Pennsylvania Has No Rent Control and No Express Preemption Statute

Pennsylvania places no statewide limit on residential rent increases; rent is set by the lease and the market, subject only to proper notice before a term ends. The Landlord and Tenant Act of 1951 (68 P.S. s 250.101 et seq.) does not address rent control, and no Pennsylvania statute expressly preempts municipalities from adopting rent-control ordinances - the field is left unaddressed rather than occupied. Because Pennsylvania follows Dillon's Rule, a non-home-rule municipality's authority to regulate rents is uncertain absent an enabling act. In practice, no Pennsylvania city - including Philadelphia and Pittsburgh - has rent control. Legislators have repeatedly introduced bills (such as HB 136) to amend the 1951 Act to expressly bar local rent regulation, but those proposals have not been enacted, so no express preemption statute currently exists.

Because there is no statewide rent cap and no rent-control ordinance in Pennsylvania, there is no penalty tied to the size of a rent increase. A landlord must still give proper notice and honor the lease term; raising rent mid-term can be challenged under the lease.