Who to call for help with a Philadelphia rental

Hopefully, your Philadelphia apartment rental experience will be a thoroughly positive one. But if you do encounter any problems during your time as a renter, do you know where to turn? There are numerous resources available in the Philly area for renters who need assistance. They can address things like poor apartment conditions, renters’ rights, and much more.

Here are a number of the organizations and a short summary of what services they can offer you.

• The City’s Department of Licenses and Inspections (L&I) handles rental complaint and inspection requests. L&I addresses problems such as: fire safety, basic equipment and facilities in rental properties, water and sewage systems, heating, repairs. Contact Licenses & Inspections at www.phila.gov/li and click on “complaints.”

• The City’s Fair Housing Commission handles unfair rental practices including eviction and rent-increase problems. A housing code violation must be reported. Contact the Fair Housing Commission at www.phila.gov/fairhousing

• Community Legal Services/Philadelphia Legal Assistance – represents low-income tenants in disputes with landlords. For more information visit www.clsphila.org

• The Tenant Union Representative Network (TURN) – Handles all tenant/landlord problems. Also, TURN sponsors classes on evictions and tenants’ rights, organizes tenant councils, and is a fair housing advocate. For more information visit www.rturn.net

• The Philadelphia Landlord/Tenant Legal Help Center is a collaborative effort of the legal service community, administered by SeniorLaw Center, housed in Municipal Court. The help center offers free legal information, advice, and limited representation to unrepresented, low income tenants in Philadelphia. Tenants are seen on a first come, first served basis at 34 S 11th Street – 5th floor (sign in at the clerk’s office) on Mondays from 1:30 – 3:30 p.m. and on Wednesdays from 10:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. Translation services are available.