Landlord 101: Cleveland Heights Part 2

Landlord 101 is part of a series of informational posts provided by the Team at N.P Weiss Law that reviews commonly asked questions and other information and what a landlord/tenant could expect from each city/town/municipality in the Northeast Ohio area. This article is part two for Cleveland Heights and before reading this article, we recommend you begin with Part 1.

Is it true that the Court does not do move-outs in the winter?

This is a common misbelief following the days of Covid-19, and is actually Not True. However, the Court is within its power to limit the number of move-outs that occur during holiday times due to staffing limitations. This is why it is important when you go to file, you have met all the requirements. Should you have any questions about these requirements, please feel free to reach out to us for assistance. 

My apartment has problems or issues that I want my landlord to fix. Do I have to pay my rent?

No. In all of Ohio, when a landlord refuses or fails to make repairs, a tenant is not able to stop paying rent. What a tenant can do is deliver to their landlord a written notice of the defective conditions or repairs requested. After notice is delivered to the landlord, the landlord must make any necessary repairs. If the landlord does not make the necessary repairs in a reasonable amount of time, the tenant may deposit the rent with the Court. 

In Court, the Judge recommended that we settle, but I have tried agreements with my landlord/tenant in the past, and they have not worked, why would this be any different?

At the eviction hearing, the Judge will recommend that the parties try to reach a settlement. 

One benefit to reaching a settlement is that rather than having the Judge decide your case, where you may not like the outcome, the landlord and tenant create their own agreement. Settlements come in many forms, such as a pay-off amount, or an agreed upon move out date. The agreement will be put into writing,  and signed by all the parties. The Judge will also sign the agreement, thereby making it a Court Order. Because this is a Court Order, the agreement will be enforced by the Court. What this means for you is that if you or the other party violate the agreement, then you would be forced to suffer any consequences the Court deems necessary.

If you have any further questions, our Team at N.P. Weiss Law handles evictions every day and would be happy to answer any question you may have. 

*This information is provided directly from the City of Cleveland Heights and is accurate as to the day this article was published.

By: Nicholas P. Weiss, Esq