53 Pa. Stat. § 14911
Whenever in this act the "present tense" is used, it shall include the future tense.
The "masculine gender" shall include the feminine and neuter genders.
The "singular number" shall include the plural.
The word "shall" shall be mandatory and not directory.
The word "person" shall include any association, partnership or corporation as well as a natural person.
The word "converted" shall mean either a change in the character of occupancy or in construction.
The words "ordinances," "regulations," "Bureau of Building Inspection," "department," or "board," or "Bureau of Health" shall be construed as if followed by the words "in cities of the first class."
The words "is occupied," applying to any building, shall be construed as if followed by the words "or is intended, arranged, or designed to be occupied."
The words "satisfactory or approved" shall be construed as if followed by the words "to" or "by" "the Chief of the Division of Housing and Sanitation."
The term "tenement" shall mean any house or building which, or a portion of which, is occupied as a residence by three or more families, living independently of each other, and doing their cooking on the premises, and having a common right in the halls, stairways, yard, cellar, or water-closets thereof, or some of them.
The term "dwelling" shall mean any house or building, not a lodging-house within the terms of the act of Assembly of July second, one thousand eight hundred and ninety-five (Pamphlet Laws, four hundred and twenty-eight), entitled "An act to regulate and license public lodging-houses in the different cities in this Commonwealth," and not a tenement rooming-house or inn, all or any part of which is occupied as the home or residence of a family, or of two or more families living independently of each other, and having no common right or use of any hall, stairway, cellar, water-closet, or privy; and whether such house is built singly, or as part of a double house, or in conjunction with others in an attached or semi-detached row, it shall be deemed a dwelling.
A "two-family dwelling" is any house not a tenement, dwelling, rooming-house or inn, and which is occupied by two families, who use a common entrance or hallway.
The term "rooming-house" shall mean and include any house or building, or portion thereof, not a lodging-house within the terms of the act of Assembly of July second, one thousand eight hundred and ninety-five (Pamphlet Laws, four hundred and twenty-eight), entitled "An act to regulate and license public lodging-houses in the different cities in this Commonwealth," and not a tenement or inn, and in which persons, either as single individuals or as families, are harbored or received, housed or lodged, for hire or otherwise, for a single day or night or for a longer period; provided that this shall not include a dwelling where less than five persons are so received and lodged.
The term "apartment" shall mean a room, or suits of two or more rooms, which is or are occupied as a home of one or more persons.
For the purpose of this act, all buildings herein referred to shall be graded according to their use or occupancy. Buildings of the highest or first grade shall include all dwellings, as hereinbefore defined. Buildings of the second grade shall include all two-family dwellings, as hereinbefore defined. Buildings of the third and lowest grade shall include all rooming-houses and tenements, as hereinbefore defined.
A living-room, or room used for living purposes, is any room, not a water-closet, bath-room, or other room used solely for storage or closet purposes, and which is used, in whole or in part, for any household purpose.
A yard is an open, unoccupied space on the same lot with a tenement, rooming-house, or dwelling, and which space extends in its full width or depth between opposite lot lines.
A court is an open, unoccupied space, other than a yard, on the same lot with a tenement, rooming-house, or dwelling.
A sewer is a public sewer, or a private sewer tributary thereto, and accepted by the bureau of surveys.
A school sink is any vault or box used, or designated to be used, to receive urine and fecal matter which is washed to the sewer by means of a steady or intermittent flow of water.
An entrance hall is a public hall on the first story, admission to which is made from the street or yard, court or alley.
A public hall is a hall, corridor, or passageway not within an apartment.
A stair hall includes the stairs, stair landings, and the portion of any hall through which it is necessary to pass in going between the entrance floor and roof.
A basement is a room or rooms partly, but not more than one-half, below the level of the ground surrounding the building.
A cellar is a room, or rooms, more than one-half below the level of the ground surrounding the building.
53 P.S. § 14911