In attempt to end the epidemic of the lead poisoning of Philadelphia children, city law requires all landlords to certify to tenants and to the Philadelphia Department of Public Health that a rental is either lead-safe or lead-free. The same law requires the Health Department to publicly publish the certification status of each property in […]
Yesterday, three Philadelphia residents of Bentley Manor, a large apartment complex in West Oak Lane, filed a class action lawsuit against Odin Properties LLC, one of Philadelphia’s largest landlords that is believed to own or manage over 1,500 apartments in the city, and the related companies that own and operate the building. Four months ago, […]
Seniors living in the Brith Sholom House apartment building in Wynnefield Heights–one of Philadelphia’s few affordable senior housing complexes–experience unacceptable conditions every day: broken plumbing systems, exposed wires, leaking pipes, pest infestations, fire code violations that threaten their safety, and much more. The Department of Licenses and Inspections has found more than 100 serious code […]
OCF manages more than 3,000 unique Philadelphia rental properties, including many affordable units. A renter and fair housing testers were told that none accept vouchers.
Update: After more than four years of growth and development, Renters United Philadelphia now operates completely independently of the Public Interest Law Center, joining One Pennsylvania’s citywide housing justice network. The Law Center continues to collaborate with RUP in their work helping renters assert their right to quality housing, and our attorneys and legal interns […]
The widespread refusal to take housing assistance keeps low-income renters concentrated in disadvantaged neighborhoods, disproportionately affects black families, and undercuts the point of the Housing Choice Voucher program.
We target the severe power imbalance in Philadelphia between tenants and their landlords, as 91% of tenants face evictions without lawyers.
We filed a class action lawsuit seeking to give meaning to the legal protections Philadelphia enacted to protect vulnerable renters from unsafe housing. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of a low-income tenant named Cassandra Baker and others like her. The complaint alleges her landlord’s collection lawyer, like many landlord lawyers, used misleading debt collection practices while attempting to evict her and force her to pay rent she did not owe, and that those practices violated federal law.
More than 24,000 Philadelphians are sued in Landlord-Tenant Court each year. While 81% of landlords have lawyers, most tenants—over 90%—do not. This results in a dramatic power imbalance, leaving low-income families afraid of complaining about the conditions of their homes, lest they risk facing an eviction lawsuit, where they will likely have to fend for themselves. Gerrell Martin and her family, represented by attorneys at the Public Interest Law Center, are trying to turn this dynamic on its head, arguing that the collection lawyer representing her landlord violated federal law.
The Law Center is representing MW, a Philadelphia man with intellectual disabilities who was deceived into selling his home for .05% of its market value – a grand total of $25. MW has intellectual disabilities, and his ability to read is extremely limited. His parents left the home to his brother, and after MW’s brother died the home deteriorated around him. He lived without electricity, heat, or water until he moved into a group home nearby.
