Ohio Landlord Tenant Law

The Brown brothers are splitting their ribs laughing at Cleveland's Housing ...

CLEVELAND, Ohio — The Brown brothers, Graig and Derek, give new meaning to the expression "mean as a junkyard dog."

In a disturbing story Wednesday , Plain Dealer reporter Mark Gillispie used court documents and interviews with tenants to chronicle the antics of these two property owners who have crafted a legendary reputation in low-income housing circles for abusing many of the tenants -- mostly single women with children -- who have the misfortune of living in their properties.

Here's how Cleveland Housing Court Judge Ray Pianka, one of the finest housing court judges you'll ever come across, describes the Browns:

"The court has never, in its 31-year history, heard proof in so many cases of a landlord or landlords engaging in such repeated, ongoing, deliberate, cruel, harmful and illegal conduct," Pianka wrote in a recent ruling when he awarded $482,000 to Cindy Smith, a former tenant of the Browns.

Faced with a choice between living in a homeless shelter or going with the Browns, Smith chose the Browns' property -- which had already been condemned by the city.

Huge mistake. Less than a month later, she and her two young children were in a homeless shelter anyway.

When Smith fell five days behind on her rent after asking for an extension (she apparently wasn't a great tenant either), she returned to the home to find her water shut off and the next day, her power turned off.

Cleveland Public Power found that the electric meter had been removed and the breaker panel smeared with feces.

But determined to try to tough it out in these conditions, Smith came home a few days later to find the locks on the doors changed. She was forced to crawl through a window to retrieve a few personal items and her children's clothing.

She moved to a homeless shelter that day.

That wasn't the first or last time the Browns were accused of being rogue landlords. They have perfected the art of the quick, brutal and illegal eviction. In one case they were ordered to pay $185,000 to a tenant who was locked out of her house, but not before someone went in and took one shoe from each pair owned by her and her children, poems written by the children, school art projects and family photos.

Now who does that?

Who steals a kid's shoes and a poem written for a mother?

There are some, no doubt, who might empathize with the Browns and their tactics. After all, the science of tenant selection often boils down to a crapshoot. A bad tenant is a nightmare.

Precocious, Precarious, PETS! — Toronto Realty Blog

Together in many respects, but not others.

Case in point: leasing a condominium.

There is a lot of mis-information floating around in our city about the right of tenants to have pets, the right of landlords to ban pets, and the right of condo corporations to limit pets.  So let’s look at these one at a time.

Any condominium corporation can make restrictions on the size, type, or number of pets you have, or ban them altogether.

Some condominiums say, “All dogs must be under thirty pounds.”

Other condominiums blur the lines by saying, “You must be able to carry your pet from the elevator to the exterior of the lobby.”  But in this case, what if you have a 300-pound bodybuilder who could carry a horse versus a crippled old woman who can’t lift a can-opener?

Or what if that little old lady can put a 90-pound dog in the basket of her motorized cart?

Many condo boards (or property management companies) have come up with ridiculous verbiage like that above which clearly creates a grey area and sets the foundation for a legal battle.

Some condo corporations allow you ONE pet, not TWO, and/or they might limit the size of that pet.

Every condominium is different, and this is why you (and your lawyer) have to thoroughly read through the Declaration, Rules & Regulations, and Status Certificate.

Now in the case of the individual unit-owner, this is where things get murky.

Actually, things aren’t murky – they’re spelled right out in the Landlord & Tenant Act.

But I mean it’s murky because personally, I think some laws don’t apply to me.

The “No Pets” rule has been deemed unenforceable, but it doesn’t mean that Landlord’s have stopped putting a clause in place, and/or evicting tenants who have pets.

And as I said at the onset – I’ll give different advice depending on whether I’m speaking as a Realtor or an Investor.

To be brutally honest, I don’t care what the Landlord & Tenant Act, or the Canadian Charter of Rights & Freedoms have to say when it comes to my investment properties.