Lease Renewal Clause
in Your Lease
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
- 68 P.S. § 250.501(b) sets the notice to quit at 15 days for a lease of one year or less.
- Leases running longer than one year get 30 days instead, still with no reason required under state law.
- Philadelphia Code § 9-804 requires good cause from a list of nine reasons to end any lease under one year.
- That Philadelphia notice must be written and land at least 30 days ahead, by hand or first-class mail with proof.
- Skip the Philadelphia notice and the lease automatically renews month to month instead of ending.
Understanding the Lease Renewal Clause
A lease renewal clause decides what happens when your term runs out: whether it rolls over, whether anyone owes you new terms, and how much warning you get. The Pennsylvania answer is blunt - a notice to quit of 15 days when your lease runs a year or less, and no reason required.
Philadelphia rewrites that. Philadelphia Code § 9-804 bars a landlord from ending or declining to renew a residential lease of less than one year without one of nine listed good cause reasons, delivered in writing at least 30 days ahead.
What renters assume
Renters treat a lease like a countdown clock - once the months are up the landlord can decline to renew for any reason, and a quick heads-up is all anyone owes.
What is actually true
In Philadelphia a lease of less than one year, month-to-month included, can't be ended without one of nine listed good cause reasons and 30 days written notice.
Pennsylvania's 15 days is the shortest number on this chart - Colorado gives 90, and Seattle landlords must actually offer a renewal 60 to 90 days out. Philadelphia's 30-day good-cause rule is the only thing standing between a city renter and two weeks' warning.
Plain English Version
State law treats your lease like a parking meter: the time runs out, you get a short beep, and that's the end of it. Philadelphia bolts a lock onto the meter, because on a lease under a year your landlord needs a listed reason and a month's warning before the flag drops.
Lease Renewal 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.
This is the lease from the case itself - subsection (c) of paragraph 24, quoted as the Superior Court printed it in 2025:
(c) Landlord may increase the rent or change any other term of the Lease for any renewal period by sending written notice to Tenant. Landlord must send this notice at least 60 days before the end of the Term or of any renewal term. Tenant may reject the renewal terms by sending written notice to Landlord 60 days prior to the end of the current lease ending date. Tenant must then vacate at the end of the current Term. The Lease will renew on the terms set forth in Landlord's renewal notice if Tenant does not send notice ending the Lease.
Quoted from the published opinion in Cooper v. SGYS St. Ives, LLC, 333 A.3d 1046, 2025 PA Super 66 (Pa. Super. Ct. 2025). Judicial opinions are not subject to copyright; the lease language is reproduced in limited part for commentary under 17 U.S.C. § 107.
“Landlord may increase the rent”
A renewal notice is how most rent rises actually arrive. Pennsylvania's statute is about ending a tenancy rather than pricing one - 68 P.S. § 250.501(b) gives 15 days' notice to quit where the lease is for a term of one year or less or for an indeterminate time, and 30 days where the term is longer. No figure in our Pennsylvania record limits what a renewal rent may be, which leaves the paragraph you signed as the document that answers it.
“Landlord must send this notice”
Dispatch is all the clause asks of the landlord, and Pennsylvania has its own rules about how a notice actually reaches you. Under § 250.501(f) a notice to quit must be served personally, left at the principal building on the premises, or posted conspicuously on the leased premises; the statute does not list ordinary mail as sufficient service. The city's good-cause notice is written differently again - hand delivery, or first-class mail with proof of mailing.
“Tenant may reject the renewal terms”
Your right to say no, and in Philadelphia the sharper question is often whether the landlord could say no. Philadelphia Code § 9-804 requires one of nine listed good-cause reasons to refuse a renewal on a lease of less than one year, month-to-month arrangements included, and where there is none the lease renews month to month. Our Pennsylvania record shows no good-cause requirement at state level: once proper notice is given, a landlord may decline to renew for any lawful, non-retaliatory, non-discriminatory reason. So the length of your term decides whether the city rule is available to you at all.
“if Tenant does not send notice”
Silence is the trigger, and that is precisely what the case below turned on - except there it was the landlord's silence that counted. One more thing to check in any Pennsylvania lease: § 250.501(e) provides that the notice “may be for a lesser time or may be waived by the tenant if the lease so provides,” and most Pennsylvania form leases contain exactly that waiver. The 15 or 30 days may already have been signed away.
The clause was enforced exactly as written, and it came back on the landlord who wrote it. The underlying dispute was not about renewal at all - it was a claim under Philadelphia's lead-disclosure ordinance, and the landlord's answer was that the Coopers were former tenants with no right to bring it. The Superior Court disagreed. Because paragraph 24 renewed the lease automatically unless a party gave 60 days' written notice, and this landlord gave none, brought no eviction and filed no suit, the lease was still alive and the Coopers were still tenants - even though they had stopped paying rent. The landlord, the court held, “had a duty to take specific action against Appellants in order to end the lease,” and a tenant's own breach does not quietly turn them into a former tenant. Two things to keep in view. This is a standing holding that construes an automatic-renewal clause, not a renewal dispute, and it should not be read as one. And the same paragraph priced the renewal it created: subsection (b) raised the rent for each renewal term to market rent, as determined by Landlord, with a minimum increase of 7% above current rent. Automatic renewal runs in whichever direction the paperwork points, and here the paperwork pointed at the landlord.
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 Renewal Clause
- 68 P.S. § 250.501(b) requires the landlord's notice to quit to give 15 days when the lease is for a term of one year or less or for an indeterminate time, and 30 days when the lease is for more than one year.
