Philadelphia Rental License
Hi everyone,
I currently own a duplex in Philadelphia PA. I live in one unit and the tenant lives in the second unit. The tenant moved out in November. So both units are occupied by the owner now. We will not rent out the unit for at least six months to one year. However, the rental license is about to expire in January 2023. So my question is can I renew the rental even though the unit is occupied by me now? Or Should I let the rental license expire and reapply when I am ready to rent out the duplex?
Thanks
Howdy @Chris Lin, welcome to the BiggerPockets forums!
This sounds like a perfect question for a savvy PM in your market.
Try texting with Stiletto Property Management and see if they can offer some skilled guidance here.
Quote from @Chris Lin:
Better yet, just go to the source. Call the licensing office and ask them directly. Any answer you get from a stranger on the interwebs could be wrong.
I agree with @Nathan Gesner - it is relatively easy to make a virtual appointment with L & I - you can make the appointment online for a time that works for you and its basically a phone call where they will answer your question. In my experience, it is easier to renew the license than apply for the new one. To my knowledge, there is no fee for owner-occupied units. https://www.phila.gov/services...
Hope this is helpful and good luck!
Chris,
I have gone through the process of obtaining rental licenses through the Philly L&I through their online portal eCLIPSE for my own self managed investment property.
I would go ahead and let the license expire if one unit will be vacant and not producing income for the next 6-12 months. The reason I say that is to save yourself the $69 renewal fee, which isn't necessary if the unit is only being used by the owners and there are no tenants. Just be sure to remember to reapply/renew when it begins to generate income again.
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#2 Managing Your Property Contributor
- Property Manager
- Royal Oak, MI
renew it so you don't create waves
Id personally just pay it even if it werent used for 6 months to not have it lapse unless you are very confident that your zoning/variance will not have any issues.
Ive never done a owner occupant rental but when a normal rental’s license lapses and gets paid sometime after will start again when your original license expired. I.e. license renewal is 2/1 and you let it expire and pay for a new one on 6/1, it will expire on 2/1 of the next year, not 6/1. Im sure you could get around this but it may take many hours of your time unless you can change the occupant to something similar to ‘vacant’. My own personal hell is dealing with the city about these types of things.
Quote from @Eric Greenberg:
Id personally just pay it even if it werent used for 6 months to not have it lapse unless you are very confident that your zoning/variance will not have any issues.
Ive never done a owner occupant rental but when a normal rental’s license lapses and gets paid sometime after will start again when your original license expired. I.e. license renewal is 2/1 and you let it expire and pay for a new one on 6/1, it will expire on 2/1 of the next year, not 6/1. Im sure you could get around this but it may take many hours of your time unless you can change the occupant to something similar to ‘vacant’. My own personal hell is dealing with the city about these types of things.
Agreed. I have never done a rental license myself or had this exact situation but I deal with a lot of permits in the city and the best bet is to not rock the boat whenever possible. If it's going to expire, the renewal is usually much easier than an new original application. Like @Eric Greenberg said sometimes the rental license is tied to an ongoing zoning classification or variance and letting it expire could cause you headaches there. @Kira DAnnunzio told me a story about her duplex where the prior owner never got a license and she had a nightmare of a time just getting the city to acknowledge that it was properly zoned for a duplex as it had always been.
You have to renew the license no matter who lives in the property. There is special owner occupied duplex license that you can get. This way you will make sure that the use of the property won't change. If you do not renew the license the city won't guarantee the use and can downgrade it to SF. We had clients with this issue and it is not something that you want to deal with later. Much easier to stay up to date with you license.
Cheers,
Yuriy