Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in Ohio

I have been renting a single house from the same landlord that my parents have. In early February we had backup in the basement which caused raw sewage to come up and cover our complete basement. The odor alone was so foul that I had to send my 4 year old son to stay with my parents until we got it fixed. I notified my landlord to no avail, I called, left messages, even tried to email her. She never responded. I could not really afford to have a plumber come out but I went ahead and got some industrial strength pipe opener and rented a snake... I worked on it for days. It would go down and then come back up. Finally out of frustration I notified the city code enforcement and they came out the following morning to inspect the premises. After doing so she went to the landlord's property and notified her. The landlord was, to say the least, irate. She came to my house with ranting and raving about how my son must have done something or flushed something, but eventually complied. She had a professional out and he told her it was a root problem that roots have grown into the pipes and caused the blockage. Ever since then it has been an issue. Let me note that I have always had an issue with the way that she pops up anytime that she wants, she tries to discipline my son, she has questioned my religious beliefs and at one point she was trying to sell the home while I lived there and brought a potential buyer to look at the place (without notice)... As I was exiting the bathroom after a shower and was only in a towel I was greeted by her and the potential buyer looking through my window and staring right at me. Her response was "I didn't know you were home". I was humiliated. After that it got EVEN WORSE, she started coming over for no reason and saying she needed to "inspect the premises" she would have her daughter with her recording with her phone throughout my whole house. When I questioned her about it she told me that by law since it was her house she was able to record whenever she wanted. I may have been a little na�ve, or flat out stupid for believing that but now here lies the problem. I live in a very nice quiet neighborhood, and when she offered me the place for a nice price I jumped on it. However she told me that she would only accept cash for the rental payment because she was having some tax issues, I agreed. I am a single mother and work very hard and was so excited that me and my son would have a house with a yard for him to run around in. I didn't think anything of it until it just so happened that every time she would come to collect the rent (which she always did because we had no way of taking it to her she would not allow us to have her address) she seemed to had forgotten her receipt book. For the past few months it has been that way and then she stopped coming altogether. I would call and leave messages, but by the 2nd week I knew something was fishy. All of a sudden I come home from work and my babysitter told me that she was by and gave him an envelope addressed to me. In it, handwritten on a piece of receipt paper it states the following:

"02-01-13 received 30 day notice to vacate the premises by March 15,2013

60 days were given OCTOBER

Non-payment 2012-March 2013.

This is a 3 day notice to quit and deliver the premises or action will be taken as permitted by law.

A copy of this hand delivered notice and letter will be sent by certified mail"

I am confused, I don't know what this means. Is this even legal? I don't know who to contact or what to do about this. I have no problem moving but I need a little more than 3 days to find a place and get the money together to move.


Asked on 4/05/13, 10:57 am

1 Answer from Attorneys

John Sauter Cloppert, Latanick, Sauter & Washburn

Before filing an eviction action in a court of law, a landlord must serve a 3-day notice. Tenants often mistakenly believe they must leave the premises within three days. This is not true. The three-day notice simply informs the tenant that SHOULD the tenant NOT leave the premises within 3 days, upon the fourth day, the landlord has the option of filing an eviction lawsuit in your local municipal or common pleas court.

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Answered on 4/08/13, 7:16 am


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