ohiolandlord
02-09-2006, 05:39 PM
I am a landlord and own a duplex. My tenants had been hinting that they were going to break the lease. They are currently 5 days late on rent, are not returning phone calls, and the other tenant (in the other unit) states that they have not been to the apartment in over a week. I have found that they never had the electic turned into their names, and they have all electric (including 2 AC units which are my property) on and left running. The electric company is getting ready to shut off the power. I have had my property manager (who is very new to this) post a 24 hour notice to enter. My question is - how do we determine if they have abandoned? If the apartment seems empty, do I have the right to change locks or must I get a formal abandonment from the tenants? Is there a waiting period before I can do this? If a few items are left, must I let them have them back or are they my property?
Thanks!
____________________
In Ohio, abandonment is a question of fact for a judge or jury to decide, thus, there are not hard and fast rules regarding when tenants have or have not abandoned the place.
Since self help evictions (where the landlord simply changes the locks and throws out any remaining stuff) are illegal under Ohio Revised Code Section 5321.15, you would be wise to get something in writing signed and dated by the tenants that they are not coming back to the apartment.
If you can't get a writing from the tenants and you are not completely sure that they have abandoned, then you should go through the statutory eviction process. You can find a description of that process in our FAQ section at http://www.ohiolandlordtenant.com/faq2.html
If you want to read up on how to do an eviction and get the forms for it, you can download those at http://www.ohiolandlordtenant.com/evictkit.html
or consider our 11 part audio series containing almost 2 hours of information on the eviction process at
http://www.ohiolandlordtenant.com/eviction_audio.html
Lastly, if you want to read up on more of your rights as a landlord, you can download our book online at http://www.ohiolandlordtenant.com/landlordbook.html
Also see our article on abandonment clauses in leases at
http://www.ohiolandlordtenant.com/abandon.html
Thanks!
____________________
In Ohio, abandonment is a question of fact for a judge or jury to decide, thus, there are not hard and fast rules regarding when tenants have or have not abandoned the place.
Since self help evictions (where the landlord simply changes the locks and throws out any remaining stuff) are illegal under Ohio Revised Code Section 5321.15, you would be wise to get something in writing signed and dated by the tenants that they are not coming back to the apartment.
If you can't get a writing from the tenants and you are not completely sure that they have abandoned, then you should go through the statutory eviction process. You can find a description of that process in our FAQ section at http://www.ohiolandlordtenant.com/faq2.html
If you want to read up on how to do an eviction and get the forms for it, you can download those at http://www.ohiolandlordtenant.com/evictkit.html
or consider our 11 part audio series containing almost 2 hours of information on the eviction process at
http://www.ohiolandlordtenant.com/eviction_audio.html
Lastly, if you want to read up on more of your rights as a landlord, you can download our book online at http://www.ohiolandlordtenant.com/landlordbook.html
Also see our article on abandonment clauses in leases at
http://www.ohiolandlordtenant.com/abandon.html