If your tenant is behind and you're thinking about eviction, there's a step you can't skip first: Philadelphia's Eviction Diversion Program (EDP). It's permanent City law. But it's not only a hurdle. Inside diversion is a track that can get your tenant's back rent paid by the City, plus two months of future rent if the tenant is staying. Here's how it works, and where our back rent recovery service comes in.
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What the Eviction Diversion Program is
The Eviction Diversion Program is Philadelphia law, codified at Phila. Code § 9-811 and permanent under Bill No. 240245, signed June 12, 2024 (Bill No. 220655 was the 2022 amendment). It was created to give landlords and tenants a structured path to resolve a rent dispute before it becomes a court eviction. For landlords, the important thing to understand is that it's not optional and it's not a formality you can route around.
The mandatory pre-eviction step
Before filing most evictions, a Philadelphia landlord must:
- Send the tenant a notice of their diversion rights, and
- Participate in good faith for at least 30 days after the City approves your application.
In other words, diversion comes before the courthouse, not instead of it. If you skip the diversion step, your eviction filing is vulnerable. The good-faith participation requirement means you can't just send the notice and wait out the clock. You're expected to engage.
Mediation vs. the assistance track
Within diversion, the case can move toward a mediated agreement between you and the tenant. But you can also choose a different route: the Targeted Financial Assistance (TFA) track, in which the City pays the past-due rent rather than the two of you negotiating a payment plan that may or may not hold.
The Targeted Financial Assistance track
This is the part most landlords don't know exists. Inside diversion, you can elect the TFA track, under which:
- The City pays the tenant's past-due rent, up to a $3,500 recovery cap.
- The City also pays two months of future rent, provided the tenant stays in the unit for those two months.
- Funds go to you by direct deposit. It's an assistance payment, not a loan. There's no repayment and no application fee for the program.
Owed more than $3,500? You can still be considered. The City's limit is on the arrears you claim: you may agree to waive the amount over $3,500 and show it as forgiven on your ledger. You still receive the two months of future rent, provided the tenant stays in the unit for those two months.
What diversion means for your tenancy
Often, the tenant stays, and that's a good outcome for a landlord. With the back rent cleared and two months paid ahead, many tenancies reset. When a case isn't resolved that way, diversion tends to channel even hard situations toward a negotiated, mutual outcome rather than a forced lockout. Either way, you've recovered money the eviction route would never have produced.
See if your tenant's back rent qualifies.
A free case review takes a minute. If it's a fit, we open eviction diversion, elect the assistance track, and run the entire City filing. You owe nothing unless the City pays.
Start my free case review → Call (215) 402-6882Common questions
Do I have to go through diversion before I can evict?
For most evictions, yes. You must send the notice of diversion rights and participate in good faith for at least 30 days after your application is approved, before filing. Skipping it leaves your filing exposed.
Is the assistance money a loan I or my tenant have to pay back?
No. It's an assistance payment, not credit and not a loan. There's no repayment and no application fee for the program.
My tenant owes way more than $3,500. Is it even worth it?
Yes. You can still be considered. The City's limit is on the arrears you claim: you may agree to waive the amount over $3,500 and show it as forgiven on your ledger. You still receive the two months of future rent, provided the tenant stays in the unit for those two months, and that is money you would not otherwise see.
If the program is free, why use a service?
The money isn't the hard part. The application is. It runs through the City's portal, needs specific documents in a specific order, and stalls quietly if anything is missing. We run the whole filing and keep your cases in one consolidated view.