Real estate lawyer in Columbus to help me draft my Leases

[Upgrade Costello]

I want to make my leases very specific, I like the advise from "Landlording on auto pilot" by Mike Butler.  I want to tailor my leases very specifically but make sure I am within the law on all fronts.  I also want to tailor my lease application.

Does anyone know a good yet reasonably priced real estate attorney in the Columbus  area, or online that is good at ohio law?  Thanks.

[Ed W.]

@Upgrade Costello

I am not an attorney but I have been a landlord in Franklin County, Ohio (and other areas) for many years.   While Ohio's governing statute Ohio Revised Code Section 5321 (which you can easily find and read online) should, in theory, be definitive and all you - and any attorney - should need to know, in practice that is not the case.

How Ohio Landlord-Tenant law is applied is very specific to the various county jurisdictions. While that statement shouldn't be true, it is.  The magistrates who hear the vast majority of landlord-tenant disputes rule somewhat differently on various issues from county to county.  Some of their decisions (in my humble opinion) defy the law at times but they are fairly predictable from county to county - if you do much business in a particular county.  (For that matter and in reality, how many of the various Ohio laws - both real estate related and not real estate related - are adjudicated around the state can - in effect -be dramatically different.  For another real estate related example, just ask any foreclosure attorney who represented banks during the meltdown how much more difficult it was to foreclose in Cuyahoga County vs. Franklin County BECAUSE OF the judges).   Federal law is probably more uniformly adjudicated within Ohio but I don't know that for a fact.

For the reasons above, I strongly urge you to NOT use any attorney who does not practice regularly in Franklin County (or whatever county you have real estate in) and who does not regularly practice (involved at least weekly, if not daily) landlord-tenant law.   I use William (Bill) Rees who is down-to-earth, reasonably priced, and lives and breathes landlord-tenant law every day.  He's a sole practitioner so just leave a voicemail and he will get back to you.  His information can be found online searching for "William Rees Attorney  Columbus  Landlord-Tenant".  If for some reason he is not available, there are several other good Central Ohio attorneys with similar credentials.