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Sub. S. B. No. 13 As Reported by the Senate Judiciary--Civil Justice CommitteeAs Reported by the Senate Judiciary--Civil Justice Committee
128th General Assembly | Regular Session | 2009-2010 |
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Cosponsors:
Senators Morano, Turner, Smith
A BILL
To amend section 2329.26 and to enact sections
121.086, 2703.10, 5321.20, 5321.21,
5321.22,
5321.23, and 5321.24 of the
Revised Code to
require a landlord to
notify tenants when a
foreclosure action is
filed, to require the
Director of Commerce to
prepare a publication to
assist owners and
tenants of foreclosed
residential rental property, to require the
officer taking lands and tenements to notify the
owner of the property of the date, time, and place
of the sale of the foreclosed property,
to
require landlords
to notify tenants when a
property is foreclosed
and when a sale is
scheduled, to
provide for continuance of a rental
agreement
after a foreclosure sale, to impose a
civil penalty upon the landlord if the landlord
fails to notify the tenants when a property is
foreclosed, and to provide
civil
remedies for a
tenant whose landlord
violates the
bill's
provisions.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF OHIO:
Section 1. That section 2329.26 be amended and sections
121.086, 2703.10, 5321.20, 5321.21,
5321.22, 5321.23, and 5321.24
of the Revised Code be
enacted to read as
follows:
Sec. 121.086. The director of commerce shall prepare a
publication for distribution to owners and tenants of residential
rental
properties that are the subject of foreclosure actions. The
publication shall include a list of available resources to assist
owners of residential rental properties to retain their property
and to
assist tenants in obtaining assistance if relocation is
necessary.
The director shall make the publication available to
clerks of
courts of common pleas in this state for distribution
to owners and
tenants of
residential rental properties that are
undergoing
foreclosure.
Sec. 2329.26. (A) Lands and tenements taken in execution
shall not
be sold until all of the following occur:
(1)(a) Except as otherwise provided
in division
(A)(1)(b)
of
this section, the judgment creditor who seeks the sale of officer
taking the
lands and tenements or the judgment creditor's attorney
does
both
of the following:
(i) Causes At least thirty-five days prior to the date of the
sale, whether or not there is a default judgment, causes a written
notice of the
date, time, and place of
the
sale to be served in
accordance
with the procedure in divisions (A) and
(B) of
Civil
Rule 5 upon the judgment debtor
and upon each other party to
the
action in which the judgment giving
rise to the execution was
rendered and includes with the written notice a statement that if
the property is residential rental property the judgment debtor
who is the owner of the property must comply with divisions (A)(5)
and (6) of section 5321.20 of the Revised Code;
(ii) At least seven calendar days
prior to the date of the
sale, files with the
clerk of the court that rendered the judgment
giving rise to the
execution a copy of the written notice and
included statement
described in division
(A)(1)(a)(i)
of this
section with proof of
service endorsed on the copy in
the form
described in division
(D)
of
Civil
Rule 5.
(b) Service of the written notice and included statement
described in division
(A)(1)(a)(i)
of this section is not required
to be made upon any
party who is in default for failure to appear
in the
action in
which the judgment giving rise to the execution
was
rendered.
(2) The officer taking the lands and tenements
gives
public
notice of the date, time, and place of the
sale for
at least
three weeks before the day of sale by advertisement in
a
newspaper
published in and of general circulation in the county.
The court
ordering
the sale may designate in the order of sale
the newspaper
in which
this public notice
shall be published, and
this public
notice is subject to
division (A) of section 2329.27
of the
Revised
Code.
(3) The officer taking the lands and tenements shall collect
the purchaser's information required by section 2329.271 of the
Revised Code.
(B) A sale of lands and tenements
taken in execution may be
set aside in accordance
with division (B) of section
2329.27 of
the Revised
Code.
Sec. 2703.10. (A) When a holder of a mortgage files a
complaint to initiate a foreclosure action on a residential rental
property, along with the summons that is served on the owner of
the property, the clerk of the court of common pleas shall do all
of the following:
(1) Include a statement that if the property that is the
subject of the foreclosure action is residential rental property,
the owner of the property must comply with section 5321.20 of the
Revised Code;
(2) Include a description of the penalties for failing to
comply with section
5321.20 of the Revised Code;
(3) Include a notice that if the property that is the subject
of the foreclosure action is residential rental property the owner
of the property must indicate that fact in the owner's answer to
the complaint;
(4) Include a statement that the owner of the residential
rental property must include the names and addresses of the
tenants of the residential rental property in the owner's answer
to the complaint.
