BOSTON HEIGHTS, Ohio — A News 5 report from 2025 has prompted lawmakers to examine how property and homes are being transferred, and how easily criminals can get away with a quick profit.
Back in January 2025, Scott Schleider felt forced to put up a sign on his 2-acre vacant lot in Boston Heights after he learned someone tried to sell it out from under him, for about half of what it was worth.
"Got a call from somebody at Village Hall, and they said, 'You listed the property? For this amount of money?'" Schleider told News 5 last year. "They were quite surprised."
Watch that original story here:
Boston Heights Police told News 5 that the property was listed “For Sale” by a local real estate agent. Police say that the agent communicated with someone claiming to be Scott and Marla Schleider. But data from the digital signatures show the Schleiders were not behind it.
"The best thing I have is possibly the email address originated somewhere over in Europe and Germany," Officer Cameron Bryce previously said. "This was my first encounter with something like this."
"The blessing here is it was a lousy listing, devoid of a lot of information," Scott Schleider said.
With the help of an attorney, the Schleiders were able to get the listing pulled that same day, before any property was transferred or deal went through. But the theft was already done: stealing their sense of safety.
"The amount of angst that it caused – we were convinced everyone was stealing everything," Marla Schleider said.
"I’ve heard 'oh we left our garage door up, and somebody took one of our bicycles' or 'our Amazon package disappeared from our front porch' — Try someone almost took $250,000 from you. Try that on for size," Scott Schleider added.
Fast forward to 2026, and State Rep. Bill Roemer (R-Richfield) and State Rep. Matt Kishman (R-Minerva) introduced a new bill in Columbus as a direct response to what happened to the Schleiders.
"Thank you to you for the WEWS story on that that brought this to light," Rep. Roemer said. "We want to make sure that someone that saved and worked their whole life to own a piece of property all of a sudden doesn’t lose that through some nefarious action."
The bill calls for at least one additional hour of training for real estate agents on how to recognize and prevent title and deed fraud. Additionally, the bill, if it becomes law, requires a government-issued photo ID for anyone trying to transfer property at the county recorder's office. However, licensed real estate agents, brokers and title insurance agents are exempt from this requirement. Finally, the bill calls for a 24-hour waiting period for those looking to transfer property.
As State Rep. Roemer points out, a lot of the bill was already a guideline for those in the real estate industry. However, the bill now makes those guidelines law.
"It won’t be a suggestion - it will be law," Scott Schleider said.
Last August, the Schleiders sold the vacant land to someone who had previously reached out about buying it.
"It was a wakeup call when you sit on vacant land for over a dozen years, and then it almost gets stolen, and you realize we got to do something with it," Scott Schleider said. "Now their dream house is going up on the property, and I'm happy to see it."
For the couple, there's some hope this bill could help protect others from their homes being stolen.
"It's common sense, it’s just common sense," Scott Schleider said.
"Lucky for us, our property wasn’t stolen, but a lot of people are not so lucky," Marla Schleider said.
Boston Heights Police confirmed to News 5 that no arrests have been made in this case. The real estate agent involved in the attempted property sale currently has a case before the Ohio Real Estate Commission, which is ongoing.
In 2024, the Ohio Department of Commerce warned about the rise in fake real estate listings and deed fraud.
Over the past three years, News 5 has extensively covered a rise in the number of properties that are being illegally transferred without a property owner's knowledge.
RELATED: Here's why it’s getting easier to steal someone’s home and what you can do about it.
How can you protect yourself from deed theft and fraudulent listings?
Experts told News 5 that time is crucial in cases like this. The more time a criminal has to sell your property and run off with the money, the harder it gets to recover. That’s why many Ohio counties offer free property alerts, a way to notify you if any properties of yours have transferred on the day it happens.
To sign up for a free property alert provided by your county of residence, click on your county where your property is located below:
- Ashland County
- Ashtabula County
- Carroll County
- Cuyahoga County
- Erie County
- Geauga County
- Holmes County
- Huron County
- Lake County
- Lorain County
- Medina County
- Portage County
- Richland County
- Stark County
- Summit County
- Tuscarawas County
- Wayne County
Clay LePard is the Ashtabula, Geauga and Portage counties reporter at News 5 Cleveland. Follow him on X @ClayLePard, on Facebook ClayLePardTV or email him at Clay.LePard@wews.com.
