Did you get an eviction notice in Philly? Don’t leave yet. Follow these steps.

The sudden threat of losing shelter and being displaced from your home during an eviction can be traumatizing, and in Philadelphia, it happens to 20,000 households every year.

There may be many reasons why a landlord files for eviction to force a tenant to leave a property, like missing rent payments (the most common reason), breaking the terms of a lease or refusing to leave a property after a lease ends. However, in Philly, there are bolstered protections for tenants who find themselves in this situation.

If you are in the process of being evicted in Philly, there is an eviction diversion program that provides a few paths to resolution through free housing counseling, targeted financial assistance, legal resources and professional mediation between you and your landlord — before the eviction case even goes to court. Plus, depending on your financial situation and where you live, you could be eligible for free legal representation.

“It’s a way to get tenants back on track quickly with repayment plans or to come to vacate agreements quickly to avoid additional court costs, attorneys fees and a prolonged court process — there are a lot of reasons why both tenants and landlords are incentivized to participate in this program,” said Liz Freed, a staff attorney for Community Legal Services’ housing unit about the diversion program.

If you’re currently being evicted in Philly, here is how the process works and how you can avoid eviction and all the negative impacts that come with it.

There are three reasons a landlord can file an eviction case against a tenant, the most common reason being failure to pay rent.

It’s illegal for landlords to lock tenants out of their rental units. Even if the landlord successfully wins an eviction case in court, the landlord won’t be the person to actually lock the doors — in Philadelphia, only a landlord-tenant officer can do that (in other counties, the local sheriff’s office must do it). If your landlord has locked you out of your rental unit, then they have committed an “illegal lockout.”

Illegal lockouts can look like:

If your landlord locked you out, call 911. You should wait at the property for police and you will have to show proof of residency, like photo ID with the property’s address or a utility bill with the property’s address in your name.

If you can prove your residency, then the police will contact your landlord and tell them to unlock the property. If the landlord refuses, police will issue them a citation. If the police tell the landlord to let you back in and they refuse — they will be fined. At that point, you can call a locksmith to help you get back into the property. According to Vik Patel, attorney at Community Legal Services, “the police generally won’t bash down the door or anything. But often they will wait with the tenant if the tenant then calls a locksmith to let them back in,” said Patel in 2021.

For more information, check out The Inquirer’s guide on illegal lockouts.

No. Your landlord is not allowed to lock you out of your rental unit in the first place. Landlords insisting that you pay them rent money in order to get let back in is illegal.

No, unless you already vacated the property and they notified you first. Whether you moved out or were evicted and vacated the property, a landlord has to give you written notice via mail letting you know about the abandoned possessions. A tenant has 10 days from the postmark date on the written notice to retrieve their property or tell their landlord to store the property for up to 30 days. If a tenant requests a landlord to store their belongings, the tenant will be responsible for paying the landlord’s costs of storage.

A landlord must give a tenant notice that they have filed for eviction — without it, the eviction can be deemed illegal in court. There are two different categories for proper notice:

However, proper notice can be changed or waived completely in the lease agreement under state landlord-tenant law. In Pennsylvania, most leases’ proper notice requirements are waived, according to Freed. In that case, landlords don’t need to give proper notice.

If it’s an illegal lockout, you should call 911. For any other aspect of evictions, you should contact PhillyTenant.org at 267-443-2500. This free legal assistance organization — made up of lawyers from organizations like Community Legal Services — helps tenants resolve landlord disputes and connect them to resources if they’re being evicted.

An eviction is when a court officially orders a tenant to vacate a property for not paying rent, the lease term being over or breaking the terms of their lease. Landlords initiate the eviction by filing a lawsuit in civil court, where both parties go to trial to make their case and come to an agreement or a judge decides the outcome. If the judge sides with the landlord and issues an eviction, then the tenant has 21 days to vacate the property and possibly be required to pay back any rent owed. (In total, an eviction case takes several weeks to months to resolve).

In Philadelphia, landlords cannot file for eviction in court without first going through the Eviction Diversion Program. It’s an initiative that was put in place during early COVID-19 restrictions to keep tenants in their homes during the outbreak and it continues today to create more amicable outcomes (pre-trial) between tenants and landlords.

All landlords are required to go through diversion, even Philadelphia Housing Authority (PHA) and subsidized housing landlords. The program may just look a little different depending on the type of landlord, the issues raised, and the amount that is owed.

