HARRISBURG – Attorney General Dave Sunday announced that his office obtained a settlement with the ownership group of three student-housing apartment complexes in State College — where tenants were subjected to lease terminations.
The ownership group for the impacted apartment complexes is identified in the settlement as 917 & 1013 Allen St. LLC; 1006 S Pugh St, LLC; Happy Valley Fund I, LLC; and Happy Valley Fund I Manager, LLC.
The owners acquired these properties on April 22, 2025 with plans to conduct comprehensive and wide-scale renovations shortly after purchase. At the time of the purchase, the buildings were tenant occupied and tenants had leases extending to August 2026. The settlement alleges that to accommodate the planned renovations, beginning in early May 2025, the ownership group, through property managers – Continental Real Estate Management, Inc. and Ethos Residential, LLC – contacted current and future tenants of the apartment complexes seeking to terminate the leases and citing anticipated construction conditions. Tenants in approximately 104 units were subject to these termination efforts.
Under Pennsylvania’s Landlord Tenant Act, the property sale and planned renovations should not have impacted the validity of the tenants’ existing leases.
“For many young people, college is their first time living on their own,” Attorney General Sunday said. “These apartments were legally leased out for several additional months and the property owners and their representatives tried to illegally end those leases early. This settlement will provide the previous tenants some financial restitution to recoup some of the costs associated with having to suddenly find a new place to live.”
The settlement includes a total payment of $75,000, which includes $60,000 in restitution and $15,000 in costs. After the filing of the settlement, restitution checks will be mailed to eligible tenants.
The settlement alleges that the tenants, most college students, reported to the Office of Attorney General that the unanticipated relocation forced them into less favorable apartments, caused additional financial expenses, and undue stress. Most tenants alleged that they did not receive any compensation or other relief as a result of the Respondents’ efforts to cancel existing leases.
Based upon the tenants’ complaints and the related investigation, the settlement alleges that the building owners engaged in the following unfair and deceptive practices:
- Terminated leases with tenants without a proper legal basis;
- Coerced and induced tenants to terminate their leases by misrepresenting their legal duty to tenants to provide safe and habitable housing, free of disruption, as required by the implied warranty of habitability and the implied covenant of quiet enjoyment; and
- Failed to timely disclose to tenants that the pending property sale and related wide-scale renovations would negatively impact the ability of the tenants to occupy and use their rental units.
The three apartment complexes are Allen Park apartments, located at 1013 South Allen St. State College, Pennsylvania, Lenwood Place apartments are located at 917 South Allen St. State College, Pennsylvania and Mt. Nittany apartments are located at 1006 South Pugh St. State College, Pennsylvania.
The settlement was filed in the Centre County Court of Common Pleas by Senior Deputy Attorney General Amy L. Schulman and Senior Deputy Attorney General Melissa H. Shirey.
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