(B) When the owner of residential rental property files an
answer with the clerk of the court of common pleas to a complaint
to initiate a foreclosure action on the owner's residential rental
property, the owner shall
indicate in the
answer that the
property that is the subject of
the foreclosure
action is
residential rental property and shall
provide the names and
addresses of the tenants of the residential
rental property.
Sec. 5321.20. (A) A landlord who is the owner of a
residential rental property
that is the subject of a foreclosure
action shall do all of the
following:
(1) Within sixty days after receiving a summons that
contains a notice of foreclosure, provide written notice of that
foreclosure to any tenant of the property and include in the
written notice a statement that the tenant may contact the Ohio
foreclosure prevention web site at savethedream.ohio.gov or at the
toll-free telephone number 1-888-404-4674 to obtain a copy
of the
publication on foreclosure
prepared by the director of the
department of commerce pursuant
to section 121.08 of the Revised
Code;
(2) After providing the written notice described in division
(A)(1) of this section to any tenant of the property and within
sixty days after receiving a summons that contains a notice of
foreclosure, file an affidavit with the clerk of the court of
common pleas certifying
that the landlord provided the written
notice described in
division (A)(1) of this section to every
tenant of the property;
(3) Include a notice of the foreclosure in any written rental
agreement the landlord enters into after receiving the summons
with a notice of the foreclosure action;
(4) Provide a written notice of foreclosure to a tenant at
the time of any oral rental agreement the landlord enters into
after the landlord has received a summons with a notice of
foreclosure;
(5) Provide each tenant at the property with written notice
of the date, time, and place of the scheduled sale of the
foreclosed property at least twenty-one days before the date of
the sale at auction;
(6) After providing each tenant at the property with
written
notice of the date, time, and place of the
scheduled sale of the
foreclosed property, file an
affidavit with the clerk of the
court of common pleas
certifying that the
landlord provided each
tenant at the property
with that
written notice.
(7) Not more than seven days after the confirmation of the
sale of the
property subject to the foreclosure action if the
"Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act of 2009," Pub. L. No.
111-22 (2009) has been repealed or has expired, provides
the
names of the tenants at the property
who were not current on
their rental payments under the rental
agreement as of the date
of the confirmation of sale to the successor in interest.
(B) Any written notice the landlord provides pursuant to this
section shall include a statement in substantially the following
form:
"This property is undergoing foreclosure. The case number for
this foreclosure action is ............... (case number). For more
information on this action, you should contact the ..........
(your
county) County Court of Common Pleas,
..........
(address), at .......... (phone number) or ................ (web
site).
A sale at auction could occur as a result of this
foreclosure. Currently, [the sale of this property has been set
for
.......... (time, date, and place)] or [no date for sale of
this
property has been established]. Ohio law requires that I
provide you with written
notice of
the sale at least twenty-one
days before it takes
place.
If there is a sale of this property at auction, your
current
rental agreement will be subject to the "Protecting Tenants at
Foreclosure Act of 2009," Pub. L. No. 111-22 (2009). If the
"Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act of 2009" has expired or
been repealed on or before the date of the confirmation of sale
and if you are current on your rental payments under the rental
agreement on the date of the confirmation of sale, your current
rental agreement
will convert to a month-to-month rental agreement
upon the sale
of the property unless you and the successor in
interest mutually
agree to a different termination date for the
rental agreement.
Note: With a month-to-month rental agreement, either the
tenant or the landlord may terminate the agreement by providing
written notice of termination to the other at least thirty days
prior to a date on which the rent payment normally is due. The
rental agreement then terminates on that rent payment date."
(C) If the landlord does not file as required by division
(A)(2) of this section the affidavit with
the
clerk of the court
of common pleas certifying that the landlord provided
written
notice of the foreclosure action to the tenants,
the clerk shall,
within seven days after the
expiration of the
sixty-day
requirement that the landlord
provide written notice
of the
foreclosure action to the
tenants, send the written notice
described in division (B)
of section 5321.20 of the Revised Code
to the tenants of
the property.