- Pennsylvania has no just-cause or good-cause requirement at the state level, so a landlord may decline to renew for any lawful, non-retaliatory, non-discriminatory reason once proper notice is given.
- Section 250.501(e) provides that the notice "may be for a lesser time or may be waived by the tenant if the lease so provides," and most Pennsylvania form leases contain exactly that waiver.
- Under § 250.501(f) the notice must be served personally, left at the principal building on the premises, or posted conspicuously on the leased premises; the statute does not list ordinary mail as sufficient service.
68 P.S. § 250.501 - statutes change; verify the current text for your situation.
68 P.S. § 250.501(b) is the entire state framework, and it's short. The landlord's notice to quit runs 15 days when the lease is for a term of one year or less or for an indeterminate time, and 30 days when the term is longer than a year. Pennsylvania sets no just-cause standard, so once proper notice is served a landlord may decline to renew for any lawful, non-retaliatory, non-discriminatory reason.
Compare Colorado, where the statewide law requires cause and 90 days, or Washington, where no-cause non-renewal is squeezed down to the end of an initial term. Two Pennsylvania details bite hard: § 250.501(e) lets that notice be shortened or waived outright if the lease says so, and most form leases say so. Service under § 250.501(f) must be personal, left at the principal building on the premises, or posted conspicuously - ordinary mail isn't on the list.
Pennsylvania Tenant Protections
A written notice to quit of 15 days when your lease runs one year or less, or 30 days when the term is longer, under 68 P.S. § 250.501(b). Service that actually counts, because § 250.501(f) requires the notice be handed to you, left at the principal building on the premises, or posted conspicuously on the unit. A reason that stays lawful, since Pennsylvania sets no just-cause test but a non-renewal still cannot be retaliatory or discriminatory.
What's Specific to Philadelphia
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.
Philadelphia is the reason this page matters. Philadelphia Code § 9-804 bars terminating or not renewing any residential lease of less than one year, month-to-month tenancies included, without one of nine listed good cause reasons. The notice has to be written and delivered at least 30 days ahead by hand or first-class mail with proof of mailing, or the lease automatically renews month to month.
The ordinance is written for terms under a year, so on a straight 12-month lease check whether § 9-804 reaches you before you count on it. Philadelphia's market pushes that question early - University City and Temple-area landlords want an answer months ahead, while Fishtown and South Philly rowhouses often slide into month-to-month, squarely where the good-cause rule lives. The Philadelphia Fair Housing Commission handles complaints under the city's unfair rental practices rules.
It should. Philadelphia requires 30 days written notice on a lease under one year, so a clause that stays silent on timing is worth fixing before you sign.
A promise to renew at "market rate" is a blank check. Ask for a stated figure or a ceiling inside the paragraph itself.
Read that line twice. 68 P.S. § 250.501(e) lets a lease shorten or waive the 15-day notice, and most Pennsylvania form leases do exactly that.
A 12-month rollover with a short cancellation window buried mid-document can lock you into a year you never chose. Find that window the day you sign.
Sources
The law this guide relies on, and where to read it. Statutes change, so confirm the current text before you act on it.
- 68 P.S. § 250.501, read on codes.findlaw.com. Pennsylvania publishes the official text at www.palegis.us. FindLaw marks its copy of this section current as of January 1, 2026.
Red Flags to Watch Out For
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Notice waiver buried in the lease
68 P.S. § 250.501(e) lets your lease shorten or waive the 15-day notice to quit, and most Pennsylvania form leases carry exactly that line.
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Non-renewal with no reason given
On a Philadelphia lease of less than one year, the notice needs one of nine listed good cause reasons. A bare "we're not renewing" is the thing to question.
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Renewal at "then-current market rate"
The clause promises a renewal but leaves the price wide open. Ask for a number or a cap, because an unbounded rate is the same as no offer.
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Notice sent by regular mail
§ 250.501(f) lists personal service, leaving it at the principal building, or conspicuous posting - not ordinary mail. Philadelphia's 30-day notice does allow first-class mail with proof.
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Steep month-to-month upcharge
A large premium for staying month to month, the exact tenancy Philadelphia's good cause rule protects. Ask where in the lease that charge is authorized.
Your Rights as a Philadelphia Tenant
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15 or 30 days' written notice
68 P.S. § 250.501(b) gives you 15 days when the lease runs a year or less, and 30 days when the term is longer than a year.
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Good cause in Philadelphia
Philadelphia Code § 9-804 requires one of nine listed reasons before a landlord can end or decline to renew a residential lease of less than one year.
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Automatic month-to-month renewal
If the Philadelphia notice never lands properly, the lease automatically renews month to month rather than ending on whatever date the landlord picked.
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Service that follows the statute
§ 250.501(f) requires the notice to quit be served personally, left at the principal building on the premises, or posted conspicuously on your unit.
What To Do - Step by Step
Find your lease end date
Pull the expiration date off page one, not your move-in date. Every deadline below counts backward from that day.
Check your term length
Under a year or month-to-month puts you inside Philadelphia's good cause rule. A term over a year moves your state notice from 15 to 30 days.
Read the notice paragraph
Hunt for language shortening or waiving the notice to quit, which § 250.501(e) permits. Knowing it's there beats discovering it later.
Calendar the 30-day mark
Philadelphia's notice has to arrive at least 30 days ahead. Set your own reminder instead of waiting on the leasing office.
Ask for the reason in writing
If a non-renewal shows up, request the good cause the ordinance requires and keep the email thread. It timestamps the ask.
Escalate before you pack
Raise it with the property manager in writing, then take it to the Philadelphia Fair Housing Commission or a local tenant legal-aid line.