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Security Deposit Recovery Kit
by Eric E. Willison, Esq. and
Andrew J. Ruzicho II, Esq.
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List Price: $15.95
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Inside this Book
Ohio Security Deposit Recovery Kit:
How to make the best case to get your security deposit back in Ohio
Don't spend a few dollars less just to get one letter that other sites offer. Our Ohio Security Deposit Recovery Kit is 28 pages long. Looking to sue Northsteppe Realty for unlawfully withholding your deposit for hidden utility charges - sample complaint provided.
Topics covered include:
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Product Details
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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
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Sample pages
Notification of Move Out
There are two documents with this security deposit kit that are very important. Sample notices are supplied with this security deposit kit. Remember that you must be able to document the fact that the notice you are using got to the landlord. That means making a photo copy of the signed document you sent, and sending it certified mail, return receipt requested. The last thing you want is to nail your landlord with the video tape, and then have him slide out on the fact that he was entitled to keep your deposit anyway because you didn't give him adequate notice under the lease agreement.
A. Month-To-Month Termination Notification
If you are on a month-to-month lease (also known as a periodic tenancy), then you will want to timely notify your landlord that you will be terminating the month-to-month tenancy. In Ohio, the rules for terminating such a tenancy are found in Ohio Revised Code Section 5321.17. That statute states that you must give the landlord 30 days notice from the start of a rental period that you will be ending the month-to-month tenancy.
It's a bit more complex than it sounds, but it isn't hard. If you pay your rent on the first of every month, then the court will likely consider that your rental period runs from the first of each month to the first of the next month. So if, on March 23, 2003, you inform your landlord that you are terminating your month-to-month lease, then your 30 days will not start to be counted until April 1, 2003. This means that you will have to pay for the month of April (though it also means that you are free to stay there during that month as well).
B. Set Lease Term Notifications
Many lease agreements have these hidden bombs in their fine print. They say (in tiny letters no one ever reads) that the tenant agrees to give the landlord (30, 45, 60, or 90 days) notice that he or she will be leaving at the end of the lease's term. If you fail to give such notice, you have agreed that you will holdover for either a month-to-month tenancy or worse, automatically renew your lease for another year.
At first, you will doubtless wonder why you need to give the landlord notice that you are moving when the lease ends. Wouldn't it be safe to assume that since you did not sign a new lease, that you would be moving out? Unfortunately, Ohio courts have ruled that such provisions are enforceable in Ohio (though at least one court has held that requiring 60 days notice is unenforceable).
So save yourself a lot of heartache and worry and just send notice to the landlord (like the sample notices in this kit) that you and your roommates will be leaving at the end of the lease term).
C. Send Notice Before The Lease Ends
Even if your lease does not require notice that you won't be staying, you still want to send the landlord notice that you are leaving so that he will have your forwarding address. You will want to send this to the landlord before you vacate the apartment. The reason for this is that some landlord attorneys have argued that if the landlord does not get notice of the forwarding address before you move out, then the tenant is denied the remedy of double damages and attorneys fees.
The argument goes like this. Ohio Revised Code Section 5321.16 states that the landlord must return the security deposit or an itemized list of damages within 30 days of getting the tenants forwarding address AND moving out. These attorneys argue that if the tenant moves out and then sends the landlord the notice of forwarding address a month later, then it is physically impossible to comply with the statute.
The counterargument goes that Ohio's Landlord Tenant Act is a remedial statute and thus must be liberally construed to achieve its goal (that of balancing the historically uneven playing field between landlords and tenants), and thus the better way to look at this is to say that the landlord must return the security deposit or itemized deduction list within 30 days of getting the forwarding address even if the tenant has already moved
out. But why even have to argue this one. Why not just send it before you move out, and give the landlord nowhere to run to, no where to hide?
V. Joint and Several Liability
If you have a roommate, it is a rare lease indeed which does not call for joint and several liability between the roommates. What this means is all for one and one for all. It means that if your roommate trashes his room to the point where it eats into your
security deposit, you are going to have to collect from him, not from the landlord. Knowing your roommate and his penniless ways, you would be much better advised to either make sure he cleans up the place or bite the bullet and clean it yourself. The judge is not going to listen to how it isn't fair that you are getting zapped for your roommate's failures.
VI. How It All Fits Together
As you read before, Ohio Revised Code Section 5321.16 states that if you can show the court that you gave the landlord written notice of your forwarding address for the return of your security deposit, and if you can show the court that your landlord has wrongfully withheld your security deposit for more than 30 days after your moving out and his getting your forwarding address, then you can sue for double damages and attorneys fees.
It sure is nice to have the prospect of getting attorneys fees if you win, because attorneys are likely going to charge you at least the 2003 equivalent of $1,500.00 to fight it out with your landlord over whether you trashed the place or not. Paying $1,500.00 to fight about a security deposit in the amount of $1,500.00 might not make too much sense to you otherwise. But you will note that the notification kit contains your forwarding address, and the video provides you with an objective eye upon the condition of the premises at move out.
Ohio Revised Code Security deposit procedures
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