WITH EVIDENCE, LANDLORDS CAN KICK OUT DRUG DEALERS

Landlords can move quickly to get rid of tenants they suspect are
dealing drugs or breaking the law in other ways.

The difficult part is proving it to a judge during an eviction
hearing.

Police and the landlord had long suspected drugs were being sold at
1766 S. 8th St. before Wednesday, when neighbor Matthew Edblom was
fatally stabbed confronting people at the duplex. A man was shot dead
outside the same South Side address in December.

The landlord, Philip Reynolds of Orient, told The Dispatch it would
have been difficult to evict the several occupants because the tenant
on the lease, one woman, always paid the rent on time.

Ohio law says landlords can evict tenants involved with illegal drugs
on the premises, Assistant Columbus City Attorney Robert A. Beattey
Jr. said.

"If a landlord has reasonable cause to believe drug violations are
occurring in the building, they must give a three-day notice to
vacate," Beattey said.

But it's up to the landlord to provide the evidence during an eviction
hearing, said lawyer Bill Willis, who represents owners of more than
60,000 rental units across Ohio and who pursues eviction cases. Simply
watching a lot of people running into and out of the house at all
hours might not be enough, he said.

However, if landlords see money or plastic bags changing hands, or if
maintenance workers see drugs or drug paraphernalia in apartments,
that is evidence they can add to their case, he said.

"Most drug addicts I've encountered aren't that smart," Willis said,
explaining they often do something to incriminate themselves.

It's not enough simply to believe there's drug activity going on, said
Joe Maskovyak, a former Legal Aid Society lawyer who represented
tenants in eviction proceedings.

Maskovyak said he would challenge as hearsay a letter a landlord might
present from police that the house had been raided. Willis countered
that he would have a police officer who went on the raid testify in
court.

State law says landlords can't harass their tenants. They must give
tenants 24-hours notice to enter apartment units unless tenants give
their consent or it is an emergency.

One South Side landlord said Reynolds should have called police
immediately when he suspected drug activity. That's what Sherry
Maynard said she did in January 2007 when she suspected dealing at her
rental property in the 200 block of Woodrow Avenue.

"I called narcotics. I called police. I got license plate numbers. I
gave those to the police," she said.

Police, she said, were fast to react, arresting people at the house on
outstanding criminal warrants and finally raiding it. Maynard said she
was able to quickly evict the couple whose names were on the lease
because of the raid.

Reynolds said that before each homicide at his S. 8th Street house he
had rented that half of the duplex to single women. Both times, people
he had never seen before moved in within a few weeks. After the
dealers moved into her rentals, they trashed the new carpeting with
cigarette burns, knocked holes in walls and stole appliances, said
Maynard, who owns five rental properties.

Some landlords don't care what's going on if tenants pay them enough,
said Linda Henry of the neighborhood group Southside Neighbors Against
Crime.

"Landlords are being paid big bucks to turn their heads," she
said.

Henry said she'll watch suspected drug houses and report her
observations to police.

Michael Mourne, a sergeant in the police narcotics bureau, said
investigators use the information, as well as videos, that neighbors
provide to build cases against drug suspects.

In the case of Edblom's slaying, no charges have been filed. Police
said the case will be presented to a grand jury to determine whether
the man who killed him acted in self-defense.