Terms Used In Ohio Code > Chapter 5321 - Landlords and Tenants

• Answer: The formal written statement by a defendant responding to a civil complaint and setting forth the grounds for defense.
• Bond: includes an undertaking. See Ohio Code 1.02
• Child: includes child by adoption. See Ohio Code 1.59
• Clerk of court: An officer appointed by the court to work with the chief judge in overseeing the court's administration, especially to assist in managing the flow of cases through the court and to maintain court records.
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
• Counterclaim: A claim that a defendant makes against a plaintiff.
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Deed: The legal instrument used to transfer title in real property from one person to another.
• Docket: A log containing brief entries of court proceedings.
• Dwelling unit: means a structure or the part of a structure that is used as a home, residence, or sleeping place by one person who maintains a household or by two or more persons who maintain a common household. See Ohio Code 5321.01
• Escrow: Money given to a third party to be held for payment until certain conditions are met.
• Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
• in writing: includes any representation of words, letters, symbols, or figures; this provision does not affect any law relating to signatures. See Ohio Code 1.59
• Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
• Landlord: means the owner, lessor, or sublessor of residential premises, the agent of the owner, lessor, or sublessor, or any person authorized by the owner, lessor, or sublessor to manage the premises or to receive rent from a tenant under a rental agreement. See Ohio Code 5321.01
• Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). ^{Source: OCC}
• Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
• Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
• Partnership: A voluntary contract between two or more persons to pool some or all of their assets into a business, with the agreement that there will be a proportional sharing of profits and losses.
• Person: includes an individual, corporation, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, and association. See Ohio Code 1.59
• Political subdivision: means a county, township, municipal corporation, or any other body corporate and politic that is responsible for government activities in a geographic area smaller than that of the state. See Ohio Code 5321.01
• Property: means real and personal property. See Ohio Code 1.59
• Remainder: An interest in property that takes effect in the future at a specified time or after the occurrence of some event, such as the death of a life tenant.
• Rent control: means requiring below-market rents for residential premises or controlling rental rates for residential premises in any manner, including by prohibiting rent increases, regulating rental rate changes between tenancies, limiting rental rate increases, regulating the rental rates of residential premises based on income or wealth of tenants, and other forms of restraint or limitation of rental rates. See Ohio Code 5321.01
• Rent stabilization: means allowing rent increases for residential premises of a fixed amount or on a fixed schedule as set by a political subdivision. See Ohio Code 5321.01
• Rental agreement: means any agreement or lease, written or oral, which establishes or modifies the terms, conditions, rules, amount of rent charged or paid, or any other provisions concerning the use and occupancy of residential premises by one of the parties. See Ohio Code 5321.01
• Residential premises: includes a dwelling unit that is owned or operated by a college or university. See Ohio Code 5321.01
• Rule: includes regulation. See Ohio Code 1.59
• Security deposit: means any deposit of money or property to secure performance by the tenant under a rental agreement. See Ohio Code 5321.01
• state: means the state of Ohio. See Ohio Code 1.59
• Student tenant: means a person who occupies a dwelling unit owned or operated by the college or university at which the person is a student, and who has a rental agreement that is contingent upon the person's status as a student. See Ohio Code 5321.01
• Tenant: means a person entitled under a rental agreement to the use and occupancy of residential premises to the exclusion of others. See Ohio Code 5321.01
• Tort: A civil wrong or breach of a duty to another person, as outlined by law. A very common tort is negligent operation of a motor vehicle that results in property damage and personal injury in an automobile accident.
• Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
• United States: includes all the states. See Ohio Code 1.59