City of Cincinnati Housing Providers: Take Heed
City of Cincinnati Has Rules That You Need to Know by James Flax, Esq.
In addition to the normal rules governing landlord tenant relations in Ohio, the City of Cincinnati has its own rules—and you need to know them before you decide to expend your time and hard-earned money providing rental housing in the City, rather than in one of the other 52 adjacent cities and townships in our area.
Because I have made poor choices in my life such as going to Law School and passing the Bar exam, it is my fate to read such great literature as Chapter 871 of the Cincinnati Code of Ordinances. To spare you the same fate I am going to try to pull out the things you need to know, and explain them.
Chapter 871 is not well drafted. It contains numerous ambiguities and poorly defined terms. This is not really all that rare in the law, but it does open the door to ugly outcomes. When a law is unclear, or can be interpreted in multiple ways it becomes very difficult to comply. You can find yourself in trouble without ever meaning to break the rules.
So, with that lawyer grumbling out of the way let’s start our examination of the Cincinnati law. Section 871-8 of the City code sets out rules for entering an occupied unit, and the punishments for violating those rules. The rules are basically the same as the default State rules, but the punishments are different in the ... Read More…