April 22, 2025 • 44 mins
Welcome to the first episode of The Philly Landlord Guy!
Today we're kicking things with "Rental license compliance" with Rachel. Rachel is an expert in property management and license compliance. We will go through different topics from the " what is rental license", basics of getting a rental license to the challenges that treat people up.
Rachel Fradkin from Philly Rental License, https://www.phillyrentallicense.com/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Yuriy (00:00):
We're here to share insights and experiences, not
legal or accounting advice.
Be sure to talk to yourattorney, accountant, or
professional advisor beforemaking any decisions.
Everyone's situation isdifferent.
Get the help that is right foryou.
you have to have so manydifferent licenses you have to
have so many different taxaccount numbers with the city
(00:21):
of Philadelphia
Rachel (00:22):
philadelphia i was the only property manager working
for this investor so ipersonally managed everything
for all 200 units
Yuriy (00:29):
usually people that you talk to they kind of like lower
level employees and they may notunderstand themselves.
So welcome to the very firstepisode of the Philly Landlord
Guy.
I am Yuri Skripnichenko, theguy with the long, crazy last
(00:52):
name.
Do not try to remember it.
Just think of me as PhillyLandlord Guy.
I am licensed broker, realestate broker in the city of
Philadelphia and certifiedproperty manager.
We're not here to tell youabout success stories.
We're here to dive into realissues landlords face in the
city of Philadelphia, to breakdown the rules and help you stay
(01:15):
ahead of the changes in thelocal Philadelphia market.
Today we're kicking off thingswith one of the most crucial
topics for any Philly landlord,rental license compliance.
Whether you're new to rentalproperties in Philly or seasoned
investors, understanding thecity requirements is crucial to
avoid any fines or delays andlegal headaches that you may
(01:38):
have.
I'm excited to have Rachel withus here today.
Rachel is an expert in propertymanagement and license
compliance.
And she's going to walk usthrough everything landlords
need to know from the basics ofgetting a rental license to the
challenges that trip people up,let safety requirements, the
legal and financial risks ofnon-compliance with rental
(02:01):
license.
Let's get started.
Rachel, we're glad to have youhere.
Welcome to the show.
And can you tell us a littlebit about yourself?
How did you get on propertymanagement and rental license
compliance?
Rachel (02:14):
Yeah.
Thank you so much for having meon the show, Yuri.
I'm excited to be here today.
A little bit about mybackground.
I went to Temple Universityhere in Philly for my undergrad
where I studied risk managementinsurance.
And then after I finishedcollege, I actually went and
worked in that industry.
I did not go into real estateyet.
So everything shifted for meduring the pandemic.
(02:37):
I used to live in Manhattan andthen everything changed.
I actually ended up coming homeback to Philly and I started
working Thank you so much.
office space, commercial, likeindustrial warehouses, and
(03:00):
mostly residential rental units,single family, multifamily.
And then within that, a mix ofmarket rate rent and
Philadelphia Section 8 housingas well.
So I was the only propertymanager working for this
investor.
So I personally managedeverything for all 200 units.
I did the leasing, rentcollection, repairs, real estate
(03:24):
taxes, rental licensecompliance, which is where I am
now, and really anything andeverything in between.
So through that, I just learnedso much about what goes through
the minds of real estateinvestors, how to manage real
estate, and also just whenyou're the only person How to
not be able to just shift it tosomeone else, how to actually
(03:46):
have a problem come across yourdesk and then you need to figure
it out.
You know, sometimes that'sdealing with the city of
Philadelphia or whatever thatmight be.
So it really taught me how tokind of just keep pushing
through these more annoyingthings like compliance with the
city of Philadelphia.
So I eventually wanted toreally get into my own business.
I wanted something to do bymyself and have my own business.
(04:08):
So I actually ended up leavingproperty management and I
started working doing rentallicense compliance.
The way I got into that is Iwould just let other people in
real estate know, hey, by theway, I'm a property manager.
If you have any questions orneed help, reach out to me.
And I actually started havingrealtors come reach out to me
that their clients boughtinvestment properties and now
(04:29):
they need rental licenses andthey don't know how to do it.
So I got into it just by peoplecoming to me, asking me for
this help.
And then I realized like, well,maybe there's actually more of
a business model there.
So I decided to start my owncompany of really focusing on
rental license compliance.
And so now I'm an expediterwith the City of Philadelphia
(04:50):
Department of LicenseInspections and focusing on
rental licenses and everythinghaving to do around that.
Yuriy (04:56):
Now, wow, that's a cool story.
And I guess that's a good seguefor the next question.
Can you tell us what is arental license and why is it
required in the city ofPhiladelphia?
Rachel (05:07):
Absolutely.
So a rental license justverifies that you are registered
with the city of Philadelphiato rent this real estate.
It means that the city hasverified the number of units
that you're legally zoned for.
They verify that at the timethere's no outstanding
violations on the property, thatthe landlord is registered with
the Department of Revenue forthe rent collected on the
(05:28):
rental.
And it's just another way forthe city to kind of have
management over what's going on.
There are thousands of rentalunits in Philadelphia, and this
is a way for them to just reallytry to tackle keeping things in
compliance and making sure thatlandlords are following some
sort of regimen.
So a rental license is acertificate that is valid for
(05:50):
one year.
And every property owner whorents residential real estate in
Philadelphia is required tohave this and it expires
annually.
So every year it also has to berenewed and maintained.
Yuriy (06:00):
Okay.
And what are the keyrequirements to apply for one?
Rachel (06:05):
Yeah, absolutely.
So in order to get a rentallicense, first, you have to have
what's called the commercialactivity license.
This is sort of like anumbrella with the city of
Philadelphia for all licenses.
A commercial activity licenseis just registering your...
either EIN and LLC or personalname and social with the city
along with what's called thePhiladelphia tax account number.
(06:27):
So once you have a commercialactivity license, you can then
apply under that license for therental license.
And you have to have thingssuch as lead-based paint testing
if your property was builtprior to 1978, zoning
requirements if you areregistering for a multifamily
property, and then basicinformation, owner name, mailing
address, information like that.
(06:49):
And everything is applied forthrough the city of
Philadelphia.
Yuriy (06:53):
So this commercial activity license, is it
something that you have to haveto get your rental license or
how does that work?
Rachel (07:01):
That's a great question.
And the answer to that is yes.
You cannot move forward with arental license application if
you do not have the commercialactivity license.
There are some other types ofcommercial activity licenses.
For example, a nonprofitcommercial activity license or a
two to four unit owner occupiedcommercial activity license,
but you have to have one and youcan only have one license
(07:26):
registered per social or EINnumber.
So once you register for yourcommercial activity license,
let's say I own a piece of realestate and I need to get my
rental license.
Once you register for thecommercial activity license
under your name and social, thatdoes not expire.
So even if you first got thisin 1990, that's the same
(07:47):
commercial activity license thatyou're supposed to keep using
as you register for more andmore other types of licenses
under this umbrella of license.
Yuriy (07:55):
So what happens if I have, let's say, two properties
and I have one in my personalAnd the other one is an LLC name
or some entity name.
How would that work?
Rachel (08:07):
That happens all the time.
So that's really important tonotate also what kind of LLC
this is.
When someone has a singlemember LLC, meaning that it's
only owned...
in your own personal name.
You don't have any partners onit.
In most cases, that LLC filesits taxes through your personal
tax return.
(08:27):
The government sees that as oneentity and you actually pass
through the LLC and file thetaxes personally.
If you have a single memberLLC, you actually still register
under the commercial activitylicense tied to your personal
name.
And then from there, we have toadd your LLC as what's called a
disregarded entity through thePhiladelphia Department of It's
(08:51):
kind of how they tie it alltogether on the backend.
So if you have multipleproperties under your personal
name, and let's say you alsohave multiple properties under
an LLC that is owned only byyourself, then yes, it's all
registered to long commercialactivity license.
Now, if you have a rentalproperty in your personal name,
and then let's say you have somerentals under a partnership in
(09:14):
an LLC, you have a partner onit.
Those do require separatecommercial activity licenses.
One would be tied to your name.
and your social, and then onewould be tied to your
partnership and your EIN number.
And then everything has to goseparately under those licenses.
Yuriy (09:28):
So if I have a single member LLC, it will go under my
personal commercial activitylicense.
Do I have to register that LLCwith the city of Philadelphia as
well, or I just go in and juststart using my existing
commercial activity license.
How would that work?
Rachel (09:47):
Yeah.
So the way that actually getstied together is through the
revenue department.
So what you would have to do isyou would have to upload and
submit to the city ofPhiladelphia, a copy of your EIN
letter.
Once that gets shared to thecity and you're able to register
it as a disregarded entity,they will know on the backend
that it's linked to yourpersonal name.
(10:07):
So when you go and you applyfor like a rental license or any
other type of license, theywill search on their end when
they're reviewing it to see ifthis license, if this LLC has
been tied to your personal name.
They will know either way.
For example, if you have asingle member LLC and you
register that single member LLCfor its own commercial activity
(10:29):
license using its EIN number,and then you try to go get a
rental license, they will flagit because they do know if that
is a partnership or not.
So I've had it before whereclients will try to register for
a And when they try to applyfor the rental license, the city
flips it back to them sayingthat this is a single member LLC
(10:51):
and that you have to applyunder your personal commercial
activity license.
Yuriy (10:55):
So a lot of little nuances there.
Rachel (10:59):
lot of nuances.
It's very specific.
And the city wants it a certainway, but they really don't tell
you that.
They kind of give you some veryvague response, but they don't
explain to you how to do it orwhat to do or many resources for
it.
