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(a) This Section applies only to residential premises that are located in a multifamily structure or a multifamily development.
(b) Definitions.
(1) “Multifamily structure” means a structure that contains thirty (30) or more dwelling units.
(2) “Multifamily development” means a tract of land or contiguous tracts of land on which there are thirty (30) or more dwelling units of the same landlord.
(3) “Multifamily structure or development” means a multifamily structure or a multifamily development.
(4) “Safety Director” means the Safety Director of the City of Cleveland or his or her designee.
(5) “Security audit” means the procedure in which:
A. The Safety Director shall conduct a full and thorough analysis of the common areas of a multifamily structure or development to determine whether the common areas have reasonable security measures against criminal activity;
B. In conducting this analysis, among other things, the Safety Director shall conduct a voluntary survey of the tenants of the multifamily structure or development without recording the names of the tenants;
C. In conducting this analysis, the Safety Director shall consider, among other things, the statement of reasons (if any) in the petition that requested the security audit, the responses (if any) to the Safety Director’s survey of the tenants, the number and type of service calls that the City of Cleveland Police Department has received concerning the multifamily structure or development, and the Safety Director’s inspection of the common areas of the multifamily structure or development;
D. Based on this analysis, the Safety Director shall determine and specify the additional security measures, if any, that the landlord shall be obligated to implement in the common areas of the multifamily structure or development to provide the common areas with reasonable security measures against criminal activity;
E. For each of these specified additional security measures, the Safety Director shall determine and specify a reasonable time period within which the landlord shall implement it;
F. These specified additional security measures may include, among other things, cameras, lighting, locks for windows or doors, renovation of windows, doors, or entrance areas, crime reporting procedures, and/or onsite security personnel for specified hours; and
G. The Safety Director shall prepare a written report that includes all of the Safety Director’s findings, determinations, and specifications in the security audit.
(c) The tenants of a multifamily structure or development may file a petition with the Safety Director that requests a security audit of the multifamily structure or development in which they reside.
(1) The Safety Director shall prepare, and distribute to tenants at no charge, a form that tenants may use, but are not required to use, for the petition.
(2) In the petition, the tenants shall sign their names, state their addresses, and state their request for a security audit of the multifamily structure or development in which they reside.
(3) In the petition, the tenants shall identify the name and address of at least one (1) tenant, and may identify the name and address of up to five (5) tenants, who shall receive service of any documents that, under this section, the Safety Director is required to serve on the tenants.
(4) In the petition, the tenants may state with specificity, but are not required to state with specificity, their reasons for requesting a security audit.
(5) The petition shall be signed only by tenants of the multifamily structure or development and only by one (1) tenant per dwelling unit of the multifamily structure or development. The number of such tenants who sign the petition must equal at least ten percent (10%) of the total number of dwelling units in the multifamily structure or development.
(6) The tenants shall file the petition with the office of the Safety Director. At the time of the filing, the office of the Safety Director shall time and date stamp the original petition and the tenant’s copy of the petition.
(7) Within three (3) days after the filing of the petition, the tenants shall serve the landlord of the multifamily structure or development with a copy of the petition by delivering or mailing it to the address of the landlord or to the place where their rent is normally paid.
(d) Within ten (10) days after receiving service of the petition, the landlord shall provide the office of the Safety Director with a written statement of the landlord’s name and address, for the purpose of receiving documents that, under this section, the Safety Director is required to serve on the landlord. If the landlord fails to provide the office of the Safety Director with that information in a timely manner, the Safety Director shall make reasonable efforts to identify an appropriate name and address for the landlord and, based on those efforts, shall determine the name and address to be used for such service.
(e) Within ten (10) days after the filing of the petition with the office of the Safety Director, the Safety Director shall make an initial assessment, in writing, as to whether a security audit of the multifamily structure or development is appropriate and shall serve the tenants and the landlord with a copy of the initial assessment.
(1) In the initial assessment, the Safety Director shall find that a security audit of the multifamily structure or development is appropriate if the requirements in this section for filing a petition are met and one (1) or more of the following criteria are met: (i) during the thirty (30) day period preceding the filing of the petition, the City of Cleveland Police Department has received fifteen (15) or more service calls concerning the multifamily structure or development; (ii) within ten (10) days after the filing of the petition, the City of Cleveland Councilmember of the ward in which the multifamily structure or development is located advises the Safety Director, in writing, that a security audit of the multifamily structure or development is appropriate; or (iii) there is any other reasonable basis for concluding that, if a security audit is conducted, there is a reasonable possibility that the Safety Director will specify additional security measures that the landlord will be obligated to implement in the common areas of the multifamily structure or development.
