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An empty house in Philadelphia isn’t a neutral asset sitting quietly until you get around to it. The city has specific rules for vacant properties, and the costs compound in ways owners usually don’t discover until a notice arrives.
The Doors and Windows Ordinance is the one that surprises people
Philadelphia requires that a vacant building have functional doors and real glass windows on every opening. Plywood is not compliance — that’s the entire point of the ordinance. It was adopted in 2003 and L&I began enforcing it in earnest in 2011.
The penalty is what gets attention: up to $300 per opening, per day, with a separate fine for each door, window, and other opening. A boarded-up rowhome with eight openings is not looking at one fine — it’s looking at eight, and they accrue daily until it’s corrected. Owners have been assessed millions collectively under this ordinance.
You also need a Vacant Residential Property License for a vacant residential property. It’s how the city tracks unoccupied homes, and not having one is its own violation on top of whatever else is open.
Vacant houses are the primary target for deed theft
Philadelphia has a real and well-documented problem with stolen deeds, and vacant properties are the obvious mark — nobody’s living there to notice a forged transfer getting recorded. If you own an empty house here, the single best five minutes you can spend is signing up for Fraud Guard, the Department of Records’ free service that emails you whenever a document is recorded against your name. It costs nothing. To report suspected deed fraud, call (215) 686-2290.
This matters more if the house came to you through a family death and the deed was never formally transferred. That’s a “tangled title,” it’s common in Philadelphia, and it makes a property both harder to sell and easier to steal.
Conservatorship — worth understanding, not panicking about
Pennsylvania’s Act 135, passed in 2008, lets a nonprofit or an individual petition a court to be appointed conservator of a property they allege is blighted and abandoned — taking possession to rehabilitate it. It has been used actively in Philadelphia, and a number of the petitioning nonprofits are run by real estate investors.
Two things to hold onto. First, this is a court process, not a seizure — a judge holds a trial and has to find the statutory conditions are actually met, and you have the right to appear, contest it, and present a plan to remediate. Second, a University of Pennsylvania law clinic study found these petitions have been filed disproportionately in gentrifying neighborhoods and against Asian-American and Black owners, which is a good reason to take a petition seriously and get a lawyer rather than assume it will resolve itself.
The practical takeaway: a vacant Philadelphia property that visibly deteriorates draws attention from more directions than most owners realize. Keeping it secured and the violations closed is what keeps you in control of the outcome.
What it’s actually costing you every month
- Insurance. Standard homeowners policies restrict or exclude coverage once a house is unoccupied past a certain point. Vacant-property policies cost more and cover less.
- Taxes and water. They don’t pause. Unpaid Philadelphia property taxes lead to tax liens and eventually sheriff sale.
- Utilities you can’t fully shut off if you want to avoid frozen and burst pipes over the winter.
- Deterioration. An unheated, unventilated house declines fast — and scrappers stripping copper and squatters both find empty rowhomes quickly.
Your three real options
Secure it and hold. Legitimate if you have a specific plan and a date. Budget for compliant doors and windows, the vacant license, insurance, and someone local checking on it.
Rent it. Harder in Philadelphia than most people assume — a Rental License you generally can’t hold from out of town without a local managing agent, lead certification for anything pre-1978, and a Certificate of Rental Suitability for each tenant. The details are on our relocation page. It also means renovating first, which is the expense you were trying to avoid.
Sell it as-is. Stops the meter on all of it in one transaction — the fines, the license, the insurance, the taxes, the risk.
How we buy vacant Philadelphia houses
We buy empty houses across Philadelphia in as-is condition, including properties with open L&I violations, accumulated fines, back taxes, tangled title, or people in them who shouldn’t be. No repairs, no cleanout, no fees or commissions. Leave everything — we handle it.
An offer costs nothing and doesn’t obligate you, and it’s useful information even if you decide to keep the house: it tells you what “be done with it” is worth against what securing and holding will cost you. Here’s how we build an offer, and since vacant-property owners get a lot of unsolicited mail, here’s how to vet any buyer who contacts you.
Related: houses with L&I code violations and properties with squatters or problem occupants.
This page is general information about Philadelphia’s vacant-property rules — it is not legal advice. Fines, licensing, and conservatorship exposure depend on your specific property and circumstances. Talk to an attorney about your situation.
Ready to stop the monthly bleed? Get your fair cash offer today, or call or text us at (215) 515-7799.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do you buy houses with open L&I violations or unpaid fines?
Yes — that’s a normal vacant-property purchase for us, not a complication. Open violations, Doors and Windows citations, and accumulated fines all get sorted through the closing rather than being something you have to clear first.
The house is completely empty and needs everything. Will you still buy it?
Yes. No heat, no systems, stripped of copper, gutted — we buy at any condition level. We’re pricing the structure and the rebuild, so a house being in rough shape doesn’t disqualify it.
What if there are back taxes or a tax lien?
Very common on vacant properties and not a dealbreaker. Liens and back taxes are paid out of the proceeds at settlement. If the balance is larger than the property’s value we’ll tell you straight, and there are usually still options.
What if the deed isn’t clean, or the house was my parent’s?
Tangled title is one of the most common issues we see on vacant Philadelphia houses. It doesn’t necessarily stop a sale, but it does need to be worked through properly — and the free Save Your Home Philly Hotline at (215) 334-HOME helps Philadelphia homeowners with exactly this. Call us too and we’ll tell you honestly what we’re seeing.
How fast can I stop the monthly costs?
We can usually make an offer within 24 hours and close in as little as 14 days, or on whatever date you choose. Once it closes, the fines, taxes, insurance, and liability stop being yours.