Eviction in Cleveland, hearing date after 4 months...

[Edmond Dantes]

I purchased a single family home in Cleveland in October 2021 and this home has been rented since November 2021.
The tenant paid the first 6 months and then stopped paying the rent in June 2022. To avoid eviction, I had invited the tenant to leave voluntarily in July 2022. The tenant agreed but he did not respect this agreement and continues to stay in my house without paying.

Last month I decided to start the eviction procedure and yesterday the property manager told me that the hearing date has been set for November, after almost 4 months. I thought the hearing would take place in early September, not mid-November. The rental contract expires a few days before the date of the hearing.

I have a few questions for those with experience of evictions in Cleveland and the state of Ohio:

1) Is it possible that the court has fixed the date of the hearing after 4 months from my request?

2) Is it illegal to accept a partial rent payment before the eviction hearing? My property manager says he can only accept rent payment if we cancel the eviction. If I cancel the eviction and the tenant does not pay even part of the rent due, I will have to request the eviction again and wait 4 months for a new hearing date ...

I would be very grateful if you could answer my questions and I accept any suggestions.

[Andrew Weiner]

It is completely possible that you would be looking at a early November court date.  

That does seem a little bit long in my experience but not impossible if there were a lot of filings recently. These get scheduled out on a first come first serve basis and you can just check the court docket to confirm.  
 

Your property manager is correct that if you accept any money from the time that you deliver the three day notice until the day of court that the eviction would be tossed out and you would have to restart.