(2) In determining whether any such reasonable basis exists, the Safety Director shall consider, among other things, the statement of reasons (if any) in the petition that requested the security audit, the number and type of service calls that the City of Cleveland Police Department has received concerning the multifamily structure or development, and the Safety Director’s preliminary inspection of the common areas of the multifamily structure or development.
(3) The Safety Director shall serve the tenants and the landlord with a copy of the initial assessment by delivering or mailing it to their respective addresses.
(f) If the Safety Director determines in an initial assessment that a security audit of the multifamily structure or development is not appropriate, the Safety Director shall not conduct a security audit of the multifamily structure or development.
(g) If the Safety Director determines in an initial assessment that a security audit of the multifamily structure or development is appropriate, within thirty (30) days after the Safety Director serves the tenants and the landlord with the initial assessment, the Safety Director shall complete the security audit and shall serve the tenants and the landlord with a copy of the written report of the security audit. The Safety Director shall serve the tenants and the landlord with a copy of the written report of the security audit by delivering or mailing it to their respective addresses.
(h) If the Safety Director determines in a security audit that the landlord is obligated to implement additional security measures in the common areas of the multifamily structure or development, the landlord is obligated to implement those security measures within the reasonable time period(s) specified in the security audit.
(i) The landlord’s obligation under this section and the security audit to implement the security measures specified in the security audit, within the reasonable time period(s) specified in the security audit, is an implied term of any rental agreement for any dwelling unit in the multifamily structure or development. If the landlord breaches that implied term of a rental agreement, it constitutes a breach of an obligation imposed upon the landlord by the rental agreement, for the purposes of RC 5321.07(A).
(j) The tenants of a multifamily structure or development may not file a petition pursuant to this section if, relative to the same multifamily structure or development, a petition has been filed and served properly pursuant to this section within the preceding twelve (12) months.
(k) If the landlord requests the Safety Director to inspect the multifamily structure or development to determine whether the landlord has implemented the landlord’s obligations under the security audit, within thirty (30) days of the request, the Safety Director shall make that determination, in writing, and shall serve the tenants and the landlord with a copy of that determination. The Safety Director shall serve the tenants and the landlord with a copy of that determination by delivering or mailing it to their respective addresses.
(Ord. No. 1844-A-99. Passed 7-18-01, eff. 7-26-01)
(a) For the purposes of this section, “abandonment” means the tenant has vacated the dwelling unit without notice to the landlord and does not intend to return, which intention may be evidenced by the combination of the tenant’s removal of substantially all of the tenant’s possessions and personal effects from the dwelling unit plus one (1) of the following: (i) nonpayment of rent for at least two (2) months, (ii) termination of the utilities to the dwelling unit at the request of the tenant, or (iii) an express statement by the tenant to the landlord that the tenant does not intend to occupy the dwelling unit after a specified date.
(b) If the tenant abandons the dwelling unit, the landlord may send notice to the tenant at the tenant’s last-known address both by regular mail, postage prepaid, and by certified mail, return receipt requested, stating that (i) the landlord has reason to believe that the tenant has abandoned the dwelling unit, (ii) the landlord intends to reenter and take possession of the dwelling unit unless the tenant contacts the landlord within ten (10) days of receipt of the notice, (iii) if the tenant does not timely contact the landlord, the landlord intends to remove any possessions and personal effects remaining in the dwelling unit and to re-rent the premises, and (iv) if the tenant does not reclaim such possessions and personal effects within thirty (30) days after the notice, the landlord will dispose of them as permitted by this section. The notice shall be in clear and simple language and shall include a telephone number and a mailing address at which the landlord can be contacted. If the notice is returned as undeliverable, or the tenant fails to contact the landlord within ten (10) days of the receipt of the notice, the landlord may reenter and take possession of the dwelling unit, at which time any rental agreement or lease still in effect shall be deemed to be terminated.
(c) The landlord shall not be required to serve a notice to vacate as provided in RC 1923.04 or to bring a forcibly entry and detainer action as provided in RC Chapter 1923 to obtain possession or occupancy of a dwelling unit that, according to the provisions of this section, the tenant has abandoned. Nothing in this section shall relieve a landlord from complying with the provisions of RC Chapters 1923 and 5321, if the landlord knows, or reasonably should know, that the tenant has not abandoned the dwelling unit.
