Court rules that certain landlords must give tenants 30 days notice for eviction

An appellate court has ruled that landlords with rental properties tied to the federal government through mortgages, rent subsidies or other ways must give tenants at least 30 days notice to evict them for not paying rent.

The Legal Aid Society of Columbus had filed suit against Olentangy Commons Owner LLC, which owns the Commons at Olentangy apartments on the Northwest Side on behalf of a client who was given a three-day eviction notice after she didn't pay a month's rent.

Legal Aid lawyers argued that provisions of the pandemic-era CARES Act required her landlord to give a longer notice.

"We anticipate seeing this as something that might affect a lot of cases, with a broad impact on a lot of evictions," said Madison Hill, a Legal Aid lawyer.

"Non-payment of rent is the number one reason we are seeing for evictions," she said. The decision will give many renters more time to find rental assistance, or move to other homes, she said.

The Legal Aid Society said the ruling has implications for landlords with federally backed mortgages and tenants with Section 8 vouchers and those in rental properties connected to a federal subsidy.

The Tenth District Court of Appeals on Tuesday ruled that while the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES) Act provided a 120-day moratorium on evictions that expired on July 24, 2020, the expiration didn't apply to notices as the Olentangy Commons lawyers argued.

"Unlike the moratorium provision, the notice provision does not include an expiration date," the court said.

More: Help available for tenants facing eviction during pandemic if they know where to look

The case involves Erin Fawley, a 42-year-old mother of an 11-year-old daughter who didn't make a rent payment for March 2022.

According to the court ruling, the owners of the Commons at Olentangy apartments, at 1026 Deacon Circle west of Olentangy River Road, between Bethel and Henderson roads, gave Fawley a three-day "notice to leave the premises," on March 7, 2022. Fawley did not leave.

On March 21, 2022, Olentangy Commons Owner LLC filed a forcible entry and detainer action against Fawley in the Franklin County Municipal Court. A month later, Fawley moved to dismiss the entry, arguing that Olentangy Commons failed to provide her with a notice to vacate at least 30 days before filing for eviction, as required by the CARES Act.

A magistrate ruled in Olentangy Commons' favor, writing that the CARES Act only requires that 30 days elapse before a tenant is set out as opposed to requiring a 30-day notice to vacate. The trial court adopted that decision on May 2, 2022. The appellate court reversed that decision.

Fawley said she lived at the Commons at Olentangy for more than two years, is disabled through an autoimmune disorder and also has long COVID. She went to IMPACT Community Action for rental assistance. She said she knew from her experiences at IMPACT that other renters were going through similar situations.

"I know that so many people are going to be able to work out deals with landlords, given additional time to move out and not lose things, keep people out of homeless shelters," said Fawley, who said she and her daughter now live with the parents of a friend on the Northwest Side. "If this didn’t pass all of this would have been in jeopardy."

"It gives people like me the ability to move forward without negative marks on their record," she said.

The Dispatch emailed and left a voicemail message with Dimitri Hatzifotinos, a lawyer for the ownership group, for comment.

Hill said the decision affects those living in the Tenth District court's jurisdiction, which includes just Franklin County.

Meanwhile, the number of evictions in Franklin County continues to rise following the end of COVID moratoriums.

According to the Franklin County Municipal Court Clerk's office, 20,409 evictions were filed in Franklin County from January through October this year, up from 17,583 during the same time period in 2022, and higher then the 15,352 in all of 2021 and 12,206 in all of 2020, with the latter two years including time when eviction moratoriums were in place because of the pandemic.

mferench@dispatch.com

@MarkFerenchik

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Court rules against Columbus landlord who gave 3-day eviction notice