Pennsylvania Eviction Notice
Pennsylvania eviction notice: 10-day pay-or-quit, 15/30-day violation notice, under 68 P.S. Section 250.501. Free template. Attorney review available.
Introduction
An eviction notice is a written notice a landlord serves on a tenant to begin ending a tenancy for cause, before filing a Landlord/Tenant Complaint in a Pennsylvania magisterial district court. This page's documentText is that actual Notice to Quit, the document a landlord fills in, signs, and serves, not a broader walkthrough of how Pennsylvania eviction law or court procedure works. Pennsylvania ties its notice period to something most states don't: the length of the tenant's original lease term, not the type of problem. Under the Landlord and Tenant Act of 1951, 68 P.S. Section 250.501(b), ending a tenancy for lease expiration or breach of a lease condition requires 15 days' notice if the original lease ran one year or less (or had no fixed term), and 30 days if it ran longer, regardless of how serious the violation was. Nonpayment of rent gets its own flat 10-day notice instead. Pennsylvania's statute also skips something several other states build in: a right to cure. There is no statutory cure-or-quit track here; every Notice to Quit tells the tenant to vacate by the deadline, and whether a landlord lets a tenant fix a violation and stay is a lease or discretion question, not a statutory right. The notice period itself can be shortened or waived entirely if the lease says so. Service can be personal delivery, leaving the notice at the building, or posting it conspicuously, three options the statute treats as equally valid with no required order.
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Key Things to Know
- 1
An eviction notice, called a Notice to Quit under Pennsylvania law, is a written notice a landlord must serve on a tenant to begin ending a tenancy for cause, before filing a Landlord/Tenant Complaint in a magisterial district court.
- 2
Nonpayment of rent gets a 10-day notice, served after a demand for the rent due goes unsatisfied. (68 P.S. Section 250.501(b))
- 3
Ending a tenancy for lease expiration or breach of a lease condition gets 15 days' notice if the original lease term was one year or less (or indeterminate), and 30 days' notice if the original lease ran more than one year. The day count depends on the original lease length, not on how serious the violation is, and the statute offers no chance to cure (fix the problem and stay); the notice is strictly a vacate notice. (68 P.S. Section 250.501(b))
- 4
A drug-related violation on tenement or multiple-dwelling premises, a conviction for illegal sale, manufacture, or distribution of a controlled substance, or a law-enforcement drug seizure on the premises, gets its own 10-day notice. (68 P.S. Section 250.505-A; Section 250.501(d))
- 5
The governing law is the Landlord and Tenant Act of 1951, 68 P.S. Sections 250.101 to 250.510-B, with the notice and possession rules at Sections 250.501 through 250.514.
- 6
A Notice to Quit may be served personally on the tenant, left at the principal building on the premises, or posted conspicuously on the leased premises. The statute lists all three as equally valid, with no required order or fallback conditions between them, unlike states that require personal service first. (68 P.S. Section 250.501(f))
- 7
There's no state-mandated form for the Notice to Quit itself; the statute only requires the notice specify the applicable removal deadline. The notice period can also be shortened or waived entirely if the lease provides for it, something common in Pennsylvania residential leases. (68 P.S. Section 250.501(b), (e))
Key decisions before you file
Before you file a Eviction Notice in Pennsylvania, a few decisions shape the document: which option to choose and what each one means. The Eviction Notice guide walks through them.
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Pennsylvania Requirements for Eviction Notice
Notice Period for Nonpayment of Rent (68 P.S. Section 250.501(b))
10-day notice to quit, served after a demand for rent reserved and due has gone unsatisfied. Unlike some states, Pennsylvania's statute does not require the notice itself to itemize the exact dollar amount owed, only that a demand for the rent due was made before the 10-day notice period begins.
Service of Notice Requirements (68 P.S. Section 250.501(f))
The notice may be served personally on the tenant, left at the principal building on the premises, or posted conspicuously on the leased premises. The statute treats all three methods as equally valid options, with no required order or fallback conditions between them, unlike states that require personal service first and allow substitute methods only if personal service fails.
No Prescribed Form, Waivable Notice Period (68 P.S. Section 250.501(b), (e))
There is no Pennsylvania judicial-branch or other government-mandated form for the Notice to Quit itself. The statute requires only that the notice specify the applicable removal deadline (10, 15, or 30 days as the circumstance requires). The notice period itself may be shortened or waived entirely if the lease provides for it, a clause common in Pennsylvania residential leases.
Governing Landlord and Tenant Act (68 P.S. Sections 250.101-250.510-B)
The statutory basis for every notice type on this page and the Landlord/Tenant Complaint process that follows if the tenant does not comply: the Landlord and Tenant Act of 1951, 68 P.S. Sections 250.101 through 250.510-B, with the notice and possession procedure at Sections 250.501 through 250.514.
Notice Period for Lease Expiration or Breach of Lease Conditions (68 P.S. Section 250.501(b))
15-day notice if the original lease term was one year or less or indeterminate, 30-day notice if the original lease term exceeded one year. The day count is set by the length of the original lease, not by how serious the violation is, and the statute gives the tenant no right to cure the violation and remain; the notice is strictly a vacate notice.
Notice Period for Drug-Related Violations on Multi-Dwelling Premises (68 P.S. Section 250.505-A)
10-day notice for tenement or multiple-dwelling premises, following a first or second conviction for illegal sale, manufacture, or distribution of a controlled substance on the premises, or a law-enforcement seizure of illegal drugs on the premises. This ground and its 10-day period are set out in Section 505-A and cross-referenced at Section 250.501(d).
Deadline Computation Rule (1 Pa.C.S. Section 1908; 246 Pa. Code Rule 203)
Exclude the day of service and include the last day of the notice period. If that last day falls on a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday, the deadline moves to the next day that is none of those. This is a narrower adjustment than states that exclude every weekend day from the count throughout the whole notice period; here, weekends inside the period still count, and only a last day landing on a weekend or holiday shifts the deadline.