So it's honestly So much ofit's just the trial and error of
all the times I've gone throughthe process, knowing when I get
(11:20):
a certain type of licenseacross my desk that someone
needs help with.
from the start, like how it'ssupposed to be getting done
because the city wants it acertain way.
It's kind of like taxes.
Like the government knows howmuch you owe, but they don't
tell you that.
It's like the city knows whatthey want from you, but they
don't tell you how to go aboutit.
You have to give it to them howthey want it.
Yuriy (11:39):
Yeah.
Yeah.
And from my experience, when Istarted doing that many years
ago, even if you go to the cityand you talk to them in person,
usually people that you talk to,they kind of like lower level
employees and they may notunderstand themselves.
what is required or what kindof paperwork or paper trail
they're looking for.
(11:59):
And that can get even moreconfusing for the owners
Rachel (12:04):
it definitely will because if you yourself are
going through this process forthe first time and then you go
to the city directly to ask themabout especially in person it
will make you so many times justmore confused like i'm at the
point where when i go i knowwhat we need done and a lot of
my initial conversation with theemployees at the in person is
explaining to them like no likethis is what i need This is how
(12:27):
you do it.
Here's the information you'regoing to need for it.
And then what's amazing is theyhonestly, sometimes it feels
like, you have to just come withevery single thing in a row.
If you don't have everything onpoint for them, you have to go
away and you have to come backanother time.
So it's really nuanced.
Yuriy (12:45):
Yeah, and it's a time sink for sure.
So doing that all the time,what are the most common issues
that landlords usually face orwhat kind of delays or why do
they get delays?
Rachel (12:58):
Yeah, I think something we touched on, one of the
biggest ones are confusionbetween single member LLC and
registering your personal name,the disregarded entity, that's a
huge one that people get reallytripped up on.
They're like, it's been takingme six months to Why is my
license still not registered?
And then when I come in, I canreally quickly identify the
issue.
So that's a big one.
Another one that's reallycommon is around zoning.
(13:20):
So all the time, unfortunately,people buy properties that they
do not realize they are notactually legally zoned for.
They go and they see abeautiful duplex, triplex,
quadplex.
They buy it.
Turns out that's single family.
Whoever converted it never gotthe legal zoning to do it.
And now they're here.
They need to get their license.
A lot of time it's because theyhave a tenant that they need to
(13:43):
evict or something, and theyend up in this hole issue that
they actually didn't evenrealize they were buying.
So zoning is a big one.
Just from the start, I reallytry to stress to investors to
know how to verify the propertyzoning before purchasing it.
And then once the property ispurchased, even if it is legally
(14:04):
zoned, maybe the zoning wasapproved back in like 1950.
And the city has specific waysthat they want you to verify
that zoning to them.
So a lot of times it's just amatter of people who don't do
this every day.
not really knowing how tonavigate it.
So zoning is a big one.
Disregarded entities is a bigone.
Lead testing, like I mentionedbefore, all properties, but
(14:26):
prior to 1978 have to be testedfor lead.
City of Philadelphia is superold.
So that's most propertiesunless it's new construction.
So, you know, getting passinglead results can really slow
people down.
And also just understandingwhen you have different
ownership structures, sometimespeople can kind of get bogged
(14:47):
down by partnerships in personalnames, spouse ownerships, LLC
ownership.
So those are some things thatcan actually end up making the
application process a little bitmore difficult and it can end
up slowing people down a bit.
Yuriy (15:03):
So that's actually a question that I see pop up
pretty often.
When two spouses have an LLC,so let's say John and Jill, they
bought a property together inan LLC, John and Jill LLC, do
they file for a rental licenseas a disregard detention?
(15:23):
entity or is it a partnership?
How does that work with thecity of Philadelphia?
Rachel (15:28):
Yeah, in that case, it's considered a partnership.
So when it's just twoindividuals that own an LLC
together, everything has to runthrough the EIN number and the
partnership.
So that partnership needs itsown commercial activity license,
tax account number, and therental license will get
registered under thepartnership.
But if you have the two spousesowning the properties in their
(15:51):
personal names, so I think yousaid like John and Jill, if John
and Jill both own the property,just in personal names, what
then needs to happen is oneperson almost has to kind of be
like the primary on the taxaccount.
And then the other spouse getsadded to the tax account as a
responsible party.
And then that's a solution tomaking sure that both people's
names can get added to therental license.
(16:12):
That's a really common one thatcomes up all the time.
Yuriy (16:15):
Okay.
And you mentioned somethingabout zoning as well.
So that is a common issue aswell.
And I've been talking about itfor years.
A lot of people or a lot ofinvestors especially realtors
they do not understand how itworks and they they will say
things that not true so is thereany certain way how you can
(16:37):
check on zoning of the propertyor is there an easy way how you
can do it?
As you mentioned, Citi wantsyou to give them specific proof
of zoning instead of themtelling you what a zone is like.
They kind of want you to tellthem.
Rachel (16:50):
It's really funny you say that because I say that to
my clients all the time.
They get so confused.
Why do I have to show them whatthey approve my property for?
I'm like, I know.
I get it.
This is how it works.
We have to give them the zoningdocuments that they approve.
We have to present it to themas a They don't already have it
on file.
I think the reality is the cityis just so big and the history
(17:12):
is so vast that they're notgoing to go searching for your
property records.
You have to bring it to them.
So honestly, one of the bestways to search is through Atlas.
Atlas is a city of Philadelphiawebsite where you can plug in
your address and it will bringup the archives on the history
of the property and just a lotmore information about the
(17:32):
zoning.
Unfortunately, there isn'treally one place best way to
just plug in your address andget like an automatic response
of how many units you're zonedfor.
A lot of the time, even if youdo search your address, the
general zoning of theneighborhood will come up or
what your lot was approved for.
So a lot of times someone'szoning actually still listed as
(17:53):
residential single familyzoning.
But back in the 80s, they got avariance that gave them the
permission to have the zoning bemultifamily or mixed use.
So the best thing to do is onAtlas, we can find the zoning
archives.
And even if something is from20, 30 plus years ago, there are
(18:15):
certain documents that we justhave to have signed today that
verify that to your knowledge,the property has never changed
use since then.
So there are ways that we cangive the city the zoning history
and they will accept it.
Now, if it's something that'snewer construction, they will
need a certificate of occupancy.
So that's a strong requirement.
(18:36):
And I really urge you as aninvestor, if you are purchasing
what's a newer multifamily orreally any multifamily, I would
urge you to ask for a copy ofthe certificate of occupancy.
That's the CO.
That's what the city is goingto ask for to verify zoning for
pretty much anything that hasbeen approved after the year
2000.
(18:56):
So it's very, very beneficialto get that in your hands before
you purchase the propertybecause there is a whole process
to go down to actually get acopy of the CO if it was issued
before your ownership.
And it's just really worthwhileto try to put that on your
realtor's plate and have yourrealtor try to get that for you
(19:17):
while you still have one workingfor you.
So the CO is always reallyimportant as well.
Now, also, if a owner wasmaintaining the rental license
before you bought the property,if there was an active rental
license on file with the citywithin the last three years,
that's enough to verify thezoning.
So that's another reallyimportant key is to look at when
(19:39):
the last active rental Becausea lot of the time, if you're
buying property from an ownerthat took good care of the
property and maintain a rentallicense, you can usually just
piggyback off of their lastapproval to get those zoning
pushed through.
But honestly, like the city isthe city.
If you bought a property thatdidn't have the zoning approval
and you want to try to get itnow, there's no guarantee.
(20:02):
You know, sometimes it's just amatter of trying to hiring a
zoning attorney and goingthrough the entire process to
get that variance issued.
issued for the first time, butthe city will not give you the
license if they feel that theproperty has not been approved
for it.
Yuriy (20:16):
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Yeah, and there is somethingvery important that you
mentioned is that the rentallicense that you're getting from
(20:59):
the seller or whatever recordsthat you have, it has to be
within three last year becausewhat the city of Philadelphia
does is that if the propertydoesn't have that rental license
and it used to be a multifamilyproperty but in three years
they can just reduce it tosingle family that's what's in
our city's regulations and lawsand regulations i guess and i've
(21:22):
seen that multiple times whenyou see the property it was
built as a duplex or triplex orwhatever it can be it has three
separate units it may have threeseparate entrances everything
is separate however the rentallicense wasn't renewed for the
last 15 years or Or the owners,maybe they were owner occupying
(21:42):
the property.
They had family living in otherunits and now they're selling
it.
And when your buyer goes to geta rental license, they cannot.
Because now on paper for thecity, that property is a single
family.
So yeah, it's very important toverify when you purchase a
property that it's actually amultifamily.
So you can avoid all of thistime consuming and costly
(22:05):
procedures going through zoningboard and going through zoning
attorneys.
All of that.
So we already named so manydifferent things that you need
to have to get your rentallicense.
And I think that's not even allof it.
I know that there is such athing that is called business
income and receipt tax.
So can you tell us a little bitmore about that?
(22:26):
And why do we need that?
Or do we need that?
Rachel (22:28):
Yeah, definitely.
The tax account for businessincome and receipts is required.
So just like any business, thisis a rental income.
Rental properties in the eyesof the city of Philadelphia are
businesses.
It earns income and therefore,like any government, they want
to charge a tax on it.
So you have to register throughthe Department of Revenue for
(22:50):
the Philadelphia business incomeand receipts tax.
However, what a lot of peoplefind comfort in knowing is that
if the earned revenue for thattax year is whatever tax year it
was, let's say 2024, becausethat's the one that people need
to start filing for.
If the income earned for thattax year was below $100,000,
you're actually exempt fromowing a business income and
(23:13):
receipts tax.
