Free Ohio Room Rental Agreement Template

An Ohio room rental agreement is the written contract for renting one bedroom in a shared home. Deposits are governed by section 5321.16 of the Ohio Revised Code.

Ohio puts an unusual amount of weight on one small step by the tenant, and getting it wrong costs the tenant the remedies rather than the deposit.

The statute makes it a tenant duty. The tenant shall provide the landlord in writing with a forwarding address or new address to which the written notice and the amount due from the landlord may be sent.

The consequence is specific. If the tenant fails to provide that forwarding or new address, the tenant is not entitled to damages or attorney’s fees under the section’s remedy provision. The underlying deposit is still owed, but the extra leverage is gone.

Where the tenant does give the address and the landlord then fails to comply, the tenant may recover the property and money due, together with damages equal to the amount wrongfully withheld, and reasonable attorney’s fees.

In a shared house this is easy to skip. Someone moving between rooms or moving in with friends often never writes the new address down at all. A line in the agreement saying where and how to send it costs nothing and preserves the remedy.

The rest of an Ohio room rental agreement is a short set of duties on the landlord.

Thirty Days, With an Itemized Notice

Any deduction from the deposit must be itemized and identified by the landlord in a written notice delivered to the tenant together with the amount due, within thirty days after termination of the rental agreement and delivery of possession.

What the Deposit Covers

On termination, money held as a deposit may be applied to past due rent and to the damages the landlord has suffered by reason of the tenant’s noncompliance with the statutory tenant obligations or with the rental agreement.

Interest on the Larger Part of a Deposit

Any deposit in excess of fifty dollars or one month’s periodic rent, whichever is greater, bears interest on the excess at five per cent a year, if the tenant remains in possession for six months or more. That interest is computed and paid annually by the landlord to the tenant.

Tip: Read that interest rule carefully, because it applies only to the portion above the threshold, not to the whole deposit. For a modest room deposit it will often produce nothing at all. Figures are statutory and can change, so confirm the current text before relying on one.

For an Ohio room rental agreement, the clauses worth adding are:

• Where and how the tenant sends a written forwarding address at move-out
• The deposit amount and the date it was paid
• What condition the room and shared areas should be left in
• Which areas are shared, and the rules for using them
• How utilities are divided between housemates