PEBG Renter Support

One way PEBG aims to help the community is by working with tenants to hold non-responsive landlords accountable when issues arise with a property. Learn about the process, how to advocate for yourself, and how to get help.  

The purpose of our review process is to help you not only establish contact with your landlords when there is an issue with your rental property but also to hold them accountable when they do not make the effort to resolve the issue with you. 

It our goal to help improve relationships between tenants and landlords, and hold local landlords accountable, therefore establishing a better sense of trust in our community. We also aim to educate renters so that they know their responsibilities and how to navigate the complex world of renting.

When you have an issue with your rental property, the first thing you'll need to do is contact your landlord. However, if the landlord is not responsive and your issue is unresolved you can follow the suggestions below. 

File a formal notice of the issue with your landlord. They are legally responsible for responding to you and work to fix it within 30 days (or however long it would reasonably take to resolve the issue at hand). Should your landlord fail to meet their obligations to you and their property within 30 days, you can contact us for help.

Once you have submitted a request to us, the next step is for our organization to reach out to your landlord on your behalf and formally remind them of the issue and of their obligation to resolve it. If another 15 days pass without contact or solution, for a total of 45 days, the landlord is considered unresponsive and we will post the property on our Review page.

The contents of the post will include the following:

● Any photographs documenting the issues you are having with the property

● A description of the issues you are having with the property

● The address of the property submitted

● An updated status when contact is established with your landlord

The post will NOT include: 

● Your name

● The name of your landlord

● The name of the rental company

● Personal issues with your landlord

Once contact has been established with your landlord to resolve the issue(s), the status on the post will be updated to "In Progress". The post will updated to "Resolved" once the issues have been fully resolved by your landlord. 

If after 30 days your landlord has not responded or attempted to resolve the issues with your home the next step is to take action. You can contact us or review the content below for additional actions. 

When your landlord is unresponsive to your rental issues, you can file your rent payments through the court until the issue is resolved in what is called a "Rent Escrow." This allows you to remain in compliance with your lease terms by paying your rent on time, but the courts are receiving the payments rather than your landlord. For more information on this process and to download form letters, click here. 

Additionally, while we don't always recommend it, in severe cases, you can choose to breach your lease and move somewhere with better living conditions. There are also many agencies you can contact to hold your landlord legally accountable for their property. 

This page is dedicated to actively holding non-responsive properties accountable for their inaction in resolving major issues.

Our goal is to help provide tenants with the ability to advocate for safe living spaces when their landlords fail to resolve a property issue. It is important to note, that once the issue has been resolved, the posting of the property and accompanying images will be removed from this site. 

• Property Address: Address of building will be listed here. PEBG will not post the name of the rental company, LLC, or name of propriator on this site. 
• Content: PEBG will post the complaint as written by the tenant(s) here
• Major Offenses: Details of issues/offenses. Images will be posted and labeled according to the original complaint. The purpose here is to show the issue and not exaggrate it. 
• Status: This will list the dates the Certified letters were received by the landlord, a total of three dates-- Two from the tenants and one from PEBG. 
• Additional Information: Details of any often left-out details of this process that may be have prohibited a timely fix, such as propriator's and tenant's schedules
• Date Posted: This is the date PEBG posted the offending property, approximately 6 weeks after the initial request to 

 One way that PEBG is helping tenants is by not only providing you with important information about your rights as a renter but also providing you with tools that help you hold your landlord accountable for issues with their properties. Visit our Rental Reviews section to learn more about how we can help.

If your landlord has still not fixed a property issue or attempted to establish contact to resolve the issue after the required amount of time, we recommend escrowing your rent with the courts until the situation is resolved. Read more about the process here. There are also a variety of local agencies you can turn to with a variety of issues, which you can find listed here.

While it is never our first recommendation to break your lease, a major goal at PEBG is ensuring your access to safe living conditions. Suppose a property you are renting is unlivable after filing your rent escrow, after posting the property on our website, and after contacting local agencies. In that case, it may be in your best interest to find a better property.

There are laws in place in the state of Ohio that prevent your landlord from unlawful eviction or threats. Click here to learn more about how you can protect yourself if you find your landlord attempting to punish you for advocating for safe living conditions.