Philadelphia landlords suing for unpaid rent are getting hit with $12,000 counterclaims for missing lead-safe certificates, even when properties are actually safe and no exposure occurred. Community Legal Services, funded by nearly $19 million in government contracts, uses the paperwork gap as leverage in settlement talks. Similar certificate-based claims expand in November to rental suitability and licenses.
Hey guys, Kevin Moyer with The Rowe Report here. As you know, I'm a Philadelphia landlord-tenant attorney and property manager, and I want to talk to you about something that I'm starting to see more and more in landlord-tenant court in Philadelphia. So let's say you have a non-paying tenant, you file for eviction against this tenant, the cause is due to non-payment under the lease. You better be prepared for that tenant to receive taxpayer-funded counsel who's gonna go over every inch of that tenant's history to make sure you were fully compliant. And if you're not, be prepared for a countersuit to be filed against you. That's what's happening. So just recently, I would say over the last 45 days, I've had 2 separate cases where a property owner files suit against a non-paying tenant. That non-paying tenant shows up to court. They are solicited by Community Legal Services attorneys, experts in landlord-tenant law. In onboarding, they find out, hey, this, this landlord didn't have all the paperwork in order for the entire tenancy, tenancy. So they come right back at you. So two cases recently, a tenant had been paying— in the case that I'm going to show you, the tenant hasn't paid rent for almost 6 months. Uh, here to— here we are in June now. Just recently, the tenant's assigned attorney reached out and said, hey, we're countersuing you for lead safe violations. So I thought, well, I'm pretty sure the property is lead compliant. I'm pretty sure there, there are not high levels in the property, and I'm sure that— I'm pretty sure that, there is a certification as such, and there is, there has been a recent certification in 2025 that the property is lead safe and there's no indication or evidence presented otherwise, but the owner does not have proof of providing the certification prior to 2025. So just since the owner doesn't have proof, again, the tenant is not alleging that there are high lead levels in the property. They're not alleging that anyone got sick or that their child was exposed to lead, nothing of the sort. They're simply alleging that the paperwork was not provided prior to 2025. So again, lawsuit for nonpayment, taxpayer-funded attorney comes in to save the day, and you're being countersued. Now let's check it out. I'll show you the filing right here. You can see here's the filing in May, and of course it was a petition to accept it at no cost so that the tenant is not paying any court fees for this filing. And it was accepted by the court. And here you can see in the tenant's countersuit, the tenant is suing the property owner for $12,000. So no, no, no, you're suing your tenant for not paying rent. You're slapped with a $10,000, a $12,000, the maximum that this, that this court can, can hear for this case, countersuit against you that you now have to defend for noncompliance. And here's the kicker. By the wording of the law, if you did not provide that notice, even if your property is safe from lead, even if it was fully rehabbed all the way down to the studs with paint from 2025, it doesn't matter the way the law is written. You were at real risk of being found liable for these damages here, even though there's no lead exposure whatsoever. You can even see here on the complaint filed against the landlord, they include the Lead Safe certificate that was provided to the, to the tenant in 2025. So you have a property that's lead, that's lead safe, there's no lead whatsoever, you're still slapped with a $12,000 countersuit against you. And I'm seeing this more and more. Just today I was in court this morning and I was trying to negotiate a settlement agreement. And I said, what are the grounds? Why does the tenant think they get to stay for this long and not pay rent? What are your grounds? What, what leverage do you have for this settlement negotiation that you're pushing to forgive all the rent? And the attorney came to me and they said, well, you didn't have a lead cert for these months on file, and I'll countersue if you don't accept it. So even if they're not formally suing for the $12,000, they're using the threat of it and the way the law is written as leverage to essentially get a blank check when it comes to settlement time. So CLS— what is CLS? Community Legal Services that are providing this, this support to your needy tenants. Well, you're paying their bill for all these lawyers that are staffed there every day of the week. They know the law inside and out better than I do. They're writing the law. They are working with local politicians, and they are, they are drafting and writing the laws that are being passed. They know it, they know how to wield it against property owners, and you're paying for it. So let's find out some of their financials. I went on their website. They haven't posted in a couple years as they are required to make publicly available their financials. But if you go back into 2023, you can see that they received the contracts and grants, which is government, government-related support, almost $19 million. The primary source of all the funding and what they do is your tax money. So your tax dollars are going towards funding lawyers to countersue property owners for paperwork issues. No sick children, no high lead levels, No properties with chil— with chipped paint, peeling paint from the 1950s that's filled with lead. That's not what's happening at all. They are simply filing countersuits, taking advantage of the law the way it is written for leverage, even when tenants are not paying rent. So that's what's happening. And this is not just theoretical. I am seeing it in court when I am there now on a weekly basis, countersuits like this or the threat of them. This is only going to get worse. The LEED, the LEED law is written this way currently, but starting in November, this, your other certificates will be structured the same way. If you don't provide the certificate of rental suitability, if you don't have the rental license, you're really facing, um, a significant threat of counterclaims with legal merit behind them if you dare to try to evict a non-paying tenant in Philadelphia. So there you have it, folks. Don't forget to subscribe to The Rowe Report for more information like this and future videos keeping you informed of what's happening in Philadelphia.
