Lease Acceleration Clause
in Your Lease
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Statutes verified against primary state sources
Every statute cited here was read in its published text before this page went live: on the state's own site where that site can be reached, otherwise on a republished copy of the code. Court decisions are quoted from the published opinion and linked to it, so you can read the original yourself.
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Content verified against primary state statutes before publicationLast updated: October 2026
What it actually means, what Pennsylvania law says, what's specific to Philadelphia - and exactly what to do. In plain English.
Quick Summary - What You Need to Know
- The Landlord and Tenant Act of 1951 is silent on rent acceleration, so case law sets the rule.
- Stonehedge Square (1998): a landlord whose tenant abandons has no duty to re-rent the unit.
- Homart (1995): your landlord cannot evict you and also collect rent accruing after the eviction.
- If the unit is re-rented, the new rent is credited against what you owe.
- A Philadelphia owner without a valid rental license or Certificate of Rental Suitability cannot collect rent for the noncompliance period.
Step by step
How it plays out
- You leave earlyRemaining rent can be chargedUnder Stonehedge Square, a landlord whose tenant abandons has no duty to re-rent and may charge the full remaining term.
- Landlord evicts youLandlord must pick one remedyUnder Homart, a landlord cannot evict you and also hold you liable for rent accruing after the eviction.
- Unit is re-rentedNew rent is creditedRent from the replacement tenant is credited against what you owe for the same period, so nobody collects twice.
Copy and send: When your landlord bills you for rent after you moved out early
Ask about the rental license and any re-rent
Fill in the brackets and keep a copy of what you send.
How Pennsylvania compares
Landlord duty to mitigate after an early lease break, state by state
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Figures are the state rule, or the stronger city ordinance where one exists. Verify the current law for your own situation before relying on it.
Understanding the Lease Acceleration Clause
This page is for Philadelphia renters whose lease has an acceleration clause: the paragraph that makes all the remaining rent due at once if you break the lease. Leave in month four of a twelve-month lease and the demand can cover the eight months you won't live there.
In Pennsylvania your landlord does not have to look for a new tenant first. In Philadelphia, though, the owner's rental license is the first thing to check.
What renters assume
My landlord has to try to re-rent the apartment before billing me for the months it sits empty.
What is actually true
Not in Pennsylvania. In Stonehedge Square, the state Supreme Court held that a landlord whose tenant abandons has no duty to re-rent.
Same paragraph in the lease, wildly different outcomes by state. Texas and New York make any waiver of the duty to re-rent void and Washington caps what a departing tenant can owe, while Pennsylvania gives you neither, which is exactly why the Philadelphia license question carries so much weight here.
Rent Acceleration Clause Example - What the Wording Looks Like in Philadelphia, PA
The sample clause below is real lease language - a court quoted it word for word, and then ruled on it. What the judge decided is at the bottom of this block.
Find the equivalent paragraph in your own lease and read the two side by side. The wording will differ; the moving parts rarely do.
The three sentences quoted by the court. They are not the whole paragraph - a further sentence on late fees and interest on accelerated sums follows in the lease and is not set out below:
If any monthly installment under this agreement is not paid when due and remains unpaid after a date specified by a notice to Tenant, the entire principal rent amount owed for the full lease term shall at once become due and payable at the option of the Landlord and judgment may be had for all said amounts due. The foregoing provision shall not relieve the Landlord of its obligation to mitigate damages. In the event the rental premises is re-rented to another for full value prior to expiration of the lease term, Landlord shall file Notice of Partial Satisfaction of any judgment entered to the extent of the third party rental agreement.
[…]
Quoted from the published opinion in Summers v. Crestview Apartments, 2010 MT 164, 357 Mont. 123, 236 P.3d 586 (No. DA 09-0489). Judicial opinions are not subject to copyright; the lease language is reproduced in limited part for commentary under 17 U.S.C. § 107.
