number, explain that it did not make the decision and cannot give the reasons, and state the person's rights to dispute report information and request a free report from that agency within 60 days. The FTC recommends a written record, although the basic notice may be oral, electronic or written (FTC: adverse-action notice contents).
• If a credit score was used for the adverse action, the FTC describes additional written or electronic disclosures: the score, its source and creation date, the model's score range, and the key negative factors in order of importance. A general statement that credit was checked does not replace those disclosures (FTC: additional credit-score disclosures).
• Investigative reports based on personal interviews carry additional written notice and disclosure duties. The FTC also directs secure disposal of consumer reports and information derived from them when their use is finished. Review those separate requirements and any record-retention duties before collecting interview reports or disposing of records (FTC: investigative reports and secure disposal).
• For a Philadelphia rental, the city’s Renters’ Access Act guidance says to give written or electronic screening criteria before accepting an application or fee. Do not screen solely by a credit or tenant-screening score or an eviction record. After rejection, give written or electronic reasons and the relied-on third-party reports within three business days, subject to applicable report-disclosure restrictions. The guidance gives an applicant 48 hours to say they will dispute or request reconsideration and seven business days to provide corrective or mitigating evidence. If that evidence demonstrates an ability to meet tenancy requirements, an owner of five or more city rental units must offer the next available comparable-size, comparable-rent unit. Review the city’s full prohibited-criteria and exception rules for the particular application. These city steps are additional to the federal consumer-report duties above (Philadelphia: Renters’ Access Act tenant-screening guidelines).
• Before relying on a report, match it to the applicant and examine the dates, duplicate entries and case outcomes. A court filing does not establish the final result. If the applicant points out an error or supplies corrective records, keep that information with the report and direct report disputes to the reporting company. Track the criteria used, relevant facts, communications and any notice or reconsideration deadlines; Philadelphia's additional steps above must be considered separately. Do not describe a report as a complete or error-free history (FTC: disputing tenant background report errors).

Pennsylvania's Human Relations Act makes it unlawful to refuse to rent or otherwise deny housing because of race, color, familial status, age, religious creed, ancestry, sex, national origin, or handicap or disability, or because a tenant uses a guide or support animal (43 P.S. § 955(h)).

• It is also unlawful to evict or try to evict an occupant before the lease ends because of pregnancy or the birth of a child (43 P.S. § 955(h)).
• The Act leaves out some rentals: a unit in an owner-occupied building of no more than two households, and rooms in a landlord-occupied rooming house with a common entrance (43 P.S. § 954(i), (k); 43 P.S. § 955(h)(10)).
• You must make reasonable accommodations in rules, policies, practices or services for a person with a disability and allow reasonable modifications at the tenant's expense; in a rental you may condition a modification on restoring the interior (43 P.S. § 955(h)(3.1), (3.2)).