Landlord & Tenant Act

A landlord shall have a lien upon that part of the property belonging to the tenant which has a reasonable relationship as nearly as practicable to the amount of the debt owed which may be in a rental unit used by him at the time notice is given, for the proper charges owed by the tenant, and for the cost of enforcing the lien, with the right to possession of the property until the debt obligation is paid to the landlord. Provided, however, that such lien shall be secondary to the claim of any prior bona fide holder of a chattel mortgage or to the rights of a conditional seller of such property; other than the tenant.

For purposes of this section, property shall mean any baggage or other property belonging to the tenant which may be in the rental unit used by the tenant but which shall not include all tools, musical instruments or books used by the tenant in any trade or profession, all family portraits and pictures, all wearing apparel, any type of prosthetic or orthopedic appliance, hearing aid, glasses, false teeth, glass eyes, bedding, contraceptive devices, tissues, washing machine, soap vaporizers, refrigerators, food, cooking and eating utensils, all other appliances personally used by the tenant for the protection of his health, or any baby bed or any other items used for the personal care of babies.

A landlord lien may be enforced as any other general lien as provided in Section 91 of Title 42 of the Oklahoma Statutes.

This act shall be liberally construed and applied to promote and effectuate its underlying purposes and policies.

A.Upon termination of a furniture rental agreement, the lessor or agent of the lessor shall not remove the furniture from possession or dwelling place of the lessee unless the lessee or an agent of the lessee is present. Such furniture shall be marked with either an identifying number or in some other distinguishable manner prior to removal. Before the furniture is removed, the lessor or his agent shall inspect the furniture and advise the lessee or the agent of the lessee of each specific item of damage. If furniture is removed when such person is not present or if the furniture is not inspected before removal, the entire amount of any security deposit held by the lessor shall be returned to the lessee.

B.If the lessor complies with the provisions of subsection A of this Section and recovers damaged furniture, any security deposit held by the lessor may be applied to the amount of damages which the lessor has suffered due to the fault of the lessee if the lessor provides to the lessee a written itemized statement of damage delivered by mail, to be by return receipt requested and to be signed for by any person of statutory service age at such address. The lessor shall allow the lessee an opportunity to reinspect the furniture in question before any security deposit may be retained or any additional damage charge made.

C.In the case of undamaged furniture, the lessor shall return any security deposit without interest to the lessee within thirty (30) days of the termination of the rental aL1reement. If the returned furniture is damaged, the lessor shall return the balance of any security deposit above the cost of damage, without interest, to the lessee within thirty (30) days of the inspection of the furniture by the lessee. If the lessee chooses not to inspect the furniture, the balance of the security deposit shall be returned to the lessee within thirty (30) days of the mailing of the written itemized statement of damage.

END OF ACT