(a) No owner, landlord, or vendor of a premise that is the subject to a foreclosure action and plaintiff of the foreclosure action shall fail to provide disclosure, in writing, to all tenants and vendees of the premises that a foreclosure action has been filed against the owner or landlord within the seven (7) days of being served notice of a foreclosure action and in the manner prescribed in Section 1769.01.
(b) No owner, landlord or vendor of a premise that is the subject to the sheriff sale and plaintiff in a foreclosure action shall fail to provide disclosure, in writing, to all tenants and vendees of the premises that a sheriff sale has been scheduled no later than seven days prior to a sheriff sale of subject property and in the manner prescribed in Section 1769.02.
(c) No new owner, landlord or vendor of a premise for which a sheriff sale has been filed shall fail to provide disclosure, in writing, to all tenants or vendees of the premises that a sheriff deed has been filed within the seven (7) days of the filing of the sheriff deed and in the manner prescribed in Section 1769.03.
(d) In addition to any other penalty and/or notice of liability provided for in Chapter 963, Chapter 1393, Chapter 1725, Chapter 1726 or Chapter 1763, the Director of Neighborhoods or his/her designee may issue a Notice for failure to comply with Section 1769.01 through Section 1769.03.
Said notice shall describe the location and nature of the violation, the time and date it was observed and the fine assessed to the owner. No notice of liability may be issued to an owner more than once during any seventy-two (72) hour period for the same violation at the same premises.
(1) The Notice of Liability provided for by this section shall be served upon the owner by certified United States mail return receipt requested or by personal service. In the event of failure of certified mail service on the basis that the return receipt is endorsed "unclaimed" or "refused", service shall be perfected by sending the notice to the address where certified mail was attempted by United States First Class postage.
(2) The following rebuttable presumption shall apply to violations of this section.
A. The owner of the premises whose name is listed in the records of the Lucas County Auditor is presumed, for purposes of this section, to be the owner of said premises.
(3) Any owner charged with a Notice of Liability may appeal said notice as provided by Section 1726.04. The failure to file an appeal shall constitute a waiver of the right to contest the Notice and shall constitute an admission of the Notice of Liability.
(e) Any owner, landlord vendor of the residential property who fails to comply with Section 1769.01, Section 1769.02 or Section 1769.03, shall be fined two hundred fifty dollars ($250.00). A second violation by the same owner of the subject property of either Section 1769.01, Section 1769.02 or Section 1769.03 within two years by an owner shall result in a fine of five hundred dollars ($500.00). A third and any subsequent violation by the same owner of the subject property of either Section 1769.01, Section 1769.02 or Section 1769.03 within two years shall result in a fine of one thousand dollars ($1,000.00).
(f) Payment of any fine authorized under this code section may be enforced by means of a civil action or any other method provided for by the Ohio Revised Code or the Toledo Municipal Code.
(Ord. 243-09. Passed 5-12-09.)