License and Inspection Checks

Before renting in Philadelphia, we recommend every individual does their research. The city has public records of every property’s rental licenses, permits, zoning, and violations. Every listing on this website (offcampus.temple.edu) provides Temple’s Off-Campus Living office with an active rental license so you can be confident when looking through our listing map that each property you see is licensed with the City of Philadelphia to legally rent their property.

How to find out if your property is rental licensed:

There are two ways to find out whether your property has an active rental license.

To find a snapshot of an address:

Visit https://li.phila.gov/property-history
Type the property address into the “Property Address Search” box
The owner’s name and address will pop up into the blue box, and below you will find dropdowns for different things including:
- Business Licenses (including rental): If the property is rental licensed (which it should be to legally rent), you should see “3202 Rental” in the “Type” column. You can click on the license # for more details.
- Investigations: This includes any directives from the city to comply with things like installing fire safety equipment as well as investigations into reported non-compliant items at a property.
- Violations: You will find here any violations the property has had and includes any standard inspection history. You can click into each violation for details. If you do not see anything in recent years, that is a good sign that there has not been recent violations reported to the city.

To find full details of a property’s history including the surrounding area:

Visit https://atlas.phila.gov/
Type the property address into the search bar at the top of the map
You will find dropdowns for all different areas related to the property, a few highlights include:
- Licenses & Inspections (including rental): This section will provide you a detailed history of all interactions with the department of Licenses and Inspections including licensing, violations, permits, and more. If you scroll all the way to the bottom under “Business Licenses” you will find whether your property has a rental license and whether the license is active.
- Nearby Activity: This section gives you a full report of all the reports made to the city in the surrounding area including illegal dumping, street and trash issues, and more.
- Voting: This section will show you the address’s polling place which you would use if the address is listed as your primary/legal address and you are registered to vote

To learn more about how to make educated decisions during your housing search, visit the City of Philadelphia’s resource page specifically about rental property requirements.

What to do if you discover your property is not rental licensed:

Report the property to the City of Philadelphia by:
- Calling 311. If you are within the city, you can dial just the numbers 311 and it will go through. If you are outside the city, dial (215) 686-8686.
- Submitting an online 311 report: this falls in an “Unlicensed Business Report”

If you need assistance with this process, you can reach out to the Off-Campus Living team at offcampus@temple.edu. We are also a part of the Essential Needs Hub team so can be reached at thehub@temple.edu or in person at the Essential Needs Hub on the lower level of the Student Center.