A new pilot program launched by Face to Face, Community Legal Services, and Rebuilding Together Philadelphia aims to protect the city’s low-income tenants while holding negligent landlords accountable, writes Aaron Moselle for WHYY.
The Repair and Deduct Project — started with help of a $60,000 grant — relies on a nearly five decades old Pennsylvania Supreme Court decision that every rental lease includes an implied warranty of habitability.
A landlord’s breach of this allows tenants to withhold rent, cover the cost of required repairs, and apply those expenses toward future rent, up to the value of one lease term. Tenants have to notify their landlords when utilizing this remedy.
“It is a legal right, and nobody uses it because there are too many barriers,” said Osarugue Osa-Edoh, divisional supervising attorney in the housing unit at Community Legal Services. “And so, with this program, what I wanted to do is to take away those barriers.”
The pilot project selects a case, completes repairs through Rebuilding Together Philadelphia, then Community Legal Services files a complaint on behalf of the tenant, who has already begun withholding rent. If successful, the recovered funds go to Rebuilding Together to support another tenant’s repairs.
Read more about the Repair and Deduct Project and how it will impact tenants and landlords at WHYY.
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