Ohio Landlord And Tenant Legal Questions

You have to serve them with a 30 daywritten eviction notice; with that is up you serve them with a written 3 day notice; when you do that, you file an eviction action in municipal court and attach a copy of the notices as exhibits; once the court grants the eviction, the sherriff or local law enforcement have the authority to remove the tennant... Read More

Usually the best way to own a business in another country is to set up a corporation and have the corporation own the property. You'll have to set a U.S. mortgage, in hold a mortgage, the lender must be an entity which can legally do business in the U.S. State where the property is located.... Read More

Unless there is a written agreement that provides otherwise, your landlord is correct.  When a written lease ends and is not renewed, the lease converts to a periodic agreement based upon the manner in which rent is to be paid.  For example, if you pay monthly to rent the premises, then the lease becomes a month-to-month lease based upon an oral agreement.  Essentially, you and the landlord enter into a new lease agreement every month that you stayed and are obligated to pay rent for that entire month. Under Ohio law, a month-to-month lease can be terminated by either party with at least a full term's notice of intent not to renew the lease or to vacate the premises.  That means that you must give at least one month's full notice of intent to move out.  And the notice must be given before or at the start of the term.  If it is given after the start of the term, then the 30 day period does not begin to run until the start of the next term.  For example, you have a month to month tenancy.  You decide on April 15 you are going to move out.  You give notice on April 15th of this intent to move out on April 25.  The 30 day period would not begin to run until the start of the next term, which would be May 1. Therefore, in this example, you would be responsible for all of April's rent, as well as all of May's rent, since the notice period does not begin to run until May 1, and the 30 day period does not end until the end of May.  Unfortunately, Ohio law does not provide for pro-ration of rent when you move out in the middle of a term, unless a written agreement states otherwise. Best of luck to you.... Read More

If you do not have a written rental agreement with the person, and he/she is not on the original rental agreement with the landlord, then the law treats them as having an oral lease agreement with you (i.e. they are the tenant, you are the landlord).  Therefore, you will have to follow the steps of a formal eviction process.  Most local courts have forms and pamphlets for landlords to assist them with handling their own evictions without legal representation.  However, you should know that the process is very strict and if you do not follow all proper procedures, you may not be granted an eviction and could potentially be sued by the tenant for wrongful eviction.  If you are unsure of what you are doing, you should consult with a knowledgeable attorney in your area to ensure you are following the process correctly. Best of luck.... Read More

First and foremost, make sure you have made a complaint about the problem to your landlord in writing, so that you have proof that you have complained about the situation.  Upon receipt of your complaint, a landlord typically has a reasonable amount of time to remedy the problem. If you have already given written notice, or after you give written notice, you have a few options you could exercise.  The first would be to declare the problem with the electric a constructive eviction, thereby terminating the lease, and moving out to a new place.  If the problem with the electric would make the property uninhabitable (i.e. make it unsafe, unclean, or not fit for living in some way), then after the landlord has been given a reasonable time to fix the problem and no rememdy has been made, you can declare the problem as a breach of the lease agreement and terminate the lease. Another option you have, if the landlord has failed to remedy the problem in a reasonable amount of time, is to pay for the repairs yourself and then deduct the amount it cost you to make the repairs from your monthly rent until you have been reimbursed for the total cost of the repair.  Although this is an option for you, based upon the nature of the problem and the involvement of other units, I would probably recommend that you do not exercise this option.  The next option is a better option. Under Ohio law, when a landlord has refused to make repairs in a reasonable amount of time after notice of the problem, a tenant can deposit their monthly rent with the local municipal clerk of court's office to be held by the court until the repairs have been made.  Once the repairs have been made, then the court will release the money to the landlord.  If the repairs are not made and you end up leaving the premises, the court can return your money to you.  In order to exercise this option, there are certain requirements that you must follow.  It would be best for you to at least discuss this with an attorney or a clerk at the municipal court to ensure that you do everything properly.  If leaving the property is not an option for you, I think depositing your rent with the clerk of courts is the next best option.  Best of luck to you.... Read More

When you have a month-to-month tenancy, either party may terminate the lease at any time, provided that the terminating party has provided a full month's notice of intent to terminate the lease.  In other words, if he told you on May 30th, the 30 day period begins to run on June 1st, and he is responsible for June's rent.  If your tenant advised you on June 1st that he is terminating the lease, the 30 day period does not begin to run until July 1st, and he would be responsible for both June and July's rent. Your recourse would be to file a civil action against him for monetary damages under a theory of breach of lease agreement.  Best of luck.... Read More