What the 4 highlighted phrases mean
“If any monthly installment”
Before arguing about what the paragraph does, check something simpler in Philadelphia: whether the owner may collect rent at all. Under Phila. Code § 9-3901(4)(e), an owner without a valid rental licence, or who failed to give you a Certificate of Rental Suitability, is denied the right to collect rent or to recover possession for the whole period of noncompliance. An installment that could not lawfully be collected in the first place is a thin foundation for accelerating the rest of the term on top of it.
See the example
“and remains unpaid”
Unpaid rent stays unpaid longer in Pennsylvania than in most of the states compared here, because nothing obliges the landlord to fill the unit. Stonehedge holds that a non-breaching landlord whose tenant abandons in breach has no duty to mitigate, and our Pennsylvania record puts the practical result plainly: the unit may sit idle while the full remaining term is charged. That rests on one 1998 decision, so read the current case law rather than treating the rule as fixed.
“Landlord shall file Notice of Partial Satisfaction”
This is a clause about reducing a judgment, and Pennsylvania has a rule about a bigger version of the same problem. Homart Development Co. v. Sgrenci, 662 A.2d 1092 (Pa. Super. 1995), forces an election of remedies: a landlord cannot eject the tenant and also hold that same tenant liable for rent accruing after the eviction. Possession and the full accelerated rent are not both available. So the date you were put out of the unit is worth pinning down precisely, because it is the line the rent stops crossing.
“to the extent of the third party rental agreement”
Here is a rule in our Pennsylvania record that runs the tenant's way, and it survives the absence of any mitigation duty. A landlord who does relet cannot collect twice: rent received from the replacement tenant is credited against what the departing tenant owes for the same period. So the question that decides the money is not whether the landlord had to relet, but whether they did - and if so, from what date and at what rent. The paragraph above happens to write that credit into the contract as well.
See the example
The Montana Supreme Court struck this paragraph down, and its conclusion is one sentence: “Thus, we conclude that the accelerated rent provision is unconscionable and therefore unenforceable.” The tenants had moved out of their apartment on October 13, 2006, and Crestview answered with a Statement of Deductions from the Security Deposit charging rent through the end of the lease in June - $6,505.75 billed against a $2,170 deposit. Two reasons carried the court. Acceleration undermines the landlord's duty to mitigate and reduces the incentive to re-rent promptly, because a landlord already holding a judgment for the whole term has little reason to fill the unit. And Crestview drafted the lease while these tenants had no meaningful choice and no opportunity to negotiate any of it. The case was reversed and remanded, and two justices wrote separately - their objection being that the majority had gone as far as treating acceleration clauses as unenforceable in themselves. So read the holding narrowly, as the majority wrote it: this provision, in this residential lease, unconscionable and unenforceable. It is a Montana decision and it binds no other state's courts. What travels is the reasoning, and the reasoning is about mitigation - which is exactly the question the statute in your own city's decode answers.
How this state's law treats this clause
One court, one lease, one state. That answer is not automatically yours, and your lease may be worded to land differently. Use this to know what to look for and what to ask - your state's tenant hotline or a local tenant attorney can answer it for your document.
Pennsylvania Law on Lease Acceleration Clause
- The Landlord and Tenant Act of 1951 (68 P.S. § 250.101 et seq.) is silent on rent acceleration and on any duty to mitigate, so the rule comes entirely from case law.
- Stonehedge Square Ltd. Partnership v. Movie Merchants, Inc., 715 A.2d 1082 (Pa. 1998), holds that a non-breaching landlord whose tenant abandons in breach of the lease has no duty to mitigate damages.
- Homart Development Co. v. Sgrenci, 662 A.2d 1092 (Pa. Super. 1995), forces an election of remedies: a landlord cannot eject the tenant and also hold that tenant liable for rent accruing after the eviction, so possession and full accelerated rent cannot both be taken.
