What happens when a residential landlord fails to return a tenant’s security deposit and fails to provide a written list of damages to the premises within 30 days following termination of the lease?
Under Pennsylvania’s Landlord and Tenant Act of 1951, any residential landlord who fails to provide a written list of damages within 30 days following termination of the lease forfeits all rights to withhold any portion of the security deposit and also forfeits the right to bring a claim against the tenant for damages to the premises. This provision was enacted by the Legislature to curb abuses by landlords withholding security deposits without legitimate justification.
The Act requires the tenant to provide the landlord with his new address in writing upon termination of the lease; failure to do so relieves the landlord of the responsibility to deliver a list of damages within 30 days.
If the landlord fails to pay the tenant the difference between the security deposit and the amount of actual damage to the premises within 30 days, the landlord can be held liable for double the amount by which the security deposit exceeds the actual damage.
For residential landlords it is critical to establish a procedure to insure compliance with the Act upon termination of residential leases. Such a procedure includes obtaining the tenant’s new address, insuring prompt inspection and written notice of damages to the premises within 30 days, and the timely refund of any unused portion of the security deposit.
For tenants, the Act offers protection, but only if the tenant provides written notice of his or her new address upon termination of the lease; telephone notice alone is insufficient.
– Curt Ward