You still have to file it.
That's what people forget.
get or they don't realize.
You file what's called a no taxliability form.
You can file that onlinethrough the tax portal.
So if your revenue earned, thegross revenue is below $100,000,
you are exempt.
You still have to file it.
You have to let the city know,hey, I'm declaring I made less
(23:34):
than $100,000 on my business inPhiladelphia.
And then that keeps youraccount in compliance with the
city.
Yuriy (23:42):
And it's for everyone across the board.
It doesn't matter if you'rejust a person, single member LLC
or partner.
Rachel (23:48):
Exactly.
It doesn't matter what yourownership structure is.
It doesn't matter if you arepersonally located outside of
Philadelphia.
This is for any person, LLCentity located anywhere in the
world.
That has business within thecity of Philadelphia.
They are responsible for beingregistered for this tax type.
And then they are responsiblefor filing it every year, which
(24:11):
is very simple to do.
But it's just the matter ofknowing you have to do it,
knowing how to do it andremembering to do it every year.
That's important.
And a lot of accountants don'tknow the intricacies of the city
of Philadelphia tax department.
So it happens all the time.
I have a client in Florida orjust even in the suburbs outside
of Philadelphia and theiraccountants not familiar with
(24:31):
the tax rules in Philadelphia.
So, you know, sometimes it's alittle bit of collaboration
between a client and theiraccountant to figure out what
the city needs done.
But as long as you kind of getthe hang of it, it's pretty
straightforward.
As someone who's I say that assomeone who's done it a lot.
So when it's your first time,it might not feel
straightforward, but it's not asdaunting as it seems.
(24:54):
And just staying on top of itevery year is really important.
Yuriy (24:57):
So let's say if I buy a property, existing property that
already has a rental license,can I just keep using that
rental license?
Or what would the process be totransferring, I guess, that
rental license or getting a newone?
Rachel (25:11):
Yeah, that's such a great point.
No, the short answer is no.
Every rental license isregistered to that owner.
So once someone sells theproperty, their license does not
transfer.
So every person or LLC entity,whatever the owner structure is,
Once you own that property, youhave to file for the license.
Now, if you're going to asettlement and you know you're
(25:33):
going to be buying the property,you can't purchase it until you
can show proof of ownership.
So if you know that you'resettling on something in 30 days
and maybe you want to get yourlicense ready, you can prep your
application, but we can'tactually submit it until you can
show the city that you own theproperty.
Unlike the rental licensethough, lead...
does transfer.
(25:54):
So the city of Philadelphiarequires that all properties
built prior to 1978 are testedfor lead-based paint.
Those results are valid forfour years.
And the nice thing is thatthose do transfer between
owners.
So it's another good thing tokind of put on your realtor's
checklist before settlement toget any copies of lead results
as well, because those arebeneficial for you and it'll
(26:15):
save you some money.
Yuriy (26:17):
Okay.
And what are those lead tests?
Can you talk a little bit moreabout that and how does that
connect with the rental license?
Rachel (26:24):
Yeah.
So the lead requirement issomething that the city rolled
out about four years ago nowthat all residential rental
properties built prior to 1978have to be tested for lead-based
paint.
This is just something to keepup with the health and the
safety of properties, makingsure that they're safe for
families to live in.
And the way it works is that acertified lead tester will come
(26:46):
to the property and they takejust a swab of the floor and a
windowsill in your common area.
And then in every bedroom fromthere, they send it to a lab and
the lab will determine theamount of lead that was in the
sample.
And then they will issue theresults.
And then the city hasparameters on how much lead is
acceptable to be present in aproperty.
(27:07):
So long story short, you willget either a failed result or
you'll pass, you'll get acertificate and lead results,
and then that gets provided tothe city of Philadelphia.
And then, like I mentioned,those results are good for four
years.
So it's a nice thing to eitherprovide to the buyer if you're
selling a property or if you'rebuying a property to be asking
for.
And yeah, that's just anotherthing that the city requires to
(27:29):
get a rental license.
If your results are not on filewith the city, they will flag
your application and they willnot even let you submit it
unless these results are onfile.
The city's rental licenseapplication system knows if you
have results on file or not.
So it won't even let you submitthe the application unless the
city has the lead results onfile.
Now, if your property was builtafter 1978, then it's exempt.
(27:52):
You still have to file it withthe city.
You have to let them know thatthis property is newer
construction.
So either way, you have to fileit with the Department of Lead.
health and safety before youcan submit your application.
Yuriy (28:06):
It's kind of funny what you're saying that the city will
know if you don't have this oryou don't have that.
They will flag yourapplication, but for whichever
reason, they do not know if youneed to have a rental license
for a single member LLC orwhatever LLC, and they can
explain you that.
And you have to have so manydifferent licenses.
(28:27):
You have to have so manydifferent tax account numbers
with the city of Philadelphiajust to get your rental license.
I don't know why wouldn't theyjust combine it all into one
thing, and then you just haveyour rent license.
And based on that, you can payyour taxes.
Based on that, you can dowhatever you need to do with
city of Philadelphia.
But no, it's not that easy.
Not too much logic in our city,I guess.
Rachel (28:47):
And something that we actually haven't even spoken
about yet is like, Why shouldsomeone care?
Because like you're saying,you're like, they make it so
hard and annoying and difficult.
If you're a landlord inPhiladelphia, why bother?
Well, there's a lot of reallyimportant reasons why it's worth
your time and effort.
The biggest reasons are thatwithout a rental license, you
are not legally allowed tocollect rent payments.
(29:08):
You're not legally allowed toenter into lease agreements.
And what's happening is a lotof tenants in Philadelphia are
learning about theserequirements.
And once a tenant catches windthat you don't have a rental
license, a lot of tenants arestarting to refuse to make rent
payments and they're starting towithhold rent.
And then in addition to that,If you do not have an active
(29:29):
rental license, you cannot filefor back payment of rent due in
the court system.
So you also can't start aneviction process without an
active rental license.
So at the end of the day,everyone's getting into real
estate to make money.
It's a business.
And if you don't have therental license, it can come
around and bite you really hardbecause it can either withhold
you from collecting rent or itcan withhold you from being able
(29:50):
to file that eviction in thecourt and get that long eviction
process started to try to getnonpaying tenants out of the
apartment.
as well.
So maintaining an activelicense from start to finish is
just always in your bestinterest because you just never
know when that tenant is goingto flip on you.
No one leases an apartment tosomeone thinking they're going
to default on their rent orthinking they're going to become
(30:12):
difficult, right?
You always go into a new leaseagreement because you feel like
you vetted them.
You feel like they're going tobe the best fit for the
apartment.
And you just never know whenpeople can just, even their
situation changes, maybe theylose their job or maybe
something happens where theyjust can't make the rent
anymore.
And sometimes there's tenantsthat are really willing to work
with you and communicate.
(30:32):
And then other times there'stenants that they just shut down
and you have to turn to thecourts.
So you never know when it canhappen.
You will never know when atenant could start refusing to
pay rent and having your ducksin order from the start is the
best thing that you can do toprotect yourself because
Philadelphia is a tenantfavorable city.
And more often than not, thecourts will side with the
(30:55):
tenant.
So as a landlord, you reallyhave to be prepared and you need
to have everything that thecity wants you to have otherwise
they will not roll in yourfavor which i'm sure is
something that like you'reyou've seen happen over and over
again
Yuriy (31:06):
yeah yeah unfortunately i have and this is one of the
topics of our futureconversations when we'll have
our eviction attorney on theshow we will discuss all of that
in details i know all of thisinformation i've been doing it
for a long time but stilllistening to this you telling me
all of these requirements thatyou need to have to get a rental
(31:27):
license it My head justexplodes.
It's so many things.
And do you need to have all ofthis every single time when you,
let's say, like, I just boughta property, right?
I went, I got my commercialactivity license.
I opened city account, taxaccount to pay my business
income receipt taxes.
(31:48):
I did my LED certification forthe property.
I applied for rental license.
I got my rental license.
So good for a year.
next year i have to do all ofthat all over again or how does
it work
Rachel (32:01):
Yes and no.
So once you have yourcommercial activity license
registered for that set, that'snot going to expire.
That doesn't change.
That one's fine.
The rental license will expire.
And when you go to renew it,the city is going to verify, are
there violations against theproperty?
Are your tax accounts incompliance with the city?
So they're going to check yourPhiladelphia tax account.
(32:21):
And if you have missing filingsor payments owed to the city,
they're going to flag you forthat.
And then if your lead resultshave expired or they're not on
file, they're going to flag youfor that as well.
So once you're in the groove ofit and you're doing it every
year, you know, it really comesdown to making sure that your
results are still active.
They're good for four years,making sure that you are filing
(32:42):
your necessary business taxesevery year.
And then, yeah, making surethat every year you renewing
your rental license.
That's something I do for myclients as well.
I track all the rental licenserenewals for them and I reach
out 30 days in advance to getthe ball rolling.
That way, if there are issuesthat come up, we give ourselves
time to sort through whatevercould be stopping it from
getting renewed, but yeah.
Every year, these things haveto be getting done.
(33:05):
And then in addition to that,we didn't even talk about the
certificate of rentalsuitability.
That's another thing that'srequired in addition to this.
So once your rental license isissued, you can then apply for
what's called a certificate ofrental suitability.
It really goes hand in handwith the rental license.
They're like brother andsister.
Once you have the rentallicense, you need to get the
(33:27):
certificate.
And that also needs to be givento the tenant along with a copy
of the rental license.
This very Yeah, absolutely.
