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How long before eviction in Pennsylvania?
Tenant protection: Not yet rated3 of 9 checked
Last verified 2026-09-23Law change in effect or pending. Court rule changes adopted on April 21, 2026 take effect on November 1, 2026. A new Rule 206.1 sets out how a person who cannot afford court fees asks to have them waived. A tenant who appeals an eviction judgment, and must keep paying rent into court while the appeal is pending, may make those monthly deposits in money or by bond; the old rule said later deposits had to be cash. The changes to Rules 514, 515 and 516 only update the comments to those rules. The notice, hearing, judgment and removal waiting periods on this page do not change.
From notice to removal
Each stage has its own timing. A landlord notice alone does not authorize removal.
- 01Notice
10 calendar days
- 02Court stage
7 days recorded; see source
- 03Writ wait
11 days before execution
- 04Removal
Enforcement follows a court order
At a glance
- Grace period before a late fee
- Not verified
- Late fee cap
- Not verified
- Pay-or-quit notice
- 10 calendar days
- Recorded court-stage timing
- 7 days
- Wait before the writ can be executed
- 11 days
- Can paying stop it before judgment?
- Not verified
- Can paying stop it after judgment?
- Yes
- Lockouts without a court order banned?
- Not verified
- Record sealing available?
- Not verified
- Right to counsel
- Not verified
- Fastest lawful timeline
- 38 daysNot independently verified. Figure from the Eviction Research Network's state eviction timeframes dataset, as of 2026-07-13. We have not yet checked it against the statutes.
A lease may shorten this notice period, or let the tenant waive it. No separate rule applies to a tenant who is late for the first time. Philadelphia and other cities may add local eviction rules of their own; those were not checked for this record. The ten-day period is for an ordinary residential lease; a mobile home park tenancy follows a different schedule under the same section.
Not legal advice. This page reports what the state statute says as of the last-verified date. It does not describe how a particular court applies it, and it does not account for your lease, local ordinances, or the facts of your case. If you have received a notice or a court summons, contact a legal aid organization listed below.
Can I stop it by paying?
Before judgment: Not verified.
After judgment: Yes. At any time before the writ of possession is actually executed, in a case for nonpayment of rent, the tenant can stop the eviction by paying the writ server, constable or sheriff the rent actually in arrears plus costs. This right runs through the judgment and up until the property is actually delivered to the landlord; it is not limited to a first missed payment or left to the landlord's discretion.
Behind on utilities in Pennsylvania too? See Pennsylvania's shutoff protection rules.
Where to get help
Sources
- 68 P.S. § 250.501(b). For nonpayment of rent, after demand the notice must give the tenant at least ten days from service to remove.
- Pa.R.Civ.P.M.D.J. Nos. 515(B)(1) and 519(B). For a residential lease, the landlord may ask for an order for possession only "after the 10th day" following judgment. The officer may then remove the tenant "on or after the 11th day following the service of the order for possession." The 11 days shown count from service of that order, not from the judgment.
- Pa.R.Civ.P.M.D.J. No. 504(a). The magisterial district judge must set a hearing "not less than seven or more than fifteen days" after the complaint is filed; judgment is entered at the hearing or within three days after it, under Rule 514(D)(1).
- Thomas, Tim, and the Eviction Research Network (2026). Time to evict: State statutory eviction timelines (verified edition, July 2026) [Data set]. Eviction Research Network, University of California, Berkeley.
- Primary statute · Court self-help