Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in Ohio

In Ohio, the relationship between landlords and tenants is governed by the Ohio Landlord Tenant Act of 1974 and can be found at Ohio Revised Code Section 5321. R.C. 5321 is broken down into about 18 or 19 subsections, but the one that is important to your issue is the 16th subsection, R.C. 5321.16.

That sections states that a landlord who has notice of the tenant's forwarding address must return the security deposit to the tenant within 30 days of the tenant vacating the premises or at least return an itemization of charges showing the tenant why he or she is not getting the deposit back.

If the tenant can show the court that any portion of the security deposit has been wrongfully withheld by the landlord, then the tenant is entitled to double damages and a hearing on reasonable attorneys fees.

The landlord can only charge you for damages in excess of normal wear and tear. Certainly a bleach stain on carpet is more than normal wear and tear, but there are other considerations. How old was the carpet when you moved in? How long did you live there? Did the entire carpet throughout the home have to be replaced or could it have been patched or merely replaced in the room where the washer and dryer sat? Even if all of the carpet had to be replaced, it needs to be pro-rated to reflect how much remaining useful life it had in the property.

The same is true of the refrigerator. Even if the landlord could not get another glass shelf, the cost of a new refrigerator needs to be pro-rated from the life of the old one.

For a more detailed look at your rights with regard to your security deposit, take a look at http://www.ohiolandlordtenant.com/faqsecdep.html