The City of Toledo welcomes a new rental resource

TOLEDO, Ohio (WTVG) - With around 50 percent of the properties in Toledo used as rental units, a recent study showed more needed to be done to educate both tenants and landlords about their rights.

Soon there will be some new oversight to rental issues in the city.

During the comprehensive housing study, the need for more rental oversight was one of the issues at the forefront. With so many people renting it’s becoming an area that needs its own set of eyes.

Over the last 20 years in Toledo, home rental rates have almost overtaken homeownership rates. The goal for the newly named Manager of Tenant and Landlord Services, Coleena Ali is to make sure the experience is positive for both landlords and tenants.

“Certainly we would love to have people own their homes. That’s like an ideal state. That’s an opportunity to increase their assets and the wealth of a family but sometimes you’ve got to start where they’re at,” said Ali

The first priority will be an educational campaign that will show renters what it takes to be a good renter, and provide knowledge of their rights for various aspects such as rent escrow. If your landlord isn’t fixing things, you can go to municipal court and start a rent escrow account so that payments get to the landlord when things are fixed.

“Too often renters have made a complaint; my landlord hasn’t fixed a ceiling. It’s leaking, different things are going on. And they just leave and they haven’t fulfilled their rental contract. And it’s like there is something else you can do,” said Ali.

Rosalyn Clemens, Toledo’s Director of Housing and Community Development, said it’s vital that renters have access to the resources and knowledge.

“The training, the outreach that is necessary to educate our tenants about the avenues that they have. The ability to escrow their rent because that hits the landlord’s bottom line,” said Clemens.

Ali said the more good tenants the more positive experience for landlords.

“They can now expect somebody that’s coming through that understands what it means to be a tenant and be an ideal tenant,” said Ali.

Maybe that ultimately leads to homeownership maybe it doesn’t. Many people may be perfectly happy to rent and the idea is to get everyone as close to happy as possible in this process.

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