Cleveland Evictions: Lead Safe Update
Trying to Evict a Tenant in Cleveland? Your Property No Longer Needs to be Lead Safe.
Ohio Court invalidated the Cleveland Municipal Housing Court’s Local Rule that required all landlords to provide proof that their lead safe was before filing an eviction against a tenant.
In 2019 the City of Cleveland passed a law requiring that (1) rental properties must be registered with the City of Cleveland and (2) all rental properties built after 1978 are required to be deemed lead safe by the Cleveland Department of Building and Housing. This requirement is in the process of being rolled out on a zip code by zip code basis.
The Cleveland Municipal Court made a local rule that required landlords to include evidence from the Department of Building and Housing that the property had been certified lead safe. If this evidence was not presented, then the Court would not grant an eviction against the tenant.
A local apartment complex challenged the requirement from the Cleveland Municipal Court that landlords present evidence of lead safe certification prior to the filing and granting of an eviction. The Eighth District Court of Appeals, the court above the Cleveland Municipal Housing Court, agreed with the landlords. The Eighth District decided that the Cleveland Court’s local rule requiring evidence of lead safe certification created conditions that were above and beyond what Ohio law requires.
Unless the Ohio Supreme Court rules differently, landlords will not be required to prove that a property is lead safe to evict a tenant. For more information and additional reasoning from the Eighth District, you can read Shaker House L.L.C. v. Daniel, 2022-Ohio-2778.
This decision only affects landlords ability to proceed with evictions without a lead safe certification. Landlords are still required to insure their properties are lead safe.