Lower Merion, PA Rental Inspections: Tenant Complaint Process (2026)

Chapter 75, Article II of the Lower Merion Township Code is titled the Lower Merion Fair Housing Code under Section 75-3, and Section 75-2 sets out the Board of Commissioners' findings behind it: owners facing tenant complaints under the Fire Prevention Code, the Housing Code, or the Property Maintenance Code had developed a practice of evicting complaining tenants or withholding services owed under a lease, discouraging tenants from reporting violations that endangered their own health and safety. Section 75-4A bars an owner, landlord, agent, or manager, once a notice of violation has issued against the premises, from terminating a lease, withholding services, transferring possession, or altering lease terms, including rent, until the violation is corrected, or for a year afterward if the change is meant to pass along the cost of the repair.

Section 75-4B goes further and protects the tenant directly: it is a violation to terminate a lease, alter its terms, or withhold services from a tenant in retaliation for a violation having been found against the premises, for filing a complaint alleging a violation, or for joining a lawful organization or exercising any other legal right. Narrow exceptions in Section 75-4C allow a bona fide sale of the property, so long as the new owner remains bound by the article, and allow termination where the Director certifies that the premises must be vacated for rehabilitation.

Section 75-4D bars any lease clause from waiving a tenant's rights under the section. Section 75-5 puts enforcement in the hands of the Director, and Section 75-6 sets the penalty at a fine of not more than $600 for each offense once the Director has given notice by mail, verbally, or by service of process, with each additional day of continued violation a separate offense. Section 75-7 preserves any other legal or equitable remedy the Township or an aggrieved tenant may pursue on top of that fine.