Free Pennsylvania Room Rental Agreement Template

A Pennsylvania room rental agreement is the written contract for renting one bedroom in a shared home. Deposits are governed by the Landlord and Tenant Act of 1951, which calls the money escrow funds and deals with it across sections 511.1, 511.2 and 512.

Pennsylvania’s ceiling is not a fixed figure. It moves as the tenancy gets older, and in a shared house that rolls on year after year, it moves more than once.

It starts at two months. No landlord may require a sum in excess of two months’ rent to be deposited in escrow for the payment of damages to the premises or default in rent during the first year of any lease.

Then it drops. During the second and subsequent years of the lease, or during any renewal of the original lease, the amount required to be deposited may not exceed one month’s rent. A landlord who took two months at the start cannot simply keep sitting on it once year two begins.

There is a further stop for long stays. Where a tenant has been in possession of the premises for five years or greater, any increase in rent shall not require a concomitant increase in the security deposit. So the deposit stops tracking the rent entirely at that point.

The section applies only to the rental of residential property, which a spare room in someone’s home plainly is.

A Pennsylvania room rental agreement also has to deal with where the money sits.

Escrow, and a Written Notice of Where

All funds over one hundred dollars deposited to secure the execution of a residential rental agreement go into an escrow account at an institution regulated by the Federal Reserve Board, the Federal Home Loan Bank Board, the Comptroller of the Currency, or the Pennsylvania Department of Banking. When funds are placed in any escrow account, interest-bearing or not, the landlord must notify each tenant in writing, giving the name and address of the banking institution and the amount of the deposit.

Interest, After Two Years

Once the second anniversary of the deposit has passed, interest applies. The landlord is entitled to keep one per cent a year as administrative expenses, in lieu of all other administrative and custodial expenses. The balance of the interest is the tenant’s money and is paid to the tenant annually on the anniversary of the commencement of the lease.

Thirty Days, and a Hard Forfeiture

Within thirty days of termination of a lease, or upon surrender and acceptance of the premises, whichever first occurs, the landlord must give the tenant a written list of any damages for which the landlord claims the tenant is liable. Delivery of that list must be accompanied by payment of the difference between the sum held in escrow, including any unpaid interest, and the actual amount of damage caused by the tenant.

Tip: A landlord who fails to provide the written list within thirty days forfeits all rights to withhold any portion of the sums held in escrow, including unpaid interest. Figures are statutory and can change, so confirm the current text.

For a Pennsylvania room rental agreement, the terms worth adding are:

• The deposit amount, and what happens to the excess when year two starts
• The banking institution holding the escrow and its address
• The lease anniversary date, since interest is paid on it
• Which areas are shared, and the rules for using them
• How utilities are divided between housemates