Why is it a big deal? Because a court eviction filing will negatively impact a person’s eviction record, eligibility for government housing programs and ability to secure housing in the future. Not to mention the possible sudden loss of physical shelter.

Landlords have to apply to the Eviction Diversion Program before they file for eviction in court. First, landlords must send their tenants a “Notice of Diversion Rights” and then apply to the diversion program, providing the tenant’s contact information. Landlords are also able to send a “Notice to Quit” (or Vacate) to the tenant at the same time, which according to Freed, is where many tenants get confused and don’t take advantage of their diversion rights.

“Tenants often just see the Notice to Quit, don’t look at anything else and assume they have to be out quickly — it can just send tenants into a bit of a panic,” said Freed. “But it’s really important to look out for that Notice of Diversion Rights because it informs tenants of the next steps for the Eviction Diversion Program, which is this unique 30-day opportunity to come to an agreement with your landlord prior to things escalating and going to court.”

Once you get these notices, you have 30 days to join the program — or your landlord can file for eviction.

There’s an incentive for tenants and landlords to resolve their disputes through the diversion program because going to court comes with additional fees and a potential stain on a tenant’s housing record. Plus, it helps both parties figure out repayment plans if needed. Since 2020, nearly 75% of diversion program participants have reached an agreement that allowed the tenants to remain in their homes and avoid eviction, according to the city.

Tenants and landlords are required to participate in the Eviction Diversion Program in “good faith.” This means attending any scheduled mediation dates and engaging with the diversion process. If the landlord doesn’t, it could prevent the landlord from being successful in the court eviction process. If a tenant does not engage with the Eviction Diversion Program, the tenant risks the landlord going forward with a court eviction filing.

Depending on the circumstances of the case, there are a few options that tenants will be given to proceed.

If a landlord and tenant are able to settle any back rent owed and decide if the tenant will continue living in the property or not — then there may be no need to go to court. However, if an agreement can’t be reached then your landlord can take you to court.

If you receive a court date for an eviction trial — and this is one of the most important aspects of the process — you need to show up to the court date. If one of the parties does not show up to the court date, then the judge will issue a “default judgment” and the party that showed up to court will probably win the case (around one-third of all eviction cases in Philly end up like this).

Both parties will need to argue their cases, or hire a lawyer to do so for them, but getting a lawyer isn’t required. Landlords will bring forth accusations of failure to pay rent, the lease term being over or breaking the lease, and the tenant can make their defense.

In court, tenants again have an opportunity to work out an agreement with their landlord. The difference is that these agreements are entered as Judgments by Agreement with the court. These court agreements are final and can’t be appealed. If the tenant does not keep the agreement, then the landlord can go forward with the eviction process. Keep in mind, neither the tenant or the landlord has to agree to a Judgment by Agreement.

Once the evidence has been presented and the facts of the case discussed, a judge will make a decision and side with either the landlord or tenant. These outcomes can look like the tenant being ordered to vacate the property and pay back any rent owed, or that the landlord was at fault and the tenant can continue living in the property.

If you disagree with the judge’s decision, you have 10 days to appeal the ruling to a higher court — the Common Pleas Court of Philadelphia. As part of the appeal, if the tenant pays their ongoing rent to the court each month, the tenant cannot be evicted until the outcome of the appeal.

You may be eligible for free legal assistance if you live in specific neighborhoods in Philly through a city initiative called “Right to Counsel.” Basically, if you are being evicted and live in zip codes 19121, 19134, 19139 or 19144, and your household makes below 200% of the federal poverty level — $29,160 for one person, $49,720 for a household of three, and $60,000 for a four-person household — then you may be able to get a free lawyer. According to Community Legal Services, even if you don’t live in those zip codes, there still may be free legal assistance available if you call the Philly Tenant hotline at 267-443-2500.

Additionally, the Diversion Program now offers targeted financial assistance to tenants who owe money to their landlords, up to a certain amount. The city pays a one-time payment to the landlord to help cover what a tenant owes (plus one month’s rent) and compensate the landlord for their time participating in the program. Eligibility is determined after the Eviction Diversion Program application is submitted, wherein landlords have to include a ledger of rental payment history and any money owed.

The Philadelphia Inquirer is one of more than 20 news organizations producing Broke in Philly, a collaborative reporting project on solutions to poverty and the city’s push toward economic justice. See all of our reporting at brokeinphilly.org.