(d) The landlord shall inventory any possessions and personal effects of the tenant that are in the dwelling unit and shall remove and keep them for not less than thirty (30) days. The tenant may reclaim such possessions and personal effects from the landlord within that thirty (30) day period. If the tenant does not reclaim such possessions and personal effects by the end of that thirty (30) day period, the landlord may dispose of them as the landlord deems appropriate.
(e) No action shall be brought under RC 5321.15 against a landlord who takes action in compliance with the provisions of this section.
(Ord. No. 1844-A-99. Passed 7-18-01, eff. 7-26-01)
If any provision or clause of this chapter or its application to any person or in any circumstances is held invalid, such invalidity shall not affect other provisions or applications of this chapter that can be given effect without the invalid provision or application, and to this end the provisions of this chapter shall be severable.
(Ord. No. 1844-A-99. Passed 7-18-01, eff. 7-26-01)
(a) Definitions.
(1) "Brief legal assistance" means individualized legal assistance provided in a single consultation by a designated organization to a covered individual in connection with a covered proceeding.
(2) "Covered individual" means any person who occupies a dwelling, with at least one (1) child in the City under a claim of legal right other than the owner, whose annual gross income is not in excess of one-hundred percent (100%) of the federal poverty guidelines as established and updated periodically by the United States Department of Health and Human Services (42 U.S.C. 9902(2)).
(3) "Covered proceeding" means any proceeding in Cleveland Municipal Court, Housing Division ("Housing Court") to evict, eject, or terminate the tenancy of a covered individual.
(4) "Lead partner organization" means an organization or entity that has the capacity to establish and implement a program to provide access to legal services for covered individuals in covered proceedings in Housing Court and that has entered into contract with the City for such program.
(5) "Designated organization" means a not-for-profit organization or an entity to be determined, that has the capacity to provide legal services per the standards set by the American Bar Association Standards for the Provision of Civil Legal Aid (ABA standards) to income-eligible individuals facing eviction.
(6) "Full legal representation" means ongoing legal representation provided by any designated organization to a covered individual who is income-eligible, and all legal advice, advocacy, and assistance associated with such representation. Such representation includes, but is not limited to, the filing of a notice of appearance on behalf of the covered individual in a covered proceeding.
(7) "Legal services" means any legal representation provided to a covered individual, including brief legal assistance and full legal representation.
(b) Legal Representation in Housing Court.
(1) Covered individuals receive access to legal services from designated organizations under contract with the lead partner organization. The designated organizations shall provide legal services in a covered proceeding, as soon as possible after the initiation of the proceeding, and no later than at the time of the individual's first scheduled appearance in a covered proceeding. Designated organizations must seek to provide high quality, full legal representation in accordance with ABA standards, unless the individual is ineligible, there is a conflict of interest, or other circumstances make full legal representation infeasible to render.
(2) The access to legal services described in subdivision (1) above is contingent upon additional legislative authority authorizing and appropriating the funds for a contract between the City and the lead partner organization and is subject to any terms and conditions contained in such agreement.
(3) Provision of legal services for covered individuals from designated organizations in a covered proceeding shall be administered by the lead partner organization.
(4) Designated organizations shall work with the lead partner organization and community partners to engage and educate tenants of their rights and available resources.
(5) Designated organizations shall be contractually obligated by the lead partner organization to meet and report on pre-determined performance metrics, report those metrics to the lead partner organization on a quarterly basis, and adhere to quality assurance standards set by the lead partner organization based upon ABA standards; all components must be satisfied in order to receive an on-going contract to provide legal representation in Housing Court under this section.
(6) Any legal services performed by a designated organization under this section shall not supplant, replace, or satisfy any obligations or responsibilities of that designated organization under any other program agreement or contract.
(7) On January 31 of each year, beginning in 2021, the lead partner organization shall submit a written report to the Council, detailing the number of covered individuals served, the extent of legal services performed, metrics evaluating outcomes, projected budgeting needs for full representation to all covered individuals, and a summary of the engagement and education of tenants.
(c) Nothing in this section, or the administration or application of this section, shall be construed to create a private right of action on the part of any person or entity against the City or any agency, official, or employee of the City.
(Ord. No. 1001-2019. Passed 9-30-19, eff. 6-30-20)