Zanesville, OH asked in Landlord - Tenant for Ohio

Q: The landlord owes us our security deposit and the 5% interest. What amount should we ask for in small claims?

It’s been almost 2 months since we moved out. We haven’t received anything regarding our deposit and didn’t know about the 5% interest we could get annually. We haven’t received anything saying there were repairs needed either. We paid twice our first months rent as a deposit. We lived there for over 2 years. He refused to do a final walkthrough with us. He had us leave the keys in his office mailbox. I included a forwarding address with them. He hasn’t responded to any messages. We plan on taking him to small claims court. What amount should we be asking for? We didn’t take any pics when we moved in and the only thing he could possibly say we owed for would be patching and painting rooms that needed it when we moved in.

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1 Lawyer Answer
Joseph Jaap
Joseph Jaap
Answered
  • Landlord Tenant Lawyer
  • Cincinnati, OH
  • Licensed in Ohio

A: You can sue for 2x the amount of the security deposit, plus interest, plus your attorney fees. See http://codes.ohio.gov/orc/5321.16v1

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