(D) If the landlord does not file as required by division
(A)(6) of this section the
affidavit with the clerk of the court
of
common pleas certifying that the landlord provided written
notice
of the date, time, and place of the scheduled sale of the
foreclosed property to the tenants at least
twenty-one days
before the date of the
sale at auction, the clerk
of the court
of common pleas shall, no later than fourteen days before
the
date of the sale at auction, notify the landlord of the
landlord's
requirement to provide each tenant at the property
with
written
notice of the date, time, and place of the
scheduled sale of the
foreclosed property and to provide
the
clerk with an
affidavit certifying that the
landlord provided
that written
notice.
Sec. 5321.21. Any rental agreement for a residential rental
property that is the subject of a foreclosure action is subject to
the "Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act of 2009," Pub. L. No.
111-22 (2009). Upon the repeal or expiration of the "Protecting
Tenants at Foreclosure Act of 2009," any rental agreement for a
residential rental property that is the subject of a foreclosure
action shall convert
to a month-to-month rental agreement upon a
court's approval of a
sale at auction pursuant to section 2329.31
of the Revised Code if
the tenant under the rental agreement is
current on the tenant's
rental payments under the rental
agreement on the date of the
confirmation of sale
unless the
successor in interest and the
tenant mutually agree to
a
different termination date for the
rental agreement. The initial
successor in interest in the
property shall be subject to the
month-to-month rental agreement
and shall be the landlord under
the month-to-month rental
agreement or the alternative rental
agreement mutually agreed to
by the successor in interest and the
tenant as provided in this
section. The successor in interest has
the right to enter the property subject to division (A)(8) of
section 5321.04 of the Revised Code.
Sec. 5321.22. Within seven days after the confirmation of the
sale of the property subject to the foreclosure action pursuant to
section 2329.21 of the Revised Code, the owner of the property
subject to the foreclosure action shall forward to the successor
in interest all security deposits held by the owner of the
property on behalf of the tenants of the property. The successor
in interest shall return any deposit to a tenant when the rental
agreement ends in the same manner that this chapter provides for
tenancies that end pursuant to the terms of the rental agreement,
except that the successor in interest shall be obligated to return
a security deposit only to the extent that the security deposit
was forwarded to the successor in interest from the owner of the
property as provided for in this section.
Sec. 5321.23. (A) A
tenant may recover reasonable attorney's
fees as well as the greater of actual damages or one month's
rent
and obtain injunctive relief to enforce the rental agreement,
or
both, if a landlord or a successor in interest violates
section
5321.20, 5321.21, or 5321.22 of the Revised
Code, fails
to
provide a written notice
that section 5321.20 of
the Revised
Code requires, or fails to
honor a rental agreement
established
under section 5321.21 of the
Revised Code.
(B) If the landlord fails to provide the tenants with the
written notice required under section 5321.20 of the Revised Code
and fails to file an affidavit with the clerk of the court of
common pleas certifying
that the landlord provided the tenants
with that written notice,
the court may impose upon the landlord
a civil penalty that equals
the cost that the clerk incurs for
sending out the
written notice in accordance with division (C) of
section 5321.20
of the Revised Code plus one hundred dollars per
rental unit, not
to exceed one thousand dollars. The clerk shall
pay
each collected civil penalty to the county treasurer for
deposit
in the county treasury.
Sec. 5321.24. The rights and remedies provided for in
sections 5321.20, 5321.21, 5321.22, and 5321.23 of the
Revised
Code are in addition to and do not preempt any other
rights that
a tenant may be entitled to under any other provision
of the
Revised Code. Upon the repeal or expiration of the "Protecting
Tenants at Foreclosure Act of 2009," Pub. L. No. 111-22 (2009),
nothing in this section shall prevent a successor in
interest
from providing a thirty-day notice to terminate a
month-to-month
rental agreement created under section 5321.21 of
the Revised
Code on the first day that a rental payment is due
following the
confirmation of sale.
Section 2. That existing section 2329.26 of the Revised Code
is hereby repealed.
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