But that's why propertymanagement companies like
(33:53):
TrustArt Reality are soimportant, especially in a city
like Philadelphia, where youreally need boots on the ground
to understand what the citywants.
Because if you follow therules, it can be a great city to
invest in.
But if you don't, it can becomelike the headache that you
never wish you signed up for.
Yeah,
Yuriy (34:10):
yeah.
And that little piece of rentalsuitability certificate, which
is just a paper that you getwith one click online.
It's super easy to get.
And we get it all the time whenwe sign new leases because we
have to provide it to tenants.
But if you miss that one littlestep as a landlord in the city
of Philadelphia, it doesn'tmatter if you live in Philly or
not.
If you have a property inPhiladelphia, you have to
(34:30):
provide that.
And when you go or if you go,which is when you go to eviction
court, you cannot file foreviction without that little
piece of paper.
And as Rachel mentioned before,that you legally are not
allowed to collect rent withoutrental license.
But even if you have rentallicense, but you did not
(34:51):
provides a certificate of rentalsuitability to your tenant,
you're still legally not able tocollect rent.
And what the court can actuallytell you, the judge can tell
you that you have to return allthe money that the tenants paid
you over the time until youprovided them with certificate
of rental suitability.
So imagine that you go toeviction court because tenant
(35:13):
didn't pay you for two months.
Now, by the time you're incourt, it's probably already
five months behind and thetenant was on the property for a
year.
So the judge tells you beforeyou can do anything, you have to
pay back the rent for 12 monthsthat tenants were paying to you
before.
It's a huge amount of money foranyone to just put out as all
(35:36):
of us know that we're not thisrich corporation sitting here
and putting all the cash in thepockets.
We pay our taxes.
We pay our real estate taxes.
We pay our mortgages.
And at the end, it's not thatmuch money that is left in your
pocket.
So just be very careful andmake sure that you understand
every single little piece ofinformation that you have to
(35:58):
provide the tenants with in thecity of Philadelphia to be a
legal level word.
Rachel (36:03):
On that note, too, something that's important to
know is that we cannot backdatea rental license or certificate
of rental suitability.
So if your tenant has beenliving there and they haven't
paid rent in six months, but youdidn't have this in place, once
you finally do get your rentallicense and certificate of
rental suitability, it is onlygood for that day forward.
So you can only sue in thecourt for the back rent owed
(36:24):
from that date forward.
You cannot go backwards and nowtry to collect on that back
rent owed six months ago, whichis why it's just so important
from day one, you have to havethese in your pocket because you
just don't know when things aregoing to flip and you don't
know how long.
Sometimes some landlords, itjust takes them longer than
others to get their licenses inplace.
So it's just important to haveit correct from the start.
Yuriy (36:46):
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's mind boggling how manythings that we need to know to
be able to do business in thecity of Philadelphia.
But again, that's why peoplelike Rachel exist.
That's why people like usexist.
So we can help landlords tonavigate all of those
complications of the city ofPhiladelphia and make things
right to make sure that we canactually collect the rent, that
(37:07):
we can actually go to evictionwhen we need to go to eviction
and the tenants cannot just tellus that we're not going to pay
you rent because you cannotcollect rent, which is happening
a lot in city of Philadelphia.
So Rachel, do you know if thereare any upcoming changes in
city regulations or anythingthat landlords should be aware
(37:28):
of that's coming our way?
Rachel (37:30):
So there's nothing that the city has announced that I'm
aware of about changes coming,but what What I can say is that
they're only getting better atbeing able to connect the dots
between different elements thatthey want to see.
So they're getting better atknowing if you filed your taxes,
if you've completed the leadtesting, you know, the city is
only getting better at beingable to flag your applications
(37:54):
and say, well, no, you didn't dothis or you didn't do that or
your zoning isn't right or yourproof of ownership isn't right.
So all I can say is that likewhen you're going through like a
city government website,they're not like revolutionary.
It's a nonprofit organization.
So they're not investing tonsof money to make better systems,
but they are getting smarterabout knowing when you're in
(38:16):
compliance versus when you'renot.
Something that the city isstarting to do is if you have, I
believe, business income andreceipts taxes that haven't been
filed, they are going to startcoming after people stronger for
that.
So if you have a commercialactivity license, then that
means that you have the businessincome and receipts tax.
So if you haven't been filingthat, the city is actually going
(38:37):
to start coming after peoplevery strongly with fines and
penalties owed for that as well.
So that's an important thing isif you've been neglecting your
revenue accounts to make surethat you get that worked out
this tax year, just so that it'snot going to come back for you.
Yuriy (38:51):
Yeah.
And to back up that, actually,I myself had an issue.
I've been doing that for many,many years, doing all the rental
licenses for properties that Iown.
And this year, when I went torenew a license for one of the
properties, I couldn't renew itor whatever reasons they flagged
my application.
And one of the ways how you canfigure out what's happening is
(39:12):
to email them atrevenue.fila.gov, which I did.
And I get a response that theybasically do not know what it
is, but I need to go to mytaxpayer center and pull my
compliance on the website.
And that compliance will showme what the problem is.
And I never logged into thattax service center before.
(39:35):
because I have my accountantdoing all the job for me, all
the work of tax filings for me.
So I had to create thataccount.
I had to receive a code fromthe city of Philadelphia that
they do not, they say that theywill mail you the code to access
your account, but they actuallydo not.
You need to email them backafter you create the account so
they can give you the code soyou can log into your account.
(39:58):
So it was a whole long process.
I finally figured all of thatout.
I logged into my tax portal.
I pulled the up thatcertification.
And the problem was that I Ihaven't paid my refuse
collection fee, which isbasically trash fees.
So whenever you have amultifamily property in the city
of Philadelphia, bymultifamily, I mean two units
(40:19):
and up, you have to pay $500 ayear for refuse collection fee,
which I guess I just missedpaying or it just slipped my
mind.
I didn't pay that.
And they flagged my renewalapplication for that little fee.
So I had to pay that first.
And then I was able to go backand renew my application, which
I had the period of time, abouta month when I just ran without
(40:44):
rental license being active.
Speaker 00 (40:45):
Yeah.
And what the city is doing nowtoo, I believe, and this is a
great question, actually, youshould bring up with your
eviction attorney.
If you have a lapse in rentallicense coverage, I believe that
the city is now saying that ifthere was any lapse, you cannot
back sue for rent from the timethat you did have the active
license.
Once that lap starts, I dobelieve that from that date
(41:06):
forward, you're reset on whenyou can sue for background owed.
So that would actually be areally great thing to ask the
eviction attorney about becauseI'm pretty sure that now any
lapses void out any pastcoverage that you had it for.
And the city will now startmaking you go from that date
that your license became activeagain on.
Yuriy (41:24):
Yeah, yeah.
They don't make it easy for us.
That's a lot of information.
And to wrap it up, Rachel, whatif you could give one key piece
of advice to Philadelphialandlords?
What would that be?
Rachel (41:38):
One key piece of advice about rental licenses.
I know, like I think at thispoint, I feel like such a broken
record because so much of likewhat I really push in on, I've
talked about.
So I'm trying to think ofsomething that like I haven't
brought up yet, trying to thinkof something creative.
So a piece of advice that Ialways give to all of my clients
is that once the license isissued and once you get your
(41:59):
certificate of rentalsuitability, present them both
to your tenants and have themsign it so that you have proof
that they've been provided withthese documents so that God
forbid, if you ever have to goto court or if there's ever a
reason that you need to show thecity, like hold up, they have
the license, they've beenprovided the license.
You should always make surethat your tenants are signing it
(42:20):
and you should retain a copyfor yourself so that you can
show the courts that they didreceive it regardless of maybe
what your tenant might sayotherwise.
Because people nowadays, theleasing packets are so massive
in Philadelphia that a tenantwon't even remember if they
signed it or not.
So you have to remember foryour records that the tenant
signed it.
Yuriy (42:39):
Yeah, great advice.
You definitely have to provideit to the tenant and have a
signature from them that youprovided.
Or if tenants, for whateverreason, refusing signing it,
just send it by certified mailor send it by email.
So in case if you have to go tocourt, you have that proof
that, hey, this was the date andtime when I actually sent it
(42:59):
out.
That's very important and greatadvice.
So Rachel, if any of ourwatchers or listeners have any
questions about it.
What is the best way for themto get in touch with you?
How they can find you?
Rachel (43:12):
Yeah, absolutely.
So my website isphillyrentallicense.com.
My email is rachel atphillyrentallicense.com.
That's R-A-C-H-E-L.
And I'll give out my numbertoo.
If you want to call me, it's215-740-6038.
And from what you've probablyalready heard is that I
(43:34):
specialize in landlordcompliance with the Getting a
rental license is in order,annual renewals, just making
sure that all of the things wetalked about today are not your
problem to deal with, butsomething that I can help you
navigate and just not have toworry about.
That's my bread and butter.
And that's what I enjoy doingand helping landlords in Philly
(43:55):
know the laws and know what theyneed to do to be able to earn
their money because that's whatit's all about.
Yuriy (44:00):
That's awesome.
Yeah, and we will put that inthe show notes as well.
So if anybody is interested intalking in more in-depth with
rachel feel free to grab thatand reach out and we will end at
this oh wow that was a lot ofinformation about rental license
in philadelphia more than ineed but also i i have to know
(44:21):
all of that and you have to knowall of that as well as
philadelphia land words so againwe will put all rachel's
information in the show notesfeel free to reach out rachel is
a great resource i've beenworking with rachel for some
time now she's been helping alot of our clients as well.
And if you have any issues withyour rental license, she's a
(44:42):
good resource to go to.
