When you have to evict a tenant in Philadelphia, our best advice is this:
Don’t do it alone.
A Philadelphia property management expert can make a big difference in the ease with which you evict. It’s so easy to stumble over the process and make a casual legal mistake. That’s only going to cost you more money and set your timeline back.
Avoid the risk. Let TCS Management help you navigate the eviction process. Let’s take a look at how we do it.
Serving an Eviction Notice
In order to evict a tenant in Philadelphia, we have to serve the tenant a written notice. If the tenant has a written lease, there may be a clause in the lease stating precisely how much notice is required. If a tenant is being evicted for non-payment of rent, unless otherwise specified in the lease, the landlord must give a ten (10) day written notice.
Some lease agreements will waive the right to a notice. We don’t see a lot of those, however, and because we want the eviction to go as smoothly as possible without any extra questions from the courts, we always serve a notice.
If a tenant is being evicted for any reason other than non-payment of rent, and the lease does not say how much notice is required, the written notice must be 15 days if the lease is for one (1) year or less. If your lease is for more than a year, thirty (30) days written notice is required.
The Notice to Vacate will include the following information:
- Date the Notice was served to the tenant.
- Tenant name
- Address/Rental Unit
- Reason for eviction
- Required move-out date.
- Statement of how the notice is being delivered.
The eviction notice must be personally delivered to the tenant or posted somewhere visible for the tenant, such as on the door. It is not enough to put it in the mail, even if certified. We will keep very specific records of how the notice is delivered, documenting the date, time, method of delivery, who it was given to if direct, and take a time and date-stamped photo if we leave it posted on the door.
Recording as many details as possible is one of the ways that we make sure this process is compliant. There’s no way we’ll allow the tenant to claim that they did not receive the eviction notice.
Preparing for an Eviction Hearing in Court
Let’s say the time period in the written Notice to Vacate comes and goes, and there’s no response from the tenant. After that notice period expires, we will file an Eviction Complaint on your behalf against the tenant in Landlord-Tenant Court. The Court will send a copy by U.S. mail to the tenant. That Complaint will state the date and time the tenant must appear in court, as well as the reasons that we are asking for an eviction.
Typically, the court date will be at least 10 days away. This will give us time to prepare for court, and we’ll likely need to work with you to get all of the information in order. We also partner with attorneys who can help us make sure that we’re fully prepared for court and sure to get possession of your rental property back.
At the hearing, both parties will have the opportunity to present their case to the judge. The judge will then issue a judgment, either at the hearing or within five business days after the hearing.
Here are some other things to understand about the hearing:
- The tenant must attend the court hearing otherwise the tenant automatically loses the case and a default judgment will be entered against the tenant. We have seen default judgments handed down simply because a tenant is late arriving.
- There might be an opportunity to enter into mediation or negotiate a settlement with the tenant. The Philadelphia Landlord-Tenant Court will typically provide a mediator if both parties agree to mediation. However, a mediator is not required for us to negotiate.
Unless they have the money or they’re willing to move out right away, we would much rather see the eviction through so that we can get your property back and rent it out to a tenant who can reliably be counted on to pay rent. However, all options will be discussed with you.
Achieving an Order of Possession
Once the court orders a judgment that is in favor of the property owner, we will immediately work towards obtaining an Order of Possession. This is typically issued by the court 15 days after the Judgment for Possession is entered.
At this point, we will work with law enforcement to give the tenant an “Order of Possession,” and the date to vacate given on the Order cannot be less than 15 days from the date the tenant is given the Order. Generally, tenants who have been lawfully evicted will move out ahead of that date to avoid being physically removed by the police. However, with the timing what it is, the least amount of time law enforcement can remove the tenant from the premises is 30 days after that Judgment of Possession.
Eviction is best avoided whenever possible. We believe this, and that’s why we take so much time carefully screening tenants and establishing good relationships with our renters and enforcing lease agreements, including rent collection policies.
Sometimes, however, eviction is the only answer. When you find yourself with nowhere else to turn, make sure you reach out to Philadelphia property managers at TCS Management. We will protect you and your property throughout the eviction process and bring you the best legal advice to ensure you get your property back as quickly as possible.
TCS Management is a full service property management company headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, also serving Cherry Hill, NJ, Wilmington, Delaware, Nashville, Tennessee and the Atlanta, GA and Charleston, SC metro areas. We focus on single-family and multifamily residential property management of homes, condos, townhomes, and apartment buildings.
