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  <div class="brand"><a href="./">4<span>PHILLY</span></a></div>
  <p class="tags" style="margin-top:0"><a href="./">← Home</a></p>

  <h1>About 4PHILLY</h1>
  <p class="dek">A free, independent tool that pulls Philadelphia's scattered public property records into one place — so a renter, a reporter, or a neighbor can read the full story of any address in under a minute.</p>

  <div class="disc"><b>4PHILLY is an independent, non-governmental tool.</b> It is not operated by, affiliated with, or endorsed by the City of Philadelphia. Everything it shows is a public record that the City already publishes; 4PHILLY only collects those records in one view. Always verify anything consequential directly at <a href="https://atlas.phila.gov/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">atlas.phila.gov</a>.</div>

  <h2>What it does</h2>
  <p>In Philadelphia, the facts about a single rental property live in at least four different City systems that don't talk to each other. The rental-license record is in one portal, the Licenses &amp; Inspections (L&amp;I) code-violation history is in another, 311 service complaints are in a third, and building permits and certifications are in a fourth. In practice, that fragmentation means the complete picture of a building is available to almost no one — which is a problem when the picture is exactly what a prospective tenant, a current renter, or a reporter needs before making a decision.</p>
  <p>4PHILLY closes that gap. You type an <strong>address</strong>, a <strong>building name</strong>, or an <strong>OPA account number</strong> (Philadelphia's unique parcel ID), and it returns a single unified record for that parcel:</p>
  <ul>
    <li><strong>Rental &amp; business licenses</strong> — current status, license number, expiration date, and unit count.</li>
    <li><strong>Open and historical L&amp;I code violations</strong> — what was cited, when, and whether it's resolved.</li>
    <li><strong>311 service complaints</strong> filed against the property.</li>
    <li><strong>Permits and building certifications</strong> on record.</li>
    <li><strong>City Council district and councilmember contact details</strong>, so you know who represents the property and how to reach them.</li>
  </ul>
  <p>It also computes a composite <strong>"4P Score"</strong> that summarizes a property's record at a glance, and includes a city-wide and ZIP-level scanner for finding the properties with the worst violation and license records in an area, plus a Right-to-Know (RTK) request-letter generator for formally requesting records from the City.</p>

  <h2>Where the data comes from</h2>
  <p>4PHILLY does not host its own copy of the City's records or guess at anything. It reads directly from Philadelphia's own authoritative data sources, live, at the moment you search:</p>
  <table>
    <tr><th>Source</th><th>What it provides</th></tr>
    <tr><td><strong>Eclipse (L&amp;I)</strong></td><td>The authoritative Licenses &amp; Inspections backend that powers li.phila.gov — licenses, violations, permits. Read live for individual lookups.</td></tr>
    <tr><td><strong>Carto open data</strong></td><td>The City's daily-refreshed open-data mirror (phl.carto.com), used for city-wide scans and historical records.</td></tr>
    <tr><td><strong>Atlas Philadelphia</strong></td><td>The City's public parcel map (atlas.phila.gov), the recommended place to verify any single record.</td></tr>
  </table>
  <p>When two sources disagree about a property, 4PHILLY <strong>flags the discrepancy</strong> rather than hiding it, and treats the authoritative Eclipse record as controlling. This matters because the City's public map tools can lag up to <strong>60 days</strong> behind on a lapsed rental license — publishing the later internal "Inactive" date instead of the expiration date that actually carries legal weight. Surfacing that gap is one of the main reasons 4PHILLY exists.</p>

  <h2>Why it exists</h2>
  <p>Housing accountability in a city like Philadelphia usually fails not because the information is secret, but because it is <em>fragmented</em>. If a public record is spread across four portals and a 60-day reporting lag, it is technically public and practically invisible. 4PHILLY is a small correction to that asymmetry — a way of saying that if the record is public, it should also be <em>legible</em>, for free, with no account required.</p>
  <p>The tool is built for renters checking a prospective or current landlord, tenant advocates and organizers, reporters researching property owners, and neighbors trying to understand a problem building on their block.</p>

  <h2>Privacy &amp; independence</h2>
  <p>4PHILLY requires <strong>no account and no login</strong>. It does not notify a property owner that their address was searched, and it does not keep a record of who looked up what. Every record it displays is already public information published by the City of Philadelphia. For full details on cookies, analytics, and advertising, see the <a href="privacy.html">Privacy Policy</a>.</p>
  <p>4PHILLY is maintained independently and is not funded by, affiliated with, or acting on behalf of the City of Philadelphia or any landlord, property manager, or government agency. It provides <strong>legal information, not legal advice</strong>. For advice about a specific situation, contact a housing attorney or a legal-aid organization such as Community Legal Services (<a href="tel:+12159813700">215-981-3700</a>).</p>

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    <div>Check any Philadelphia address now — free, no account required</div>
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