Reading has not codified a separate local security-deposit ordinance; deposits are governed by the Pennsylvania Landlord and Tenant Act of 1951 at 68 P.S. §250.511a et seq. The statute caps the deposit at two months' rent during the first year of the tenancy and at one month's rent during the second and subsequent years. Deposits over $100 held for more than two years must be placed in an escrow account at a federally or state-regulated banking institution, and the tenant must be given written notice of the institution's name and address. The landlord must return the deposit (less itemized deductions) within 30 days of the tenant's vacating; failure to do so exposes the landlord to a doubled-deposit penalty plus attorney fees.
The Pennsylvania Landlord and Tenant Act of 1951 controls every residential security deposit at a Reading rental. The framework lives at 68 P.S. §§250.511a through 250.512 and is uniform statewide: (1) 68 P.S. §250.511a caps the deposit at two months' rent during the first year of the tenancy and at one month's rent during the second and every subsequent year (the landlord must return the excess if a deposit lawfully collected in year one exceeds the year-two cap as the tenancy moves into year two); (2) 68 P.S. §250.511b requires that any security deposit over $100 held by the landlord for more than two years be deposited in an escrow account at a federally or state-regulated banking or savings institution, and the tenant must receive written notice of the name and address of the institution and the amount of the deposit; (3) interest earned on the deposit during the third and subsequent years (after the initial two-year holding period) belongs to the tenant, less a 1% per annum administrative fee the landlord may retain under 68 P.S. §250.511b; (4) under 68 P.S. §250.512(a) the landlord must, within 30 days of the tenant's vacating, either return the deposit by mail to the tenant's last known address or provide a written list of damages and the cost of repair with any unused portion of the deposit refunded; (5) under 68 P.S. §250.512(c) a landlord who fails to provide the written list and refund within 30 days forfeits the right to assert any deductions and owes the tenant double the amount wrongfully withheld; tenants enforce the remedy in the Magisterial District Court that serves Reading. The statute applies to all residential tenancies in Reading; mobile-home tenancies are governed by a parallel framework under 68 P.S. §250.501-B. Reading's Residential Rental Inspection Program (Ord. 35-2011) does not displace or modify the deposit cap or the return timeline, and the Reading City Code at ecode360.com/RE1294 does not contain a deposit-specific ordinance.
Charging a deposit above the §250.511a cap (two months in year one, one month thereafter) is a statutory violation; the tenant may recover the excess in the Magisterial District Court. Failure to deposit funds over $100 in escrow after the two-year holding period is a violation of §250.511b, exposing the landlord to the doubled-deposit remedy where the failure is willful. Failure to return the deposit or to provide the written damages list within 30 days of vacancy under §250.512(a) forfeits all deductions and triggers the §250.512(c) penalty: double the amount wrongfully withheld, plus the tenant's reasonable attorney fees and court costs in a successful action. Self-help offset (the landlord applying the deposit to alleged damages without itemization) is impermissible. Where the landlord is also operating in violation of Reading's Residential Rental Inspection Program registration requirement, the deposit failure can be cited in the Magisterial District Court action alongside the registration violation and can be grounds for code-enforcement escalation including license suspension.
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