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To amend section 5322.01 and to enact section 5322.05 | 1 |
of the Revised Code to permit, under specified | 2 |
conditions, the assessment of reasonable late fees | 3 |
for the failure to pay rent when due for the use | 4 |
of a self-service storage facility. | 5 |
Section 1. That section 5322.01 be amended and section | 6 |
5322.05 of the Revised Code be enacted to read as follows: | 7 |
Sec. 5322.01. As used in sections 5322.01 to | 8 |
of the Revised Code: | 9 |
(A) "Self-service storage facility" means any real property | 10 |
that is designed and used only for the purpose of renting or | 11 |
leasing individual storage space in the facility under the | 12 |
following conditions: | 13 |
(1) The occupants have access to the storage space only for | 14 |
the purpose of storing and removing personal property; | 15 |
(2) The owner does not issue a warehouse receipt, bill of | 16 |
lading, or other document of title, as defined in division (O) of | 17 |
section 1301.01 of the Revised Code, for the personal property | 18 |
stored in the storage space; | 19 |
(3) The property has fifty or more individual storage spaces. | 20 |
"Self-service storage facility" does not include any garage | 21 |
used principally for parking motor vehicles, an establishment | 22 |
licensed pursuant to sections 915.14 to 915.24 of the Revised | 23 |
Code, or any property of a bank or | 24 |
association that contains vaults, safe deposit boxes, or other | 25 |
receptacles for the uses, purposes, and benefits of the bank's or | 26 |
27 |
(B) "Owner" means a person | 28 |
self-service storage facility or the lessor of an entire | 29 |
self-service storage facility and | 30 |
occupant pursuant to a rental agreement that
| 31 |
into with the occupant. | 32 |
(C) "Occupant" means a person | 33 |
a self-service storage facility pursuant to a rental agreement | 34 |
that
| 35 |
(D) "Rental agreement" means any written agreement that is | 36 |
entered into by the owner and the occupant and that establishes | 37 |
the terms and conditions of the occupant's use of storage space at | 38 |
a self-service storage facility. | 39 |
(E) "Personal property" means money and every animate or | 40 |
inanimate tangible thing that is the subject of ownership, except | 41 |
anything forming part of a parcel of real estate, as defined in | 42 |
section 5701.02 of the Revised Code, and except anything that is | 43 |
an agricultural commodity, as defined in division (A) of section | 44 |
926.01 of the Revised Code. | 45 |
(F) "Late fee" means any fee or charge assessed for an | 46 |
occupant's failure to pay rent when due. "Late fee" does not | 47 |
include interest on a debt, reasonable expenses incurred in the | 48 |
collection of unpaid rent, or costs associated with the | 49 |
enforcement of any other remedy provided by statute or contract. | 50 |
Sec. 5322.05. (A) Subject to division (B) of this section, a | 51 |
reasonable late fee may be imposed and collected by an owner for | 52 |
each service period that an occupant does not pay rent when due | 53 |
under a rental agreement, provided that the due date for the | 54 |
rental payment is not earlier than the day before the first day of | 55 |
the service period to which the rental payment applies. However, | 56 |
no late fee shall be imposed or collected if the occupant makes a | 57 |
rental payment in full by the third day after the due date under | 58 |
the rental agreement. | 59 |
(B) No late fee may be collected pursuant to division (A) of | 60 |
this section unless the amount of that fee and the conditions for | 61 |
imposing that fee are stated in the rental agreement or an | 62 |
addendum to that agreement. | 63 |
(C) For purposes of division (A) of this section, a late fee | 64 |
of twenty dollars for each late rental payment, or twenty per cent | 65 |
of the amount of each late rental payment, whichever is greater, | 66 |
is deemed reasonable and does not constitute a penalty. However, | 67 |
the contract may provide for a late fee in a greater amount if | 68 |
that amount is reasonable. The owner has the burden of proof that | 69 |
the late fee in the greater amount is reasonable. | 70 |
(D) Any reasonable expense incurred in rent collection or | 71 |
lien enforcement by an owner may be charged to the occupant in | 72 |
addition to the late fees permitted by this section. | 73 |
Section 2. That existing section 5322.01 of the Revised Code | 74 |
is hereby repealed. | 75 |