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(125th General Assembly)
(House Bill Number 120)
AN ACT
To amend section 5322.01 and to enact section 5322.05
of
the Revised Code to permit, under specified conditions, the assessment of
reasonable late fees for the failure to pay rent when due
for the use of a self-service storage facility.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Ohio:
SECTION 1. That section 5322.01 be amended and section
5322.05 of the Revised Code be
enacted to read as follows:
Sec. 5322.01. As used in sections 5322.01 to 5322.04 5322.05 of
the
Revised Code: (A) "Self-service storage facility" means any real
property
that is designed and used only for the purpose of
renting or
leasing individual storage space in the facility under
the
following conditions: (1) The occupants have access to the storage space only
for
the purpose of storing and removing personal property; (2) The owner does not issue a warehouse receipt, bill of
lading, or other document of title, as defined in division (O) of
section 1301.01 of the Revised Code, for the personal property
stored in the storage space; (3) The property has fifty or more individual storage
spaces. "Self-service storage facility" does not include any garage
used principally for parking motor vehicles, an establishment
licensed pursuant to sections 915.14 to 915.24 of the Revised
Code, or any property of a bank or building savings and loan association
that contains vaults, safe deposit boxes, or other receptacles
for
the uses, purposes, and benefits of the bank's or building
savings and
loan association's customers. (B) "Owner" means a person who that is either the owner of a
self-service storage facility or the lessor of an entire
self-service storage facility and who that receives rent from an
occupant pursuant to a rental agreement that
he
the person
enters
into with
the occupant. (C) "Occupant" means a person who that rents storage space at a
self-service storage facility pursuant to a rental agreement that
he
the person enters into with the owner. (D) "Rental agreement" means any written agreement that is
entered into by the owner and the occupant and that establishes
the terms and conditions of the occupant's use of storage space
at
a self-service storage facility. (E) "Personal property" means money and every animate or
inanimate tangible thing that is the subject of ownership, except
anything forming part of a parcel of real estate, as defined in
section 5701.02 of the Revised Code, and except anything that is
an
agricultural commodity, as defined in division (A) of section
926.01 of the Revised Code.
(F) "Late fee" means any fee or charge assessed for an
occupant's failure to pay rent when due. "Late fee" does not
include interest on a debt, reasonable expenses incurred in the
collection of unpaid rent, or costs associated with the
enforcement of any other remedy provided by statute or contract.
Sec. 5322.05. (A) Subject to division (B) of this section, a reasonable late fee may be imposed and collected by an owner for
each service period that an occupant does not pay rent when due under a rental agreement,
provided that the due date for the rental payment is not earlier
than the day before the first day of the service period to which
the rental payment applies. However, no late fee shall be imposed or collected if the
occupant makes a rental payment in full by the third day after the
due date under the rental agreement.
(B) No late fee may be collected pursuant to division (A) of this section unless the amount of that
fee and the conditions for imposing that fee are stated in the rental agreement or an addendum to that agreement.
(C) For purposes of division (A) of this section, a late fee of twenty dollars for each late rental
payment, or twenty per cent of the amount of each late rental
payment, whichever is greater, is deemed reasonable and does not
constitute a penalty. However, the contract may provide for a late fee in
a greater amount if that amount is reasonable. The owner has the
burden of proof that the late fee in the greater amount is
reasonable.
(D) Any reasonable expense incurred in rent collection or
lien enforcement by an owner may be charged to the occupant in addition to the
late fees permitted by this section.
SECTION 2. That existing section 5322.01 of the Revised
Code is hereby repealed.
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