- A landlord who does re-rent cannot collect twice; rent received from the replacement tenant is credited against what the departing tenant owes for the same period.
Verify the current text in your state's landlord-tenant statutes.
The Landlord and Tenant Act of 1951 (68 P.S. § 250.101 et seq.) is silent on rent acceleration and on any duty to mitigate, meaning a duty to cut the loss by re-renting. The rule comes from case law.
- Stonehedge Square Ltd. Partnership v. Movie Merchants, Inc., 715 A.2d 1082 (Pa. 1998). A landlord whose tenant abandons in breach of the lease has no duty to mitigate. The unit can sit empty while the landlord charges the full remaining term.
- Homart Development Co. v. Sgrenci, 662 A.2d 1092 (Pa. Super. 1995). Your landlord has to choose a remedy. They cannot evict you and also hold you liable for rent accruing after the eviction.
- Re-renting. If your landlord does re-rent, rent from the new tenant is credited against what you owe for the same months, so nobody collects twice.
Because this is judge-made law, confirm the current Pennsylvania rule before you rely on it.
What's Specific to Philadelphia
Philadelphia goes further than state law on collection. Code § 9-3901(4)(e), an owner without a valid rental license, or who failed to give you a Certificate of Rental Suitability, is denied the right to collect rent or recover possession for the whole noncompliance period. An unlicensed landlord cannot enforce an acceleration clause at all.
Check the license before you pay anything. If a claim reaches Philadelphia Municipal Court, your landlord still has to prove the number.
Check it first. Without one, a Philadelphia owner is denied the right to collect rent for the whole noncompliance period.
You should have. Missing it triggers the same bar on collecting rent under § 9-3901(4)(e).
Good. That matches the rule here: rent from a new tenant is credited against what you owe for the same months.
Push back in writing. Under Homart, a landlord cannot take possession and also collect rent accruing after the eviction.
Red Flags to Watch Out For
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No sign of a rental license
An owner without a valid Philadelphia rental license is denied the right to collect rent for the noncompliance period. Confirm the license before you pay.
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Eviction plus the full balance
They can't have both. Under Homart, a landlord who takes possession cannot also charge rent that accrues after the eviction.
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Rent billed after a new tenant moved in
Rent from a replacement tenant is credited against what you owe for the same months. A bill that ignores it counts that rent twice.
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A lump-sum demand with no math
A number in a letter isn't proof. Ask in writing for the re-rental date, the new rent, and the months actually vacant.
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Language waiving your defenses
Some leases ask you to give up defenses or agree to a judgment in advance. Read that paragraph twice and get advice before you sign it.
Your Rights as a Philadelphia Tenant
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The license question comes first
Without a valid rental license or a Certificate of Rental Suitability, a Philadelphia owner is denied the right to collect rent or recover possession for the noncompliance period.
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They must pick one remedy
Your landlord cannot evict you and also hold you liable for rent accruing after the eviction (Homart).
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No collecting the rent twice
If a new tenant moves in, that rent is credited against what you owe for the same months.
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The right to make them prove it
A demand letter is not a judgment. In Philadelphia Municipal Court your landlord still has to prove the damages.
What To Do - Step by Step
Find the acceleration paragraph
Search your lease for 'accelerate' or 'entire balance'. That wording sets what they will demand when you hand back the keys.
Verify the rental license
Confirm the owner holds a current Philadelphia rental license and gave you a Certificate of Rental Suitability. A gap there is your strongest card.
Give written notice early
Send your exact move-out date by email and certified mail, and keep copies of everything you send.
Offer a replacement tenant
Your landlord does not have to look for one, so send qualified names in writing and keep every reply.
Return keys, document everything
Photograph every room and hand the keys over formally, so the unit is ready to show.
Negotiate in writing, then defend
If it reaches Philadelphia Municipal Court, make your landlord prove the damages and raise the license issue.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Lease Acceleration rules near Pennsylvania
The same clause in the nearest states we cover.
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