www.alleghenycountyanalytics.us
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The Allegheny County Department of Human Services
Basic Needs
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Eviction Cases in Allegheny County, 2012–2019
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September 2020 page 1
Please contact DHS-Research@alleghenycounty.us with questions or corrections.
This document describes the sequence of events in a residential eviction case (“landlord–tenant case”)
in Allegheny County. For the sake of clarity, as well as in order to demystify the process, links are provided
to the text of the law and the court rules that govern each step in the process.
The document describes the process for claims of $12,000 or less filed in the magisterial district courts. Appeals
and cases involving claims of more than $12,000 are filed in the Court of Common Pleas and are not covered in
this document.
SOURCES AND WHERE TO FIND THEM
Landlord–tenant cases in Pennsylvania are governed by statewide law. With the exception of Philadelphia,
which has its own municipa
l cour
t system
, the rul
es are the s
am
e no mat
ter what county the c
ase is h
eard
in. Court rules and statutes are available online.
The main sources for this document are:
• The Landlord and Tenant Act of 1951 and its amendments, available here. (If the link is broken, do an internet
search for “the landlord and tenant act of 1951.”) The law is implemented by means of rules approved by the
Pennsylvania Supreme Court. After rules are approved, they acquire the force of law and are included in the
Pennsylvania Code, Title 246, Minor Court Civil Rules.
• Pennsylvania Code, Title 246, Minor Court Civil Rules. These rules can be found on the Pennsylvania Code
& Bulletin website. The links in the body of this document bring up the text of individual court rules. The
website changes from time to time and the links may break. If that happens, the best way to find the text of
the rules cited is to go to the homepage of the Pennsylvania Code & Bulletin, and look for “246 Minor Court
Civil Rules” in the box for browsing the Code. This should bring up a table of contents with links to individual
sections of Title 246.
• Rules in Chapter 500 deal with evictions, or “Actions for the Recovery of Possession of Real Property,”
and can be found in their entirety here or downloaded as a .pdf file from the Title 246 table of contents
here. Links below go to the text of individual rules.
• Rules in Chapter 300 deal with Civil Action generally and include rules on “Satisfaction of Money
Judgments” that apply to landlord–tenant cases. They can be found here.
NOTE: A note in brackets indicating that a piece of information is not contained in electronic records means
electronic records in bulk.
How an Eviction Case Proceeds
Through Allegheny County Courts
Last updated September 2020