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A family member moved into a house I own and agreed to pay $300.00 a month for rent. Verbal agreement. Only paid 3 times. That was 3 years ago. Help.

HomeLandlord and Tenant LawA family member moved into a house I own and agreed to pay $300.00 a month for rent. Verbal agreement. Only paid 3 times. That was 3 years ago. Help.

A family member moved into a house I own and agreed to pay $300.00 a month for rent. Verbal agreement. Only paid 3 times. That was 3 years ago. Help.

June 24, 2013
By Lafferty Gallagher Scott

Technically, you have a verbal lease providing for a month-to-month tenancy. Failure to pay rent is a default under the lease, meaning that you could evict them for breach of the lease. However, you have let this get way out of hand by letting them stay there for 3 years without paying anything. My opinion, a court would treat this as a waiver of the obligation to pay rent.

In that case, I think the best thing for you to do is serve them with a 30 day notice to vacate the premises. A 30 day notice states that you have decided to end the lease agreement with them, and that they have a full 30 days from the beginning of the next rental period to vacate the premises and find another living arrangement. If they fail to vacate by the end of the next month, then you could then file a forcible entry and detainer (FED- eviction) action to have them evicted from the house.
But, it should be noted that they are entitled to stay in the premises for a full month before they have to be out. The 30 day period does not begin to run until the 1st day of the month after they are served. This means that if you serve them on June 24th, the 30 day period starts to run on July 1st, and they have until the end of July to vacate. If they dont vacate by the end of July, then you can file an eviction action without further notice to them.
You should be able to find a sample Ohio 30 day notice to vacate online. There is specific language that should be put in it, so make sure you look it up. And it must be in writing and signed by the landlord. You also need to document when, where, and how you served the letter upon them (you can serve it personally, by certified mail with return receipt, or by posting it to their door).
Best of luck.

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