The two bills that make up the Act
City Council passed the Safe Healthy Homes Act as two separate ordinances amending different parts of the Philadelphia Code. Bill 250329-AA amends the licensing chapter (Phila. Code Ch. 9-3900): it authorizes a Proactive Inspection Program, requires public reporting on code compliance, and creates a private-right framework with its own triggers and listed remedies, including an abatement-and-refund remedy for a prevailing tenant when subsection §9-3901(4)(h) is violated. That is not an automatic refund conclusion for every missing license or CRS record.
Bill 250330-AA schedules changes to retaliation, harassment, habitability, and good-cause provisions. Its good-cause amendment would expand the current scope beyond residential leases of less than one year. Councilmember Nicolas O'Rourke (At-Large) sponsored both bills; they cleared committee after a delayed process and passed Council 15-1 on April 23, 2026.
The lawsuit and the limits of the available docket snapshot
In March 2026, two Philadelphia rental-property owners, one of them a HAPCO Philadelphia board member (WHYY, April 23, 2026), sued City Council, alleging council members violated Pennsylvania's Sunshine Act by discussing bill amendments outside a public meeting before an earlier committee vote. A settlement sent the bills back to committee; when the committee voted again on March 30, 2026, the same landlords alleged a second transparency violation and asked a judge to hold the City in contempt and block the floor vote.
The City removed the case to federal court in April 2026 (Floyd v. City Council for the City of Philadelphia, No. 2:26-cv-02403, E.D. Pa.). A temporary restraining order was denied April 15, 2026. The landlords added constitutional claims in April; their second amended complaint (July 21, 2026) brings nine counts and asks the court to permanently block enforcement; the City moved to dismiss on August 4, and argument on that motion is set for October 30, 2026. When the free docket was last read (entries through August 31, 2026) there was no stay, injunction or merits ruling. Confirm through PACER or counsel before treating the scheduled date as operative in a notice, filing, or dispute.
What changes at your rental license
L&I is authorized to establish a proactive inspection program on a regular cycle by July 2030, subject to feasibility. Bill 250329-AA also schedules annual public reporting beginning December 31, 2027 with specified unsafe, unfit, imminently dangerous, and Cease Operations data.
Renewal eligibility tightens: a license is not issued or renewed unless the findings in §9-3901(2)(b) are met, so an applicant with uncorrected violations that prevent those findings becomes expressly "not eligible" for license issuance or renewal, and a license issued while an appeal was pending can be suspended once the violation is affirmed and appeals are exhausted. Under §9-3903(2)(d), failure to correct an unsafe, unfit, or imminently dangerous violation within 30 days after receiving the notice is CRS noncompliance unless the notice is timely appealed. If the Act takes effect as written, each time a license is issued or renewed you post it, with a restatement of §9-3901(4)(h), where every tenant can see it, or deliver both to each tenant in person or by certified mail, within 7 days of receiving the license (§9-3901(4)(b)). Email counts only in a one- or two-unit property whose tenant has consented in writing, given an email address for it, and not revoked that consent.
The bill restates the existing license-related rent-and-possession limits to explicitly address expired and suspended licenses, moving the language to §9-3901(4)(h). These are enacted, future-effective provisions scheduled for November 1, 2026; a specific rent or possession outcome still depends on the governing text and case facts.
What changes in eviction and rent-collection filings
Bill 250329-AA contains distinct future duties. Its new CRS provision is written for an eviction action and says the certificate must be issued no more than 30 days before the certified bill's stated "date of enrollment." That phrase is undefined and unresolved; this guide does not silently rewrite it as "filing date." A separate attachment provision applies more broadly to eviction and rent-collection actions and calls for the license, required CRS records, and relevant violation records. The bill also creates a tenant-request process. Do not collapse those provisions into one fresh-CRS-at-every-filing rule.
Bill 250329-AA separately treats failure to correct specified unsafe, unfit, or imminently dangerous violations within the stated period as CRS noncompliance unless timely appealed; its rent-and-possession limits, private remedies, notice duties, and safe harbors each have their own terms. Bill 250330-AA creates a different habitability framework, including abatement in a court action under stated conditions, a rebuttable presumption with listed elements and rebuttal grounds, and its own damages formulation. A notice or missed deadline does not let this guide calculate an automatic rent, possession, refund, abatement, or damages outcome under either bill.
Scheduled expansion of good-cause scope
Current Phila. Code §9-804(12) applies the good-cause framework to covered residential leases of less than one year, including month-to-month tenancies. Bill 250330-AA is scheduled to expand that scope on November 1, 2026. Treat the enacted expansion as future-effective unless current official and legal review establishes otherwise.
The bill would add a good-cause ground for a bona fide arm's-length sale to a purchaser who intends to owner-occupy within 90 days of closing, with specified records and notice. Its owner-occupant exemption would remain narrow and depend on the enacted criteria and a court finding. Apply either future provision only after current legal review.
How the bills' remedy frameworks differ
Bill 250329-AA schedules licensing- and CRS-related remedies and safe harbors. Bill 250330-AA schedules a different habitability, retaliation, and good-cause remedy framework. Do not combine their triggers or formulations into one automatic outcome, and do not apply either future framework before it becomes operative.
Bill 250329-AA includes future private-remedy safe harbors for a qualifying renewal within 15 days, specified City-caused reinspection delays, and specified appeals. The 15-day provision is not an extension of license validity or a general grace period. Bills 250329-AA and 250330-AA also use different damages and remedy formulations; they must be analyzed separately.
How to get ready before November 1
Rental-license status, open L&I violations, and the relevant Certificate of Rental Suitability record are important workflow inputs. They do not by themselves decide whether rent is collectible or whether a particular filing may proceed; those outcomes can depend on the governing text, notices, timing, exceptions, procedural posture, and case facts.
A practical starting checklist for any Philadelphia rental you own:
- Confirm your rental license status and renewal date for every address, not just the ones you think are current.
- Look up open L&I violations by address and clear anything outstanding well before the 30-day and license-renewal clocks matter.
- Check that your mailing address on file with L&I is current: notices, and eventually proactive-inspection scheduling, go to whatever address the City has.
- Pull a fresh Certificate of Rental Suitability before a covered new tenancy; the Code excepts a rental to a tenant who is a member of the owner's family. For a renewal, L&I currently instructs owners to obtain a new CRS, while another City page describes the tenant-document duty differently; review both sources and consider the stricter workflow. Separate future eviction-action CRS and filing-record duties are scheduled for November 1, 2026; verify later court orders and current implementation through PACER or counsel.
- If you rely on month-to-month or short-term non-renewals as part of your business, understand the good-cause and owner-occupant-sale rules before November 1 changes what counts as valid notice.
What this guide does not cover
This guide describes enacted Philadelphia legislation, its scheduled effective date, and the limits of the litigation information available to this site; it does not tell you what to do about a specific tenant, lease, notice, or filing. For decisions tied to a particular property, tenant dispute, or court filing, including whether a later court order affects a deadline you're facing, verify the current docket and talk to a licensed Pennsylvania attorney who handles Philadelphia landlord-tenant matters.