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Initial Evaluation of the City of Philadelphia’s Renters’ Access Act

In April of 2021, Philadelphia City Councilmembers Brooks, Gym, Henon, Gauthier, and Thomas introduced an Ordinance detailing §9-810 “Prospective Tenant Screening Practices,” also known as the Renters’ Access Act (RAA). In general terms, the RAA articulated what the City defines as uniform tenant screening criteria, creates a right to dispute a landlord’s decision to decline an application from a prospective tenant, and right to a next available unit should the dispute produce evidence that the prospective tenant was a qualified applicant. The RAA was amended in June of 2021 and signed by former Philadelphia Mayor Kenney on July 15, 2021, with an effective date of October 13, 2021.

This initial evaluation of the impact of the Act relied upon information gathered through a series of interviews as well as a mystery shopper program designed to understand the degree to which prospective tenants were treated by landlords in a manner consistent with the Act.

Overall, the evaluation concluded that knowledge of the law has not proliferated as widely as would be ideal. It also shows that, while the RAA was a law that came about with the input of many and varied interests, interviewees who are or represent landlords and management companies assert that the law would be more manageable were it not to apply to the city’s many mom-and-pop landlords. This evaluation shows that when we test for compliance with the RAA using a mystery shopper method, the results show less than uniform compliance. Testing revealed many instances where landlords responded to testers exactly as the framers of the RAA would hope; but there were many instances where landlords responded to tenants in a manner suggestive of non-compliance with the law. Further, while we are unaware of any private rights of action filed under the RAA, there have been a few recently filed complaints with the PCHR, which they are now processing.

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