Back rent, licensing, and how it all works for landlords.

Yes. Through the City's Eviction Diversion Program you can elect the Targeted Financial Assistance (TFA) track, under which the City pays your tenant's past-due rent (up to a $3,500 recovery cap) plus two months of future rent, provided the tenant stays in the unit for those two months. You receive it by direct deposit. It's not a loan, and there's no application fee.

It's permanent Philadelphia law (Phila. Code § 9-811, as amended by Bill No. 240245, approved June 12, 2024). Before filing most evictions, a landlord must send a notice of diversion rights and participate in good faith for at least 30 days. Within diversion, you can choose the TFA track instead of mediation. TFA is the track that gets you paid.

Yes, on the arrears you claim. 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.

Yes. The $3,500 figure is the City's cap on the arrears you can claim, not a minimum. If your tenant is one or two months behind, you can apply now: once approved, the City pays the back rent owed plus two months of future rent, provided the tenant stays in the unit for those two months. There is no reason to wait for the balance to grow.

Funds are paid by direct deposit into your bank account, within about two weeks after the City has approved all required documents. Missing or resubmitted documents delay payment. Across our real cases, the median has run about 1.5 months.

The program costs the landlord nothing: it's not a loan, there's no repayment, and there's no application fee. The funds are an assistance payment, not credit against future rent.

After TFA pays the two future months, a two-month TFA Protection Period follows during which you cannot file for eviction. The month you submit the rent ledger sets the window: submit in June, get paid for July & August, and September & October fall under the Protection Period. See the timeline.

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 quietly stalls if anything is missing. The City's site gives you an application number but no single consolidated view of your cases. We run the whole filing and consolidate every application into one view, so it never stalls on a missing document.

Often not. With the back rent cleared and two months paid ahead, many tenancies reset and the tenant stays. When a case isn't resolved, diversion tends to channel even hard cases toward a negotiated, mutual outcome rather than a forced lockout.

To legally rent property in Philadelphia you must hold a valid Rental License from Licenses & Inspections (L&I). Without it you can't legally collect rent, you can't enforce an eviction, and you're exposed to fines and per-day penalties for operating unlicensed. The license must be renewed every year, and you must give each new tenant a Certificate of Rental Suitability obtained within 60 days before move-in. That's the licensing & compliance side of what we do.

Getting a Philadelphia rental license is a chain done in order: first a Business Tax Account (BIRT) with the Department of Revenue, then a Commercial Activity License (unless you have 4 or fewer units and live in one), then the Rental License from L&I, plus a Certificate of Rental Suitability for each new tenant. You must also be current on city taxes and clear of open code violations. We set up each step in sequence and obtain the certificate as part of the package.

Most Philadelphia landlords do. Renting property is treated as operating a business, and a Commercial Activity License is generally required before a Rental License can issue. It's free but mandatory, you must be current on city taxes to obtain it, and it comes after your Business Tax Account and before your Rental License. The exception: if your building has 4 or fewer units and you (the owner) live in one of them, you don't need a Commercial Activity License, though you still need the Business Tax Account and the Rental License.

For back rent, send us your name, contact info, number of units, and the approximate balance your tenant owes. We review it free and tell you whether the City will likely pay. For licensing or tax compliance, tell us about the property and what you already have. Start here.

No, and we'd rather say so plainly than take your details. We're a private filing service hired by property owners, and the City's Eviction Diversion Program application is filed by the landlord, not the tenant, so there is nothing we can file for you. Call the City's Eviction Diversion Program tenant hotline on 215-523-9501 (Monday to Friday, 9am to 4pm), the Philly Tenant Hotline on (267) 443-2500 for free legal help, or dial 211. Full list: where tenants get help.