tenant in jail before he can give me forwarding address

[Brandon McCombs]

Hello,

I have a tenant and rental unit in Ohio. My tenant moved out Nov 30 and said when I'm ready to return his security deposit he will give me a forwarding address at that time since he doesn't know where he will be by then. I had told him I have 30 days per Ohio law to return his deposit. Well, on Monday of this week (12/14) I was called by the police chief of the next town up the river who left me a voicemail stating that my tenant was now in jail (I don't have all the details yet). The question is how long do I have to wait before claiming the deposit as income or do I have to keep it in my security deposit bank account forever until he contacts me given the circumstances?

The relevant Ohio law is here http://codes.ohio.gov/orc/5321.16 It only mentions I have 30 days and that's assuming the tenant provides the needed information to me. I'm assuming that I can wait 30 days and then count it as income. I'd like to hear others' thoughts on the matter though.

thanks