Every landlord wants a good tenant to continue occupying his rental and paying rent on time, but sometimes early termination is a necessity. It’s not easy to terminate a lease agreement early, and both landlords and tenants have protections when it comes to reasons to terminate.

Termination by landlord

The landlord in Pennsylvania has limited conditions that warrant early termination of the rental agreement, but they are broad categories. These reasons include:

  • Tenant, guests, or invitees fail to comply with any term of the rental agreement.
  • Tenant misrepresents any material fact on their rental application.
  • Tenant commits certain acts relating to illegal drugs per 68 P.S. § 250.505-A.

It’s important to emphasize that depending on rental market conditions early termination is not always a preferred course of action, but it may be necessary. For example, a tenant who misrepresented their income on the rental application and has trouble paying rent on time puts the landlord in a difficult position of finding a new tenant and getting the existing to leave expeditiously. This is a good example of why doing proper due diligence on applicants is critically important in order to keep the rental income flowing.

Termination by Tenant

Pennsylvania tenants have limited recourse for terminating a rental agreement early, and once again the reasons for terminating are broad categories.

  • The premises is damaged or destroyed other than by the wrongful or negligent acts of tenant to the extent that normal use and occupancy is substantially impaired.
  • Landlord breaches the warranty of habitability.