Pennsylvania Act 1965-536 — CITY RENT WITHHOLDING ACT

Act text

CITY RENT WITHHOLDING ACT
             Act of Jan. 24, (1966) 1965, P.L. 1534, No. 536          Cl. 11
                                  AN ACT

     Providing for the suspension of the duty to pay rent for
        dwellings certified to be unfit for human habitation in
        cities and providing for the withholding and disposition of
        shelter allowances. (Title amended June 11, 1968, P.L.159,
        No.89)

        The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
     hereby enacts as follows:

        Section 1.  Notwithstanding any other provision of law, or of
     any agreement, whether oral or in writing, whenever the
     Department of Licenses and Inspections of any city of the first
     class, or the Department of Public Safety of any city of the
     second class, second class A, or third class as the case may be,
     or any Public Health Department of any such city, or of the
     county in which such city is located, certifies a dwelling as
     unfit for human habitation, the duty of any tenant of such
     dwelling to pay, and the right of the landlord to collect rent
     shall be suspended without affecting any other terms or
     conditions of the landlord-tenant relationship, until the
     dwelling is certified as fit for human habitation or until the
     tenancy is terminated for any reason other than nonpayment of
     rent. During any period when the duty to pay rent is suspended,
     and the tenant continues to occupy the dwelling, the rent
     withheld shall be deposited by the tenant in an escrow account
     in a bank or trust company approved by the city or county as the
     case may be and shall be paid to the landlord when the dwelling
     is certified as fit for human habitation at any time within six
     months from the date on which the dwelling was certified as
     unfit for human habitation. If, at the end of six months after
     the certification of a dwelling as unfit for human habitation,
     such dwelling has not been certified as fit for human
     habitation, any moneys deposited in escrow on account of
     continued occupancy shall be payable to the depositor, except
     that any funds deposited in escrow may be used, for the purpose
     of making such dwelling fit for human habitation and for the
     payment of utility services for which the landlord is obligated
     but which he refuses or is unable to pay. No tenant shall be
     evicted for any reason whatsoever while rent is deposited in
     escrow.
        (1 amended June 11, 1968, P.L.159, No.89)