Technically, you have a verbal lease providing for a month-to-month tenancy.  Failure to pay rent is a default under the lease, meaning that you could evict them for breach of the lease.  However, you have let this get way out of hand by letting them stay there for 3 years without paying anything.  My opinion, a court would treat this as a waiver of the obligation to pay rent. In that case, I think the best thing for you to do is serve them with a 30 day notice to vacate the premises.  A 30 day notice states that you have decided to end the lease agreement with them, and that they have a full 30 days from the beginning of the next rental period to vacate the premises and find another living arrangement.  If they fail to vacate by the end of the next month, then you could then file a forcible entry and detainer (FED- eviction) action to have them evicted from the house. But, it should be noted that they are entitled to stay in the premises for a full month before they have to be out.  The 30 day period does not begin to run until the 1st day of the month after they are served.  This means that if you serve them on June 24th, the 30 day period starts to run on July 1st, and they have until the end of July to vacate.  If they dont vacate by the end of July, then you can file an eviction action without further notice to them. You should be able to find a sample Ohio 30 day notice to vacate online.  There is specific language that should be put in it, so make sure you look it up.  And it must be in writing and signed by the landlord.  You also need to document when, where, and how you served the letter upon them (you can serve it personally, by certified mail with return receipt, or by posting it to their door). Best of luck.... Read More

In addition to contacting your property manager, you should also contact the police.  It is generally a violation of local ordinance to create noise that affects others after certain hours.  After enough calls, the police will start complaining to management, and then they may do something. You could also have an action for constructive eviction.  If you have put your landlord on written notice of the problem, and they have failed to remedy the situation in a timely manner, then you may be able to break your lease and move out, if the noise from the other neighbors makes your apartment uninhabitable (i.e. unlivable).  If it is distiurbing your sleep, your children, etc., you may have sufficient grounds to break your lease without penalty to you. Another option would be to file a civil suit against the offending neighbors.  Ohio law provides a tort for interference with another's peaceful enjoyment of his property.  You have the right to peaceful enjoyment of your leased property without interference from other tenants.  And if you have suffered damages, you can sue the other tenants for those damages. Best of Luck.... Read More

Because you continued to collect rent even after the one year lease expired, you have created a month to month tenancy with the tenant.  Therefore, you have a valid month to month lease.  Once the tenant is in default of the month to month tenancy (i.e. fails to timely pay rent), you can issue a 3 day notice to vacate the premises to them by either giving it to them in person, mailing it by certified mail return receipt requested, or by posting it to the door of the property.  On the day the tenant is served with the notice (either in person, by the mailman, or on the day you post it to the door), the tenant has the rest of that day, plus 3 days to vacate the premises.  If they fail to vacate by the end of the 3 day period, you can file a forcible entry and detainer (FED) action to have them evicted.  If you have monetary damages, (i.e. unpaid rent, damages to property, unpaid utilities, etc) you can request that the security deposit be surrendered to you for payment of those damages and/or ask for a monetary judgment against the tenant.  But, you must request the monetary damages in the same complaint as the FED complaint, or your claim for monetary damages is considered waived.   Best of Luck... Read More

Whether or not you have a written lease, there is still a lease agreement between you orally.  Oral leases are just as enforceable in Ohio as are written leases, though oral leases are sometimes a little more difficult to prove the terms of than a written lease. Based upon what you stated, it sounds like you never set price for rent as a term.  You say they agreed to help out with the bills, but it doesnt appear you guys set a sum certain amount (i.e. 50% of all bills, they pay all the electric and water, and you cover the rest, etc.).  This could make proving that they have breached a term of the lease difficult to prove, since they have offered you some "help" with the bills, even if its not what you wanted.  Because the amount was never defined, it will be difficult for a court to determine whether or not they have complied with your agreement. Because they are helping out with the monthly bills, Ohio law will most likely treat this as a month-to-month lease.  Therefore, you have the option of terminating the lease at any time, provided that you give them a minimum of 30 days notice of your intent to terminate the lease and for them to vacate the property.  Since today is May1, then you must give them the notice of your intent to terminate the lease, in writing, sometime in May.  They would then have until the end of June to vacate the property.  If they fail to vacate by the end of June, you can then file an action to evict them from the property. On the issue that the property is owned by your father, that doesnt cause me any concern.  Most likely, a court would treat the relationship with you and the other tenants as a sublease of the property.  So, you would be treated as the landlord between you and the other tenants, giving you the right to evict them from the property.  But you can only do so after fully complying with the law, including the 30 day notice of intent not to renew and vacate the property. Best of luck to you, and next time, get the lease agreement in writing.  Makes the eviction process much easier as the terms are expressly defined in writing.... Read More

Your understanding of the law is correct that your landlord must provide you with the return of your security deposit and/or an itemization of deductions for damages beyond normal wear and tear and/or unpaid rent within 30 days of your surrender of the property.  Failure to do so entitles the tenant to the amount withheld, plus damages in an amount up to the amount wrongfully withheld, plus reasonable attorney fees.  However, to be entitled to additional damages and attorneys fees, you must have given the landlord your forwarding address in writing at the time you turned the keys over. Because attorney fees are recoverable damages, you will not most likely find an attorney who would do this for free.  But because fees are recoverable, it should cost you nothing to hire an attorney.  Find a lawyer in your area who handles landlord/tenant law, and they should be able to help you out.  ... Read More