On this note, until next time,when we'll hopefully will
provide you with more greatinformation for City of
Philadelphia landlords.
We're here to share insights and experiences, not
legal or accounting advice.
Be sure to talk to yourattorney, accountant, or
professional advisor beforemaking any decisions.
Everyone's situation isdifferent.
Get the help that is right foryou.
you have to have so manydifferent licenses you have to
have so many different taxaccount numbers with the city
(00:21):
of Philadelphia
Rachel (00:22):
philadelphia i was the only property manager working
for this investor so ipersonally managed everything
for all 200 units
Yuriy (00:29):
usually people that you talk to they kind of like lower
level employees and they may notunderstand themselves.
So welcome to the very firstepisode of the Philly Landlord
Guy.
I am Yuri Skripnichenko, theguy with the long, crazy last
(00:52):
name.
Do not try to remember it.
Just think of me as PhillyLandlord Guy.
I am licensed broker, realestate broker in the city of
Philadelphia and certifiedproperty manager.
We're not here to tell youabout success stories.
We're here to dive into realissues landlords face in the
city of Philadelphia, to breakdown the rules and help you stay
(01:15):
ahead of the changes in thelocal Philadelphia market.
Today we're kicking off thingswith one of the most crucial
topics for any Philly landlord,rental license compliance.
Whether you're new to rentalproperties in Philly or seasoned
investors, understanding thecity requirements is crucial to
avoid any fines or delays andlegal headaches that you may
(01:38):
have.
I'm excited to have Rachel withus here today.
Rachel is an expert in propertymanagement and license
compliance.
And she's going to walk usthrough everything landlords
need to know from the basics ofgetting a rental license to the
challenges that trip people up,let safety requirements, the
legal and financial risks ofnon-compliance with rental
(02:01):
license.
Let's get started.
Rachel, we're glad to have youhere.
Welcome to the show.
And can you tell us a littlebit about yourself?
How did you get on propertymanagement and rental license
compliance?
Rachel (02:14):
Yeah.
Thank you so much for having meon the show, Yuri.
I'm excited to be here today.
A little bit about mybackground.
I went to Temple Universityhere in Philly for my undergrad
where I studied risk managementinsurance.
And then after I finishedcollege, I actually went and
worked in that industry.
I did not go into real estateyet.
So everything shifted for meduring the pandemic.
(02:37):
I used to live in Manhattan andthen everything changed.
I actually ended up coming homeback to Philly and I started
working Thank you so much.
office space, commercial, likeindustrial warehouses, and
(03:00):
mostly residential rental units,single family, multifamily.
And then within that, a mix ofmarket rate rent and
Philadelphia Section 8 housingas well.
So I was the only propertymanager working for this
investor.
So I personally managedeverything for all 200 units.
I did the leasing, rentcollection, repairs, real estate
(03:24):
taxes, rental licensecompliance, which is where I am
now, and really anything andeverything in between.
So through that, I just learnedso much about what goes through
the minds of real estateinvestors, how to manage real
estate, and also just whenyou're the only person How to
not be able to just shift it tosomeone else, how to actually
(03:46):
have a problem come across yourdesk and then you need to figure
it out.
You know, sometimes that'sdealing with the city of
Philadelphia or whatever thatmight be.
So it really taught me how tokind of just keep pushing
through these more annoyingthings like compliance with the
city of Philadelphia.
So I eventually wanted toreally get into my own business.
I wanted something to do bymyself and have my own business.
(04:08):
So I actually ended up leavingproperty management and I
started working doing rentallicense compliance.
The way I got into that is Iwould just let other people in
real estate know, hey, by theway, I'm a property manager.
If you have any questions orneed help, reach out to me.
And I actually started havingrealtors come reach out to me
that their clients boughtinvestment properties and now
(04:29):
they need rental licenses andthey don't know how to do it.
So I got into it just by peoplecoming to me, asking me for
this help.
And then I realized like, well,maybe there's actually more of
a business model there.
So I decided to start my owncompany of really focusing on
rental license compliance.
And so now I'm an expediterwith the City of Philadelphia
(04:50):
Department of LicenseInspections and focusing on
rental licenses and everythinghaving to do around that.
Yuriy (04:56):
Now, wow, that's a cool story.
And I guess that's a good seguefor the next question.
Can you tell us what is arental license and why is it
required in the city ofPhiladelphia?
Rachel (05:07):
Absolutely.
So a rental license justverifies that you are registered
with the city of Philadelphiato rent this real estate.
It means that the city hasverified the number of units
that you're legally zoned for.
They verify that at the timethere's no outstanding
violations on the property, thatthe landlord is registered with
the Department of Revenue forthe rent collected on the
(05:28):
rental.
And it's just another way forthe city to kind of have
management over what's going on.
There are thousands of rentalunits in Philadelphia, and this
is a way for them to just reallytry to tackle keeping things in
compliance and making sure thatlandlords are following some
sort of regimen.
So a rental license is acertificate that is valid for
(05:50):
one year.
And every property owner whorents residential real estate in
Philadelphia is required tohave this and it expires
annually.
So every year it also has to berenewed and maintained.
Yuriy (06:00):
Okay.
And what are the keyrequirements to apply for one?
Rachel (06:05):
Yeah, absolutely.
So in order to get a rentallicense, first, you have to have
what's called the commercialactivity license.
This is sort of like anumbrella with the city of
Philadelphia for all licenses.
A commercial activity licenseis just registering your...
either EIN and LLC or personalname and social with the city
along with what's called thePhiladelphia tax account number.
(06:27):
So once you have a commercialactivity license, you can then
apply under that license for therental license.
And you have to have thingssuch as lead-based paint testing
if your property was builtprior to 1978, zoning
requirements if you areregistering for a multifamily
property, and then basicinformation, owner name, mailing
address, information like that.
(06:49):
And everything is applied forthrough the city of
Philadelphia.
Yuriy (06:53):
So this commercial activity license, is it
something that you have to haveto get your rental license or
how does that work?
Rachel (07:01):
That's a great question.
And the answer to that is yes.
You cannot move forward with arental license application if
you do not have the commercialactivity license.
There are some other types ofcommercial activity licenses.
For example, a nonprofitcommercial activity license or a
two to four unit owner occupiedcommercial activity license,
but you have to have one and youcan only have one license
(07:26):
registered per social or EINnumber.
So once you register for yourcommercial activity license,
let's say I own a piece of realestate and I need to get my
rental license.
Once you register for thecommercial activity license
under your name and social, thatdoes not expire.
So even if you first got thisin 1990, that's the same
(07:47):
commercial activity license thatyou're supposed to keep using
as you register for more andmore other types of licenses
under this umbrella of license.
Yuriy (07:55):
So what happens if I have, let's say, two properties
and I have one in my personalAnd the other one is an LLC name
or some entity name.
How would that work?
Rachel (08:07):
That happens all the time.
So that's really important tonotate also what kind of LLC
this is.
When someone has a singlemember LLC, meaning that it's
only owned...
in your own personal name.
You don't have any partners onit.
In most cases, that LLC filesits taxes through your personal
tax return.
(08:27):
The government sees that as oneentity and you actually pass
through the LLC and file thetaxes personally.
If you have a single memberLLC, you actually still register
under the commercial activitylicense tied to your personal
name.
And then from there, we have toadd your LLC as what's called a
disregarded entity through thePhiladelphia Department of It's
(08:51):
kind of how they tie it alltogether on the backend.
So if you have multipleproperties under your personal
name, and let's say you alsohave multiple properties under
an LLC that is owned only byyourself, then yes, it's all
registered to long commercialactivity license.
Now, if you have a rentalproperty in your personal name,
and then let's say you have somerentals under a partnership in
(09:14):
an LLC, you have a partner onit.
Those do require separatecommercial activity licenses.
One would be tied to your name.
and your social, and then onewould be tied to your
partnership and your EIN number.
And then everything has to goseparately under those licenses.
Yuriy (09:28):
So if I have a single member LLC, it will go under my
personal commercial activitylicense.
Do I have to register that LLCwith the city of Philadelphia as
well, or I just go in and juststart using my existing
commercial activity license.
How would that work?
Rachel (09:47):
Yeah.
So the way that actually getstied together is through the
revenue department.
So what you would have to do isyou would have to upload and
submit to the city ofPhiladelphia, a copy of your EIN
letter.
Once that gets shared to thecity and you're able to register
it as a disregarded entity,they will know on the backend
that it's linked to yourpersonal name.
(10:07):
So when you go and you applyfor like a rental license or any
other type of license, theywill search on their end when
they're reviewing it to see ifthis license, if this LLC has
been tied to your personal name.
They will know either way.
For example, if you have asingle member LLC and you
register that single member LLCfor its own commercial activity
(10:29):
license using its EIN number,and then you try to go get a
rental license, they will flagit because they do know if that
is a partnership or not.
So I've had it before whereclients will try to register for
a And when they try to applyfor the rental license, the city
flips it back to them sayingthat this is a single member LLC
(10:51):
and that you have to applyunder your personal commercial
activity license.
Yuriy (10:55):
So a lot of little nuances there.
Rachel (10:59):
lot of nuances.
It's very specific.
And the city wants it a certainway, but they really don't tell
you that.
They kind of give you some veryvague response, but they don't
explain to you how to do it orwhat to do or many resources for
it.
So it's honestly So much ofit's just the trial and error of
all the times I've gone throughthe process, knowing when I get
(11:20):
a certain type of licenseacross my desk that someone
needs help with.
from the start, like how it'ssupposed to be getting done
because the city wants it acertain way.
It's kind of like taxes.
Like the government knows howmuch you owe, but they don't
tell you that.
