Pennsylvania Code
Pennsylvania Code & Bulletin
COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA

• No statutes or acts will be found at this website.

The Pennsylvania Bulletin website includes the following: Rulemakings by State agencies; Proposed Rulemakings by State agencies; State agency notices; the Governor’s Proclamations and Executive Orders; Actions by the General Assembly; and Statewide and local court rules.

PA Bulletin, Doc. No. 21-1653

THE COURTS

Title 255—LOCAL COURT RULES

WASHINGTON COUNTY

Temporary Residential Landlord Tenant Rental Assistance Program; No. 2021-1

[51 Pa.B. 6254]
[Saturday, October 2, 2021]

Administrative Order

 And Now, this 17th day of September, 2021, it is hereby Ordered, Adjudged, and Decreed that the following procedures shall be established for landlord tenant cases until further Order of Court:

 1. At any time subsequent to the commencement of a residential landlord tenant action for possession of residential real property on the basis of recovery or nonpayment of rent before a magisterial district court, any party to the action, or the Blueprints organization with the consent of any party to the action, may submit a request to the magisterial district court for a continuance. This request shall be signed by the party making the request or by a representative of Blueprints, or another appropriate rental assistance agency, and shall certify that the defendant has submitted an application for emergency rental assistance. Such a request may be considered as good cause shown pursuant to Pa.R.C.P.M.D.J. 209 and, upon receipt of such a request, the magisterial district judge may continue any proceedings, including pending execution of an Order of Possession, for up to thirty (30) days. No continuance pursuant to this Order shall exceed a total of thirty (30) aggregate days.

 2. If a request for continuance pursuant to this Order is not submitted by a party or a representative of Blueprints or another appropriate rental assistance agency, the magisterial district court may continue the matter for up to thirty (30) days if the magisterial district judge is satisfied that a good faith application for emergency rental assistance has been or will be submitted to Blueprints or another appropriate rental assistance agency. No continuance pursuant to this Order shall exceed a total of thirty (30) aggregate days.

 3. All appeals to the Court of Common Pleas from judgments of the magisterial district courts concerning residential landlord tenant actions for the recovery or nonpayment of rent, and all other Civil Complaints relating to residential evictions and the recovery or nonpayment of rent, shall be transferred to the docket of one judge of the Court of Common Pleas, as designated by the District Court Administrator and the President Judge. Each case shall be scheduled for an initial case management conference before the assigned judge within thirty (30) days of the filing of the Complaint. Initial case management conferences shall be held in person before the Court unless prior leave of court is granted to hold the conference through advanced communications technology.

 4. No trial or hearing on possession pursuant to a residential landlord tenant eviction may be held until after the initial case management conference has been held before the Court.

 5. The fact that a good faith application for emergency rental assistance has been or will be submitted to Blueprints or another appropriate rental assistance agency may be considered grounds for a continuance pursuant to Pa.R.C.P. 216.

 6. If a case has been scheduled for an initial case management conference, all motions concerning a supersedeas affidavit pursuant to Pa.R.C.P.M.D.J. 1008 or in forma pauperis status shall be heard by the judge assigned to the case.

 7. This Order shall be processed in conformity with Pa.R.J.A. 103. The District Court Administrator is directed to do the following:

 a. File one (1) copy of this Administrative Order with the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts;

 b. Distribute two (2) copies to the Legislative Reference Bureau for publication in the Pennsylvania Bulletin; and

 c. Serve a copy of this Administrative Order on the judges of the Court of Common Pleas, the judges of the magisterial district courts of Washington County, and all other necessary officials.

By the Court

JOHN F. DiSALLE, 
President Judge

[Pa.B. Doc. No. 21-1653. Filed for public inspection October 1, 2021, 9:00 a.m.]


No part of the information on this site may be reproduced for profit or sold for profit.

This material has been drawn directly from the official Pennsylvania Bulletin full text database. Due to the limitations of HTML or differences in display capabilities of different browsers, this version may differ slightly from the official printed version.