Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in Ohio

I live in Ohio and I've been renting an apartment for 3 months. Due to a job switch I had to notify my landlord that I'd be a month late. Which we agreed on and I'd be paying 2 months rent since I was getting my first check at the beginning of this month. We got into a bad argument about the property while I was in the office getting ready to pay. She said she was putting me on a do not accept payment list and is evicting me. I have about 2 weeks, then she says she's taking me to court. Will this affect my credit score since she wouldn't allow me to pay over an argument? Should I take it to court? How will I pay if they won't accept my payment?


Asked on 6/13/15, 12:55 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys

Eric Willison Eric Eastman Willison

In Ohio, it would be very helpful to your case if you got your agreement to pay the rent over a two month period in writing (perhaps an email or a text exchange). If not, and the landlord denies the arrangement, they you will have to prove that you had that arrangement to the court. This might be possible by showing the court that the way that the apartment complex normally handles someone who just did not pay their rent out of the blue was not followed here.

As for them not accepting the rent, you could go in with your phone's voice notes recorder on and try to pay your rent (take a friend in as well to act as a witness). If you can record them saying that they will not accept your rent, and back that up with a witness, then you have a pretty good chance in court when it comes to fighting an eviction.

By the time that the eviction hearing rolls around, you will likely be owing a third month's rent, so be sure that you have that much banked up so that when the court asks you if you can pay your full rent today, you can rip out the hundreds and pay it off.

Whenever you do leave this place, you will want to make sure that you take the proper steps to make sure that you get your security deposit back. You can read about those for free (and download a free ebook on the subject) here: http://ohiolandlordtenantblog.com/security-deposit/return-of-security-deposit-renters-rights/

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Answered on 6/13/15, 1:21 pm


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