It's like the city knows whatthey want from you, but they
don't tell you how to go aboutit.
You have to give it to them howthey want it.
Yuriy (11:39):
Yeah.
Yeah.
And from my experience, when Istarted doing that many years
ago, even if you go to the cityand you talk to them in person,
usually people that you talk to,they kind of like lower level
employees and they may notunderstand themselves.
what is required or what kindof paperwork or paper trail
they're looking for.
(11:59):
And that can get even moreconfusing for the owners
Rachel (12:04):
it definitely will because if you yourself are
going through this process forthe first time and then you go
to the city directly to ask themabout especially in person it
will make you so many times justmore confused like i'm at the
point where when i go i knowwhat we need done and a lot of
my initial conversation with theemployees at the in person is
explaining to them like no likethis is what i need This is how
(12:27):
you do it.
Here's the information you'regoing to need for it.
And then what's amazing is theyhonestly, sometimes it feels
like, you have to just come withevery single thing in a row.
If you don't have everything onpoint for them, you have to go
away and you have to come backanother time.
So it's really nuanced.
Yuriy (12:45):
Yeah, and it's a time sink for sure.
So doing that all the time,what are the most common issues
that landlords usually face orwhat kind of delays or why do
they get delays?
Rachel (12:58):
Yeah, I think something we touched on, one of the
biggest ones are confusionbetween single member LLC and
registering your personal name,the disregarded entity, that's a
huge one that people get reallytripped up on.
They're like, it's been takingme six months to Why is my
license still not registered?
And then when I come in, I canreally quickly identify the
issue.
So that's a big one.
Another one that's reallycommon is around zoning.
(13:20):
So all the time, unfortunately,people buy properties that they
do not realize they are notactually legally zoned for.
They go and they see abeautiful duplex, triplex,
quadplex.
They buy it.
Turns out that's single family.
Whoever converted it never gotthe legal zoning to do it.
And now they're here.
They need to get their license.
A lot of time it's because theyhave a tenant that they need to
(13:43):
evict or something, and theyend up in this hole issue that
they actually didn't evenrealize they were buying.
So zoning is a big one.
Just from the start, I reallytry to stress to investors to
know how to verify the propertyzoning before purchasing it.
And then once the property ispurchased, even if it is legally
(14:04):
zoned, maybe the zoning wasapproved back in like 1950.
And the city has specific waysthat they want you to verify
that zoning to them.
So a lot of times it's just amatter of people who don't do
this every day.
not really knowing how tonavigate it.
So zoning is a big one.
Disregarded entities is a bigone.
Lead testing, like I mentionedbefore, all properties, but
(14:26):
prior to 1978 have to be testedfor lead.
City of Philadelphia is superold.
So that's most propertiesunless it's new construction.
So, you know, getting passinglead results can really slow
people down.
And also just understandingwhen you have different
ownership structures, sometimespeople can kind of get bogged
(14:47):
down by partnerships in personalnames, spouse ownerships, LLC
ownership.
So those are some things thatcan actually end up making the
application process a little bitmore difficult and it can end
up slowing people down a bit.
Yuriy (15:03):
So that's actually a question that I see pop up
pretty often.
When two spouses have an LLC,so let's say John and Jill, they
bought a property together inan LLC, John and Jill LLC, do
they file for a rental licenseas a disregard detention?
(15:23):
entity or is it a partnership?
How does that work with thecity of Philadelphia?
Rachel (15:28):
Yeah, in that case, it's considered a partnership.
So when it's just twoindividuals that own an LLC
together, everything has to runthrough the EIN number and the
partnership.
So that partnership needs itsown commercial activity license,
tax account number, and therental license will get
registered under thepartnership.
But if you have the two spousesowning the properties in their
(15:51):
personal names, so I think yousaid like John and Jill, if John
and Jill both own the property,just in personal names, what
then needs to happen is oneperson almost has to kind of be
like the primary on the taxaccount.
And then the other spouse getsadded to the tax account as a
responsible party.
And then that's a solution tomaking sure that both people's
names can get added to therental license.
(16:12):
That's a really common one thatcomes up all the time.
Yuriy (16:15):
Okay.
And you mentioned somethingabout zoning as well.
So that is a common issue aswell.
And I've been talking about itfor years.
A lot of people or a lot ofinvestors especially realtors
they do not understand how itworks and they they will say
things that not true so is thereany certain way how you can
(16:37):
check on zoning of the propertyor is there an easy way how you
can do it?
As you mentioned, Citi wantsyou to give them specific proof
of zoning instead of themtelling you what a zone is like.
They kind of want you to tellthem.
Rachel (16:50):
It's really funny you say that because I say that to
my clients all the time.
They get so confused.
Why do I have to show them whatthey approve my property for?
I'm like, I know.
I get it.
This is how it works.
We have to give them the zoningdocuments that they approve.
We have to present it to themas a They don't already have it
on file.
I think the reality is the cityis just so big and the history
(17:12):
is so vast that they're notgoing to go searching for your
property records.
You have to bring it to them.
So honestly, one of the bestways to search is through Atlas.
Atlas is a city of Philadelphiawebsite where you can plug in
your address and it will bringup the archives on the history
of the property and just a lotmore information about the
(17:32):
zoning.
Unfortunately, there isn'treally one place best way to
just plug in your address andget like an automatic response
of how many units you're zonedfor.
A lot of the time, even if youdo search your address, the
general zoning of theneighborhood will come up or
what your lot was approved for.
So a lot of times someone'szoning actually still listed as
(17:53):
residential single familyzoning.
But back in the 80s, they got avariance that gave them the
permission to have the zoning bemultifamily or mixed use.
So the best thing to do is onAtlas, we can find the zoning
archives.
And even if something is from20, 30 plus years ago, there are
(18:15):
certain documents that we justhave to have signed today that
verify that to your knowledge,the property has never changed
use since then.
So there are ways that we cangive the city the zoning history
and they will accept it.
Now, if it's something that'snewer construction, they will
need a certificate of occupancy.
So that's a strong requirement.
(18:36):
And I really urge you as aninvestor, if you are purchasing
what's a newer multifamily orreally any multifamily, I would
urge you to ask for a copy ofthe certificate of occupancy.
That's the CO.
That's what the city is goingto ask for to verify zoning for
pretty much anything that hasbeen approved after the year
2000.
(18:56):
So it's very, very beneficialto get that in your hands before
you purchase the propertybecause there is a whole process
to go down to actually get acopy of the CO if it was issued
before your ownership.
And it's just really worthwhileto try to put that on your
realtor's plate and have yourrealtor try to get that for you
(19:17):
while you still have one workingfor you.
So the CO is always reallyimportant as well.
Now, also, if a owner wasmaintaining the rental license
before you bought the property,if there was an active rental
license on file with the citywithin the last three years,
that's enough to verify thezoning.
So that's another reallyimportant key is to look at when
(19:39):
the last active rental Becausea lot of the time, if you're
buying property from an ownerthat took good care of the
property and maintain a rentallicense, you can usually just
piggyback off of their lastapproval to get those zoning
pushed through.
But honestly, like the city isthe city.
If you bought a property thatdidn't have the zoning approval
and you want to try to get itnow, there's no guarantee.
(20:02):
You know, sometimes it's just amatter of trying to hiring a
zoning attorney and goingthrough the entire process to
get that variance issued.
issued for the first time, butthe city will not give you the
license if they feel that theproperty has not been approved
for it.
Yuriy (20:16):
Before we continue, I want to take a quick moment to
thank our sponsor, TrustArtRealty.
If you're a landlord inPhiladelphia, you know that
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That's why TrustArt Realty isoffering all of our listeners a
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(20:37):
optimizing your rentalstrategy, they we've got you
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out a quick form.
Yeah, and there is somethingvery important that you
mentioned is that the rentallicense that you're getting from
(20:59):
the seller or whatever recordsthat you have, it has to be
within three last year becausewhat the city of Philadelphia
does is that if the propertydoesn't have that rental license
and it used to be a multifamilyproperty but in three years
they can just reduce it tosingle family that's what's in
our city's regulations and lawsand regulations i guess and i've
(21:22):
seen that multiple times whenyou see the property it was
built as a duplex or triplex orwhatever it can be it has three
separate units it may have threeseparate entrances everything
is separate however the rentallicense wasn't renewed for the
last 15 years or Or the owners,maybe they were owner occupying
(21:42):
the property.
They had family living in otherunits and now they're selling
it.
And when your buyer goes to geta rental license, they cannot.
Because now on paper for thecity, that property is a single
family.
So yeah, it's very important toverify when you purchase a
property that it's actually amultifamily.
So you can avoid all of thistime consuming and costly
(22:05):
procedures going through zoningboard and going through zoning
attorneys.
All of that.
So we already named so manydifferent things that you need
to have to get your rentallicense.
And I think that's not even allof it.
I know that there is such athing that is called business
income and receipt tax.
So can you tell us a little bitmore about that?
(22:26):
And why do we need that?
Or do we need that?
Rachel (22:28):
Yeah, definitely.
The tax account for businessincome and receipts is required.
So just like any business, thisis a rental income.
Rental properties in the eyesof the city of Philadelphia are
businesses.
It earns income and therefore,like any government, they want
to charge a tax on it.
So you have to register throughthe Department of Revenue for
(22:50):
the Philadelphia business incomeand receipts tax.
However, what a lot of peoplefind comfort in knowing is that
if the earned revenue for thattax year is whatever tax year it
was, let's say 2024, becausethat's the one that people need
to start filing for.
If the income earned for thattax year was below $100,000,
you're actually exempt fromowing a business income and
(23:13):
receipts tax.
You still have to file it.