Dear James:  Based upon what you stated, there is no legal grounds for terminating your lease early.  However, you should talk to your landlord and see if he/she would be willing to let you out of your lease early due to your financial situation.  There is nothing that requires your landlord to let you out early, but often times they will in exchange for you paying some sort of "penalty" like two months rent, surrender of security deposit, etc.  Also, if you leave the property and quit paying rent, your landlord could sue you for damages for the unpaid rent left on your total lease, up to a certain amount.  Best approach is to contact your landlord and see if you can work out some type of arrangement to end the lease early.    ... Read More

Call the police each and every time they are creating problems for you and your neighborhood.  Also, call your mayor's office, service safety director, zoning office, etc. and complain about the nuisance.  Also, start calling the landlord on a regular basis and complaining about the problems.  Eventually, the landlord is going to get tired of all the complaints and boot these people out. But you need to document, document, document by taking pictures, videos, calling police and filing a report, etc.  That way, if you need to take further legal action, you have support for your claim that this house and its residents are creating a nuisance and interfering with your quiet enjoyment of your house and property. Good luck.... Read More

Dear Alicia:  Generally speaking, when there is no lease or contract (written or oral) regarding rent, then the lease is treated as a term lease based upon how often you pay rent.  For example, if you pay rent every month, then it would be treated as a month to month lease.  If you pay rent every 6 months, then it would be treated as a 6 month term.  I am presuming that you pay rent every month, so you most likely have a month to month lease.  Likewise, I am presuming that you are talking about residential proeprty (i.e. where you live).  In a month to month lease with no contract, the law provides that your lease expires at the end of every month, and can be renewed at the beginning of every month if the parties agree to the terms.  Likewise, the terms can change at the beginning of each month.  So if your landlord informed you, with sufficient notice, that the rent would increase, that is permissible.  You then have the option of accepting the terms and paying the rent, or ending the lease and moving out.  If you do decide to move, you must give at least 30 days notice of not renewing the lease (i.e., if you plan on leaving at the end of April, you must have given notice no later than the end of March).  If the landlord informed you of the change in the middle of a month, the change cannot take effect until one full term has expired (i.e. if he informed you of the rent change on March 15, the new rent cannot take effect until May 1).  See R.C. 5321.17(B). If you are not referring to residential property, then the law provides that the terms of the lease can be changed or terminated at any time by either party when there is no contract (written or oral). Best of luck.... Read More

Dear Morgan:  Generally speaking, the law requires that the landlord go through the proper legal channels to evict someone from the property.  The law does not permit a co-tenant to evict another co-tenant.  Since you both share a lease, you are co-tenants.  If the other tenant was sub-leasing form you, that would be different.  But since you share the lease, you both have the same legal rights to the premises. If you do perform any of the above, your co-tenant could potentially sue you for damages, including any damage to his belongings, moving expenses, living expenses until he finds a new place to live, etc.  He could also contact the police and file a complaint against you. If he is breaching the terms of the lease, then you need to inform your landlord and demand that they formally evict him from the premises.  If he is breaching the agreement with the landlord that he would move out by a certain date, then he is potentially a holdover tenant, and the law provides the means for a landlord to evict him.  But it is up to the landlord to do this, not you.  If you assist the landlord with an improper/illegal eviction (i.e., move his stuff out, change the locks, etc. without a proper court order) you could be held equally as liable as the landlord. You pay rent to the landlord to protect you against this stuff.  Make the rental company do their job and evict him properly and legally. Best of luck to you.... Read More

If your lease is a month-to-month lease, either party to the agreement can terminate the lease with a minimum of 30 days notice for any reason or no reason, other than for discrimination of a protected class (i.e. race, religion, sexual orientation, etc.).  So long as your landlord has given you 30 days notice of not renewing the lease, and termination isnt based upon discrimination, you have no recourse for the termination of your lease. For failing to make repairs, if the repairs are related to the health, welfare, safety, or habitability of the rented premises, your recourse is to withhold rent and deposit it with the local municipal court until the repairs are done, or you can pay for the repairs yourself, and deduct the cost from the rent.  You cannot do this just for any repairs.  The item needing repair must be necessary for the health, welfare, safety, or habitability of the property (i.e. broken window, leaking roof, no water, sewage back-up, etc.).  If the item needing repair does not affect the health, welfare, safety, or habitability of the leased premises (i.e. broken cupboard door, stain on carpet), you cannot withhold the rent.... Read More

Your best option would be to claim all of the bills for $3700 at the time of filing the complaint.  Although the maximum jurisdiction of small claims court is $3000, you are correct.  If one of your bills is disallowed, you would not get compensated for that.  And because the claim is all arising from the same transaction, you have to bring all your claims in a single lawsuit. You cannot sue once for some of the bills, and then claim the other bills in a second lawsuit.  So you should claim damages in the amount of $3700, present all of the bills at your hearing, and if the judge accepts your evidence, he can award you up to $3000.  If you do not claim all of the bills in your complaint, the judge could very well deny admission of those bills as evidence at your hearing.  Good luck.... Read More