tenants deliquent in utility payments

[kathy]

My husband and I have several duplexes we rent. Our tenants are required to pay all utilities and as a condition of the lease, they must be kept current with payments. One tenant has become deliquent in paying the water bill, and as a consequence, has had the water shut off. My question is, are we within our rights to serve a 3 day notice to evict over this? Can we force them to leave the premises immediately, since no water is a health concern? We've had another tenant that stiffed us for rent, and her utilities had also been disconnected. When we were finally able to get her out of the unit, the mess she left behind was horrible, as you can imagine. Any thoughts on this would be a great help. Thanks!

[ohiolandlord]

Generally, if a provision in your Ohio lease indicates that the tenant is responsible for utilities and they fail to pay then you can evict on that basis.

for more information on evictions try this link:

http://www.ohiolandlordtenant.com/eviction_audio.html

[eewillison]

To learn more about your rights as a landlord in the state of Ohio, you can download our book on landlord's rights at http://www.ohiolandlordtenant.com/landlordbook.html. It can steer you clear of a lot of problems before they come along.