Label
Retaliation Prohibited
Jones, Gadus
Title
Enacting Toledo Municipal Code Chapter 1766, Retaliation Prohibited
Body
SUMMARY & BACKGROUND:
[ENTER BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY HERE]
Summary
NOW THEREFORE Be it ordained by the Council of the City of Toledo:
SECTION 1. That a new Chapter 1766, “Retaliation Prohibited” is hereby enacted to read as follows:
1766.01 Intent, findings, and construction.
(a) Intent. The intention of this Chapter is to address health, safety, and general welfare concerns impacting Toledo residents caused by violations of federal, state, and local laws, including but not limited to, local housing and building codes.
(b) Health and safety of occupants. All requirements provided in this Chapter are found to materially affect health and safety for purposes of R.C. 5321.04(A)(1), R.C. 5321.07(A), R.C. 4781.38, and R.C. 4781.41.
(c) Construction. This chapter is remedial in nature and shall be liberally construed to accomplish its purpose of protecting tenants from retaliatory actions.
(d) Definitions. For purposes of this Chapter, all terms, unless specifically defined at Section 1766.02, have the same meaning as provided at R.C. 5321.01.
1766.02 Definitions
(a) "Protected activity" or "protected activities" means any action or statement related to advocacy by a tenant or tenant organization or representative of a tenant or tenant organization, to improve the health, safety, or welfare of a tenant, the terms of a rental agreement, or the amount or payment of rent including, but not limited to:
(1) Reporting or complaining of a violation or a suspected violation of a building, housing, health, fire, or safety code that is applicable to the premises of the residential rental property;
(2) Reporting or complaining to the landlord, landlord's agent or representative, or person in control of the residential rental property of any violation of R.C. 5321.04 or R.C. 4781.38 or the landlord’s obligations under the rental agreement, or any substantially similar successor statute or ordinance;
(3) Reporting or complaining to the media about terms or conditions at the rental property;
(4) Using or indicating an intent to use a right or remedy provided under R.C. 5321.07 or R.C. 4781.41 or any substantially similar successor statute;
(5) Communicating or joining with other tenants for the purpose of negotiating or dealing collectively with the landlord on any of the terms and conditions of a rental agreement;
(6) Establishing or operating an organization intended to advocate for tenants or engage in protected activity;
(7) Distributing, posting, or placing leaflets on doors of rental units, in lobby areas, or common areas;
(8) Conducting door-to-door surveys to determine interest from tenants in establishing a tenant organization or promoting tenant rights;
(9) Offering information about tenant organizations, tenant rights, or landlord obligations;
(10) Assisting tenants to participate in tenant organization activities;
(11) Convening meetings of tenants to discuss, advocate, or plan to respond to issues related to tenant health, safety, or welfare; criminal activity at the premises; enforcement action by a governmental entity regarding the premises; or violations of building, health, or fire safety laws or standards;
(12) Using or indicating an intent to use a right or remedy provided under the Fair Housing Amendments Act at 42 USCA § 3601 to § 3631, or Ohio Revised Code Chapter 4112; or
(13) Making any request to accommodate a disability or make modifications to a rental premises to improve accessibility for persons with disabilities.
(b) "Retaliate" means increasing the tenant's rent, decreasing services that are due to the tenant, or bringing or threatening to bring an action for possession of the tenant's premises, serving a notice to leave the premises, terminating the tenant's rental agreement or periodic tenancy, refusing to renew the tenant's rental agreement where the rental agreement is renewable, shutting off or interfering with access to utilities, refusing to accept rent payments, terminating or disrupting access to any online portal where tenants may make payments or request services, charging fees that are illegal or not include in the rental agreement, interfering with the tenant's lawful use of the premises, abusing the landlord’s right to access as provided at R.C. 5321.04(A)(7) and R.C. 4781.38(A)(5), refusing or failing to comply with requirements related to a housing choice voucher program, or any other action or threat intended to deter or punish a tenant or tenant organizer from engaging in a protected activity.
(c) "Tenant organization" means any group of people who establish a group at the invitation or request of tenants for the purpose of addressing issues related to the health, safety, and welfare of tenants; the terms and conditions of their tenancy; health, building, fire, and other safety code compliance; and crime around the premises.
(d) “Good cause” means (1) nonpayment of rent after the expiration of any grace period provided in the rental agreement; (2) serious or repeated violations of the rental agreement; (3) the tenant’s refusal to renew or extend the rental agreement; (4) documented intent of the landlord to recover possession of the unit for personal or family use; (5) documented intent of the landlord to convert or demolish the building or unit; (6) documented intent of the landlord to renovate the unit; (7) compliance with a government order to vacate, unless the landlord is obligated to provide alternate accommodations; (8) occupancy conditioned by a tenant’s employment on the property where the tenant’s employment has terminated; (9) the exceeding of unit occupancy standards by the tenant; (10) a violation of the tenant’s obligations set forth at R.C. 5321.05 or R.C. 4781.39 if the tenant has failed to cure such violations as provided at R.C. 5321.11 or R.C. 4781.45.
