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Complete Tenant's Kit

Complete tenant's kit - which includes

1. Ohio Renter's Rights: How to take on your landlord;

2. Guide to getting out of your lease;

3. Tenant's Guide to Fighting an Eviction;

4. How to make the best case to get your security deposit back;

5. How to get your landlord to make repairs;

6. How to deal with noisy neighbors;

7. Landlord and Tenant's Guide to Understanding Lease Provisions;

8. A free subscription to our bi-monthly newsletter on Ohio landlord tenant law;

all for only $19.95, for a savings of over $26.00 when compared with the price of buying all products separately

Product Details

Pdf ebook - 12 pages

View (print) with Adobe Acrobat Reader

Publisher - R&W Publishing (April 17, 2003)

Also Available in Paperback

Return Refund Policy and Privacy Disclosure Statement.

Inside this Book

How to get your landlord to make repairs

Buy our helpful guide on getting your landlord to finally make repairs!

Topics covered include:

• Sample notice of request for repairs
• Explanation of statute governing getting needed repairs
• Explanation of rent escrow procedure, motion to compel repairs, and reasons justifying termination of lease
• Explanation of hearing where landlord contests rent escrow
• Common pitfalls tenants encounter when escrowing rent
• Time schedule involved in getting repairs done
• Procedures to follow to safeguard tenant in the process

Sample pages from book

B. Translation of the Statute

The statute above tells you what to do when the landlord is not meeting his Ohio Revised Code Section 5321.04 duties or his additional duties he may have placed upon himself under the residential lease agreement.

It tells us that if the tenant is current on his rent (this means paid up to date), then the tenant should send the landlord written notice (some courts require this notice to be sent by certified mail, return receipt requested) describing the problem. The tenant should keep a copy of the written notice. In general, a tenant should follow up all verbal conversations with the landlord in writing and retain a copy for their records. This can be as simple as restating the conversation in writing and requesting that the landlord respond if any discrepancies exist in the tenant's account of the conversation. This advice cannot be stressed enough. If the conversation concerns a needed repair that can be photographed then take the time to photograph the needed repair. A sample written repair notice is found at the end of this document. Once the landlord receives this notice, then he will have 30 days or a reasonable amount of time, whichever is sooner (meaning that the longest that the landlord can take to fix the problem is 30 days) to make the repair. If the landlord does not get this done in time, then the tenant has three remedies under the statute.

1. Rental Escrow

If the landlord has failed to remedy the situation within the sooner of 30 days of receiving the written notice or within a reasonable amount of time depending on the problem then the tenant can go to the clerk of courts in his town or county and ask where the rental escrow office is. Once directed to the appropriate place, show the clerk a copy of the letter you sent to the landlord detailing the problem along with the certified mail receipt, and then you can start paying your rent to the clerk of courts. The clerk will then send the landlord a letter informing him that you are escrowing your rent and that the landlord will not be getting the rent back until the conditions complained of are repaired. Remember to do this, you must be current in your rent payments. A surefire means of getting evicted is to incorrectly invoke the escrow procedure. Just because you are paying your rent to the clerk of courts does not mean that you can pay late or pay in the wrong amount. If you do this, the landlord will have grounds for eviction despite your complaints to have repairs made.

a. Private Escrow

You are not, I repeat, not allowed under this statute to set up an account at bank somewhere and start paying the rent into this account until the apartment is repaired and start calling it "escrow". This is the same thing as serving up pork and calling it chicken. You'll get evicted and your credit ruined and the landlord will laugh at you as he garnishes your paychecks for until the judgment is paid off.

2. Motion to Compel Repairs

The tenant may also file (or have a lawyer file) a Motion to Compel Repairs Pursuant to Ohio Revised Code Section 5321.07. In such a motion, you allege all of the problems, and indicate that you are current on your rent and that you sent written notice to the landlord about the troubles, but that nothing has been done. The court may ask you to start escrowing your rent as well under this remedy. The reason for this is that once enough money builds up in the escrow account, the court may order the tenant to fix the problem out of his own money, and then submit receipts to the court for the amount paid, and the court will then compensate the tenant out of the escrowed rent.

3. Termination of the Lease Agreement

If conditions around the place are bad enough, you can terminate the lease agreement and move out. The trouble here is that in my experience, Ohio courts want to see some evidence that the place was pretty darn bad before they will let you out of the lease agreement. While the statute contains nothing regarding the severity of the problems, you are unwise to exercise this option unless it is physically impossible or abnormally dangerous to stay at the apartment.

Things like weird smells or noises won't work. A gas or carbon monoxide leak would. Things like a ceiling fan that buzzes or a garbage disposal that gets stuck aren't enough. Sparking outlets or a furnace that won't operate in January would be enough. The point is that this option is riskier than the others. If the judge doesn't see things your way, then you could be stuck paying rent on the apartment until the lease ends or it gets re-rented.

C. Limitations on the Statutory Remedy

1. Some Small Landlord Exempt
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Complete with proper notices and sample complaint against your landlord.

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