Your Lease Is Bad Because Your Landlord Found It Online

Renting in Philadelphia worked out well for Benjamin Franklin: The city’s favorite son arrived in 1723 and promptly fell in love with his landlord’s daughter, whom he later married.

Rarely has it worked out so well since. Prior to the pandemic, landlords in the City of Brotherly Love filed between 1,500 and 2,000 evictions every month. But that number understates the number of renters forced from their homes; according to research from the Eviction Lab at Princeton University, more than two in three forced moves nationally happen without a judge’s say-so. Landlords have...