1766.03 Prohibitions on retaliation.
(a) Retaliation prohibited. No landlord, landlord's agent or representative, or person in control of the premises of a residential rental property shall retaliate or threaten to retaliate against a tenant or tenant organization because the tenant or tenant organizer engaged in a protected activity.
(b) Prima facie evidence of retaliation one year after a protected activity. Any action to retaliate or threat to retaliate as listed in Section 1766.02(b) within one year after any protected activity as listed in Section 1766.02(a) shall be deemed prima facie evidence of a violation of 1766.03(a). Such prima facie evidence may be rebutted with a showing of good cause.
(c) Nothing in subsection (a) of this section shall prohibit a landlord from:
(1) increasing the rent to reflect the cost of improvements installed at the residential rental property or to reflect a legitimate increase in other costs of operation of the residential rental property, or
(2) enforcing a tenant's obligations under R.C. 5321.05 or R.C. 4781.39, or any substantially similar successor statute or ordinance, where the landlord has not assumed responsibility for any of these obligations pursuant to R.C. 5321.13(F) or R.C. 4781.47(F).
(d) If a landlord acts in violation of 1766.03(a) of this section the tenant may:
(1) Pursue an action to enforce the requirements of this section, such as through an action pursuant to R.C. 5321 or R.C. 4781;
(2) Assert the retaliatory action of the landlord as a complete defense to an action by the landlord to recover possession of the premises, with evidence that the tenant engaged in the protected activity within one year of the date the landlord initiated the action, unless the landlord rebuts the prima facie evidence with a showing of good cause;
(3) Recover possession of the premises;
(4) Terminate the rental agreement pursuant to R.C. 5321.07(B)(3).
(e) Where a tenant or tenant organizer is successful in any action to enforce any provisions of this Chapter, the Court shall award reasonable attorneys' fees together with the greater of three times any actual damages or an amount equal to three times the periodic rent. Additionally, the Court may award non-economic damages in an amount calculated to reflect the harm caused to the tenant or tenant organizer. The Court shall consider, on the record, the following factors when calculating damages:
(1) The time the tenant or tenant organizer spent responding to the retaliatory action(s) including, but not limited to, time taken off from work;
(2) The psychological effect(s) the retaliatory action(s) had on the tenant or tenant organizer;
(3) The reduced value of the leasehold caused by the retaliatory action(s) including, but not limited to, the termination or interruption of utilities, disruption of access to any tenant portal or reporting system, reduction of services otherwise available to tenants, or any other violation of the Lease or City/State/federal law; and
(4) Any other damages that may be reasonably related to the harm caused by a retaliatory action.
1766.04 Severability
The provisions of this chapter are declared to be separate and severable. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section, subsection, or portion of this chapter, or the application thereof, is held to be invalid, it shall not affect the validity of the remainder of this chapter, or the validity of its application to other persons or circumstances.
1766.99 Penalties
(a) Any person who violates Section 1766.03(a) is guilty of a misdemeanor in the second degree. Each day such violation is committed or permitted to continue shall constitute a separate offense and shall be punishable as such hereunder.
(b) The violator shall be liable for the investigation of such violations and the associated penalties in accordance with the schedule of penalties and fines found in 1319.04, which funds shall be deposited in the Nuisance Abatement Trust Fund. If a Housing Trust Fund is established, then all funds collected after the date of establishment of the Housing Trust Fund shall be deposited in the Housing Trust Fund rather than the Nuisance Abatement Trust Fund.
SECTION 2. It is found and determined that all formal actions of this Council concerning and relating to the passage of this Ordinance were passed in an open meeting of this Council, and that all deliberations of this Council and any of its committees that resulted in such formal action, were in meetings open to the public, in compliance with all legal requirements including Section 121.22 of the Ohio Revised Code.
SECTION 3. That this Ordinance shall take effect and be in force from and after the earliest period allowed by law.
Vote on emergency clause: yeas _____, nays _____.
Passed: _________________, as an emergency measure: yeas _____, nays _____.
Attest: ________________________ __________________________________
Clerk of Council President of Council
Approved: _____________________ __________________________________
Date Mayor
I hereby certify that the above is a true and correct copy of an Ordinance passed by Council ________________________.
Attest: ________________________
Clerk of Council