That's what people forget.
get or they don't realize.
You file what's called a no taxliability form.
You can file that onlinethrough the tax portal.
So if your revenue earned, thegross revenue is below $100,000,
you are exempt.
You still have to file it.
You have to let the city know,hey, I'm declaring I made less
(23:34):
than $100,000 on my business inPhiladelphia.
And then that keeps youraccount in compliance with the
city.
Yuriy (23:42):
And it's for everyone across the board.
It doesn't matter if you'rejust a person, single member LLC
or partner.
Rachel (23:48):
Exactly.
It doesn't matter what yourownership structure is.
It doesn't matter if you arepersonally located outside of
Philadelphia.
This is for any person, LLCentity located anywhere in the
world.
That has business within thecity of Philadelphia.
They are responsible for beingregistered for this tax type.
And then they are responsiblefor filing it every year, which
(24:11):
is very simple to do.
But it's just the matter ofknowing you have to do it,
knowing how to do it andremembering to do it every year.
That's important.
And a lot of accountants don'tknow the intricacies of the city
of Philadelphia tax department.
So it happens all the time.
I have a client in Florida orjust even in the suburbs outside
of Philadelphia and theiraccountants not familiar with
(24:31):
the tax rules in Philadelphia.
So, you know, sometimes it's alittle bit of collaboration
between a client and theiraccountant to figure out what
the city needs done.
But as long as you kind of getthe hang of it, it's pretty
straightforward.
As someone who's I say that assomeone who's done it a lot.
So when it's your first time,it might not feel
straightforward, but it's not asdaunting as it seems.
(24:54):
And just staying on top of itevery year is really important.
Yuriy (24:57):
So let's say if I buy a property, existing property that
already has a rental license,can I just keep using that
rental license?
Or what would the process be totransferring, I guess, that
rental license or getting a newone?
Rachel (25:11):
Yeah, that's such a great point.
No, the short answer is no.
Every rental license isregistered to that owner.
So once someone sells theproperty, their license does not
transfer.
So every person or LLC entity,whatever the owner structure is,
Once you own that property, youhave to file for the license.
Now, if you're going to asettlement and you know you're
(25:33):
going to be buying the property,you can't purchase it until you
can show proof of ownership.
So if you know that you'resettling on something in 30 days
and maybe you want to get yourlicense ready, you can prep your
application, but we can'tactually submit it until you can
show the city that you own theproperty.
Unlike the rental licensethough, lead...
does transfer.
(25:54):
So the city of Philadelphiarequires that all properties
built prior to 1978 are testedfor lead-based paint.
Those results are valid forfour years.
And the nice thing is thatthose do transfer between
owners.
So it's another good thing tokind of put on your realtor's
checklist before settlement toget any copies of lead results
as well, because those arebeneficial for you and it'll
(26:15):
save you some money.
Yuriy (26:17):
Okay.
And what are those lead tests?
Can you talk a little bit moreabout that and how does that
connect with the rental license?
Rachel (26:24):
Yeah.
So the lead requirement issomething that the city rolled
out about four years ago nowthat all residential rental
properties built prior to 1978have to be tested for lead-based
paint.
This is just something to keepup with the health and the
safety of properties, makingsure that they're safe for
families to live in.
And the way it works is that acertified lead tester will come
(26:46):
to the property and they takejust a swab of the floor and a
windowsill in your common area.
And then in every bedroom fromthere, they send it to a lab and
the lab will determine theamount of lead that was in the
sample.
And then they will issue theresults.
And then the city hasparameters on how much lead is
acceptable to be present in aproperty.
(27:07):
So long story short, you willget either a failed result or
you'll pass, you'll get acertificate and lead results,
and then that gets provided tothe city of Philadelphia.
And then, like I mentioned,those results are good for four
years.
So it's a nice thing to eitherprovide to the buyer if you're
selling a property or if you'rebuying a property to be asking
for.
And yeah, that's just anotherthing that the city requires to
(27:29):
get a rental license.
If your results are not on filewith the city, they will flag
your application and they willnot even let you submit it
unless these results are onfile.
The city's rental licenseapplication system knows if you
have results on file or not.
So it won't even let you submitthe the application unless the
city has the lead results onfile.
Now, if your property was builtafter 1978, then it's exempt.
(27:52):
You still have to file it withthe city.
You have to let them know thatthis property is newer
construction.
So either way, you have to fileit with the Department of Lead.
health and safety before youcan submit your application.
Yuriy (28:06):
It's kind of funny what you're saying that the city will
know if you don't have this oryou don't have that.
They will flag yourapplication, but for whichever
reason, they do not know if youneed to have a rental license
for a single member LLC orwhatever LLC, and they can
explain you that.
And you have to have so manydifferent licenses.
(28:27):
You have to have so manydifferent tax account numbers
with the city of Philadelphiajust to get your rental license.
I don't know why wouldn't theyjust combine it all into one
thing, and then you just haveyour rent license.
And based on that, you can payyour taxes.
Based on that, you can dowhatever you need to do with
city of Philadelphia.
But no, it's not that easy.
Not too much logic in our city,I guess.
Rachel (28:47):
And something that we actually haven't even spoken
about yet is like, Why shouldsomeone care?
Because like you're saying,you're like, they make it so
hard and annoying and difficult.
If you're a landlord inPhiladelphia, why bother?
Well, there's a lot of reallyimportant reasons why it's worth
your time and effort.
The biggest reasons are thatwithout a rental license, you
are not legally allowed tocollect rent payments.
(29:08):
You're not legally allowed toenter into lease agreements.
And what's happening is a lotof tenants in Philadelphia are
learning about theserequirements.
And once a tenant catches windthat you don't have a rental
license, a lot of tenants arestarting to refuse to make rent
payments and they're starting towithhold rent.
And then in addition to that,If you do not have an active
(29:29):
rental license, you cannot filefor back payment of rent due in
the court system.
So you also can't start aneviction process without an
active rental license.
So at the end of the day,everyone's getting into real
estate to make money.
It's a business.
And if you don't have therental license, it can come
around and bite you really hardbecause it can either withhold
you from collecting rent or itcan withhold you from being able
(29:50):
to file that eviction in thecourt and get that long eviction
process started to try to getnonpaying tenants out of the
apartment.
as well.
So maintaining an activelicense from start to finish is
just always in your bestinterest because you just never
know when that tenant is goingto flip on you.
No one leases an apartment tosomeone thinking they're going
to default on their rent orthinking they're going to become
(30:12):
difficult, right?
You always go into a new leaseagreement because you feel like
you vetted them.
You feel like they're going tobe the best fit for the
apartment.
And you just never know whenpeople can just, even their
situation changes, maybe theylose their job or maybe
something happens where theyjust can't make the rent
anymore.
And sometimes there's tenantsthat are really willing to work
with you and communicate.
(30:32):
And then other times there'stenants that they just shut down
and you have to turn to thecourts.
So you never know when it canhappen.
You will never know when atenant could start refusing to
pay rent and having your ducksin order from the start is the
best thing that you can do toprotect yourself because
Philadelphia is a tenantfavorable city.
And more often than not, thecourts will side with the
(30:55):
tenant.
So as a landlord, you reallyhave to be prepared and you need
to have everything that thecity wants you to have otherwise
they will not roll in yourfavor which i'm sure is
something that like you'reyou've seen happen over and over
again
Yuriy (31:06):
yeah yeah unfortunately i have and this is one of the
topics of our futureconversations when we'll have
our eviction attorney on theshow we will discuss all of that
in details i know all of thisinformation i've been doing it
for a long time but stilllistening to this you telling me
all of these requirements thatyou need to have to get a rental
(31:27):
license it My head justexplodes.
It's so many things.
And do you need to have all ofthis every single time when you,
let's say, like, I just boughta property, right?
I went, I got my commercialactivity license.
I opened city account, taxaccount to pay my business
income receipt taxes.
(31:48):
I did my LED certification forthe property.
I applied for rental license.
I got my rental license.
So good for a year.
next year i have to do all ofthat all over again or how does
it work
Rachel (32:01):
Yes and no.
So once you have yourcommercial activity license
registered for that set, that'snot going to expire.
That doesn't change.
That one's fine.
The rental license will expire.
And when you go to renew it,the city is going to verify, are
there violations against theproperty?
Are your tax accounts incompliance with the city?
So they're going to check yourPhiladelphia tax account.
(32:21):
And if you have missing filingsor payments owed to the city,
they're going to flag you forthat.
And then if your lead resultshave expired or they're not on
file, they're going to flag youfor that as well.
So once you're in the groove ofit and you're doing it every
year, you know, it really comesdown to making sure that your
results are still active.
They're good for four years,making sure that you are filing
(32:42):
your necessary business taxesevery year.
And then, yeah, making surethat every year you renewing
your rental license.
That's something I do for myclients as well.
I track all the rental licenserenewals for them and I reach
out 30 days in advance to getthe ball rolling.
That way, if there are issuesthat come up, we give ourselves
time to sort through whatevercould be stopping it from
getting renewed, but yeah.
Every year, these things haveto be getting done.
(33:05):
And then in addition to that,we didn't even talk about the
certificate of rentalsuitability.
That's another thing that'srequired in addition to this.
So once your rental license isissued, you can then apply for
what's called a certificate ofrental suitability.
It really goes hand in handwith the rental license.
They're like brother andsister.
Once you have the rentallicense, you need to get the
(33:27):
certificate.
And that also needs to be givento the tenant along with a copy
of the rental license.
This very Yeah, absolutely.
But that's why propertymanagement companies like
(33:53):
TrustArt Reality are soimportant, especially in a city
like Philadelphia, where youreally need boots on the ground
to understand what the citywants.
