[pamellasueletta]

I was renting a property from a landlord in columbus Ohio. I have been there for 2 and 1/2 years. He snet me an email telling me he was going to take me to small claims court for my water bill which I said I would pay. And he said that the carpet needs replaced and he wants me to pay him back for this. He says that it was damaged which I did take pictures of the whole place when I moved. The carpet was stained a little. I painted the whoel house for him and I steamed cleaned as well. I hsoudl have never painted the whole house. Anyway he is now saying he is taking me to small claims court, but when I moved in we had a signed contract that I was only repsonsible for the first $500 in any repairs. Well I had to have new furnace put in, and I had to have the lanscaping re done due to rot, and a new driveway put in, and a tree cut down. This contract was because ei had an option to buy the home. And I changed my mind which he tried to bully me and tell me I was repsonsible for the rent and I told him I gave him 30 days notice as my contract said I could. Does he have to replace the carpet due to nromal wear and tear or do I have to pay for it? I put $3500 down when I moved ina dn $200 every month towards credit that I walked away form after 2 and half years from buying the home. So can he use this money towards the carpet or do I have to pay for it? Am I responsible for the carpet? Even though when we get down to it he owes me money back on all the major repairs I had to do to this home, after the first $500 the furnace was expensive and so was the driveway. He keeps talking about his attorney partner. Do I need an attourney or should I email him back and tell him he owes me money and I will see him in court if he files against me?

[landlord advocate]

A lease option is a legal agreement that allows a person (s) to purchase a specific property at a specific time some time in the future, for a specific price. The tenant customarily gives the owner a non-refundable amount to purchase this option. As part of the agreement the landlord may also accept a monthly amount (over and above the monthly rent) which is put towards the downpayment when the property is purchased by the tenant. If the tenant does not purchase (exercise the option) the home on or before the date decided upon, the landlord keeps the extra monthly payment. The tenant leaves the property and the landlord again attempts to rent or sell the property.

At the same time the tenant signs the option to purchase, he also signs a rental agreement. The tenant moves into the property as any tenant would do. He pays rent on time and works towards improving his credit and finding a mortgage company that will finance the purchase of the home. During this period, he has no claim to the house. He is a tenant, with tenant responsibilities. He does not have owner responsibilities. He is not responsible to pay for replacing a furnace, putting in a driveway or painting the walls. He is a tenant.

Until that option is exercised, the holder is a tenant and nothing more. The tenant has the normal responsibilities towards the property and the landlord/owner has certain responsibilities. The landlord can not assign his responsibilities to the tenant! The tenant should not be paying for the replacement of a furnace, putting in a driveway or planting a lawn or painting the interior.

Each legal agreement (the lease option and the rental agreement) is separate from the other. We do this so that if we have to evict a tenant for non-payment we can do it without problems. We do, however, add a caveat stating that if the rent is not paid on time and the tenant is evicted, the option becomes null and void. (Obviously this is done to keep the tenant from coming back before the option period is up and attempting to purchase the house when we have already signed an option with someone else.)

Water Bill: In the state of Ohio, the name on the bill is the person held accountable to pay it. If the water is still in the landlord's name, the court will hold the landlord responsible to pay the water bill.

Carpeting: The tenant can be held responsible for any damage done by them that is over and above normal wear. If the tenant has pictures from the walk through done before the move-in that's great. The landlord will have to have pictures taken after the tenant leaves. He will also have to have original receipts from the purchase of the carpet before the tenant moved in and a written estimate of what the replacement will be. He will also be asked what he has done to clean or repair the carpet. He'll need receipts for that also. This tenant has been there for 2 1/2 years. The carpet already had stains, so it was not new. So at the very least the carpeting was 3 1/2 years old. The average life of rental carpeting is 5 years. The tenant may be charged something for the replacement but I highly doubt it.

Landlord using the money the tenant already gave him: One agreement has nothing to do with the other agreement. Unless you are talking about an additional security deposit which you failed to mention, there is no extra money.

I have a hard time believing that this landlord had the help of an attorney to write his lease option. If I were the tenant, I wouldn't be giving him any money until he had proven in court that it is owed. If the tenant lease and the lease option are all written into one agreement and the landlord is expecting you to pay towards a furnace, lawn, painting rooms and increasing the value of the property then he is making up his own laws as he goes along.





TOTALLY NEW SLANT TO THIS:
When a tenant starts putting in furnaces and driveways and lawns they are gathering receipts. If and when they gather approximately 25% of the value of the property----the landlord is on thin ice. Reason: If the tenant can prove that he has increased the value of the house by 25%, he could claim that the contract was really a land contract and not a lease option. If this can be proven, the tenant now has a stake in the house and could be considered a partial owner.