Because if you follow therules, it can be a great city to
invest in.
But if you don't, it can becomelike the headache that you
never wish you signed up for.
Yeah,
Yuriy (34:10):
yeah.
And that little piece of rentalsuitability certificate, which
is just a paper that you getwith one click online.
It's super easy to get.
And we get it all the time whenwe sign new leases because we
have to provide it to tenants.
But if you miss that one littlestep as a landlord in the city
of Philadelphia, it doesn'tmatter if you live in Philly or
not.
If you have a property inPhiladelphia, you have to
(34:30):
provide that.
And when you go or if you go,which is when you go to eviction
court, you cannot file foreviction without that little
piece of paper.
And as Rachel mentioned before,that you legally are not
allowed to collect rent withoutrental license.
But even if you have rentallicense, but you did not
(34:51):
provides a certificate of rentalsuitability to your tenant,
you're still legally not able tocollect rent.
And what the court can actuallytell you, the judge can tell
you that you have to return allthe money that the tenants paid
you over the time until youprovided them with certificate
of rental suitability.
So imagine that you go toeviction court because tenant
(35:13):
didn't pay you for two months.
Now, by the time you're incourt, it's probably already
five months behind and thetenant was on the property for a
year.
So the judge tells you beforeyou can do anything, you have to
pay back the rent for 12 monthsthat tenants were paying to you
before.
It's a huge amount of money foranyone to just put out as all
(35:36):
of us know that we're not thisrich corporation sitting here
and putting all the cash in thepockets.
We pay our taxes.
We pay our real estate taxes.
We pay our mortgages.
And at the end, it's not thatmuch money that is left in your
pocket.
So just be very careful andmake sure that you understand
every single little piece ofinformation that you have to
(35:58):
provide the tenants with in thecity of Philadelphia to be a
legal level word.
Rachel (36:03):
On that note, too, something that's important to
know is that we cannot backdatea rental license or certificate
of rental suitability.
So if your tenant has beenliving there and they haven't
paid rent in six months, but youdidn't have this in place, once
you finally do get your rentallicense and certificate of
rental suitability, it is onlygood for that day forward.
So you can only sue in thecourt for the back rent owed
(36:24):
from that date forward.
You cannot go backwards and nowtry to collect on that back
rent owed six months ago, whichis why it's just so important
from day one, you have to havethese in your pocket because you
just don't know when things aregoing to flip and you don't
know how long.
Sometimes some landlords, itjust takes them longer than
others to get their licenses inplace.
So it's just important to haveit correct from the start.
Yuriy (36:46):
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's mind boggling how manythings that we need to know to
be able to do business in thecity of Philadelphia.
But again, that's why peoplelike Rachel exist.
That's why people like usexist.
So we can help landlords tonavigate all of those
complications of the city ofPhiladelphia and make things
right to make sure that we canactually collect the rent, that
(37:07):
we can actually go to evictionwhen we need to go to eviction
and the tenants cannot just tellus that we're not going to pay
you rent because you cannotcollect rent, which is happening
a lot in city of Philadelphia.
So Rachel, do you know if thereare any upcoming changes in
city regulations or anythingthat landlords should be aware
(37:28):
of that's coming our way?
Rachel (37:30):
So there's nothing that the city has announced that I'm
aware of about changes coming,but what What I can say is that
they're only getting better atbeing able to connect the dots
between different elements thatthey want to see.
So they're getting better atknowing if you filed your taxes,
if you've completed the leadtesting, you know, the city is
only getting better at beingable to flag your applications
(37:54):
and say, well, no, you didn't dothis or you didn't do that or
your zoning isn't right or yourproof of ownership isn't right.
So all I can say is that likewhen you're going through like a
city government website,they're not like revolutionary.
It's a nonprofit organization.
So they're not investing tonsof money to make better systems,
but they are getting smarterabout knowing when you're in
(38:16):
compliance versus when you'renot.
Something that the city isstarting to do is if you have, I
believe, business income andreceipts taxes that haven't been
filed, they are going to startcoming after people stronger for
that.
So if you have a commercialactivity license, then that
means that you have the businessincome and receipts tax.
So if you haven't been filingthat, the city is actually going
(38:37):
to start coming after peoplevery strongly with fines and
penalties owed for that as well.
So that's an important thing isif you've been neglecting your
revenue accounts to make surethat you get that worked out
this tax year, just so that it'snot going to come back for you.
Yuriy (38:51):
Yeah.
And to back up that, actually,I myself had an issue.
I've been doing that for many,many years, doing all the rental
licenses for properties that Iown.
And this year, when I went torenew a license for one of the
properties, I couldn't renew itor whatever reasons they flagged
my application.
And one of the ways how you canfigure out what's happening is
(39:12):
to email them atrevenue.fila.gov, which I did.
And I get a response that theybasically do not know what it
is, but I need to go to mytaxpayer center and pull my
compliance on the website.
And that compliance will showme what the problem is.
And I never logged into thattax service center before.
(39:35):
because I have my accountantdoing all the job for me, all
the work of tax filings for me.
So I had to create thataccount.
I had to receive a code fromthe city of Philadelphia that
they do not, they say that theywill mail you the code to access
your account, but they actuallydo not.
You need to email them backafter you create the account so
they can give you the code soyou can log into your account.
(39:58):
So it was a whole long process.
I finally figured all of thatout.
I logged into my tax portal.
I pulled the up thatcertification.
And the problem was that I Ihaven't paid my refuse
collection fee, which isbasically trash fees.
So whenever you have amultifamily property in the city
of Philadelphia, bymultifamily, I mean two units
(40:19):
and up, you have to pay $500 ayear for refuse collection fee,
which I guess I just missedpaying or it just slipped my
mind.
I didn't pay that.
And they flagged my renewalapplication for that little fee.
So I had to pay that first.
And then I was able to go backand renew my application, which
I had the period of time, abouta month when I just ran without
(40:44):
rental license being active.
Speaker 00 (40:45):
Yeah.
And what the city is doing nowtoo, I believe, and this is a
great question, actually, youshould bring up with your
eviction attorney.
If you have a lapse in rentallicense coverage, I believe that
the city is now saying that ifthere was any lapse, you cannot
back sue for rent from the timethat you did have the active
license.
Once that lap starts, I dobelieve that from that date
(41:06):
forward, you're reset on whenyou can sue for background owed.
So that would actually be areally great thing to ask the
eviction attorney about becauseI'm pretty sure that now any
lapses void out any pastcoverage that you had it for.
And the city will now startmaking you go from that date
that your license became activeagain on.
Yuriy (41:24):
Yeah, yeah.
They don't make it easy for us.
That's a lot of information.
And to wrap it up, Rachel, whatif you could give one key piece
of advice to Philadelphialandlords?
What would that be?
Rachel (41:38):
One key piece of advice about rental licenses.
I know, like I think at thispoint, I feel like such a broken
record because so much of likewhat I really push in on, I've
talked about.
So I'm trying to think ofsomething that like I haven't
brought up yet, trying to thinkof something creative.
So a piece of advice that Ialways give to all of my clients
is that once the license isissued and once you get your
(41:59):
certificate of rentalsuitability, present them both
to your tenants and have themsign it so that you have proof
that they've been provided withthese documents so that God
forbid, if you ever have to goto court or if there's ever a
reason that you need to show thecity, like hold up, they have
the license, they've beenprovided the license.
You should always make surethat your tenants are signing it
(42:20):
and you should retain a copyfor yourself so that you can
show the courts that they didreceive it regardless of maybe
what your tenant might sayotherwise.
Because people nowadays, theleasing packets are so massive
in Philadelphia that a tenantwon't even remember if they
signed it or not.
So you have to remember foryour records that the tenant
signed it.
Yuriy (42:39):
Yeah, great advice.
You definitely have to provideit to the tenant and have a
signature from them that youprovided.
Or if tenants, for whateverreason, refusing signing it,
just send it by certified mailor send it by email.
So in case if you have to go tocourt, you have that proof
that, hey, this was the date andtime when I actually sent it
(42:59):
out.
That's very important and greatadvice.
So Rachel, if any of ourwatchers or listeners have any
questions about it.
What is the best way for themto get in touch with you?
How they can find you?
Rachel (43:12):
Yeah, absolutely.
So my website isphillyrentallicense.com.
My email is rachel atphillyrentallicense.com.
That's R-A-C-H-E-L.
And I'll give out my numbertoo.
If you want to call me, it's215-740-6038.
And from what you've probablyalready heard is that I
(43:34):
specialize in landlordcompliance with the Getting a
rental license is in order,annual renewals, just making
sure that all of the things wetalked about today are not your
problem to deal with, butsomething that I can help you
navigate and just not have toworry about.
That's my bread and butter.
And that's what I enjoy doingand helping landlords in Philly
(43:55):
know the laws and know what theyneed to do to be able to earn
their money because that's whatit's all about.
Yuriy (44:00):
That's awesome.
Yeah, and we will put that inthe show notes as well.
So if anybody is interested intalking in more in-depth with
rachel feel free to grab thatand reach out and we will end at
this oh wow that was a lot ofinformation about rental license
in philadelphia more than ineed but also i i have to know
(44:21):
all of that and you have to knowall of that as well as
philadelphia land words so againwe will put all rachel's
information in the show notesfeel free to reach out rachel is
a great resource i've beenworking with rachel for some
time now she's been helping alot of our clients as well.
And if you have any issues withyour rental license, she's a
(44:42):
good resource to go to.
On this note, until next time,when we'll hopefully will
provide you with more greatinformation for City of
Philadelphia landlords.
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