Ohio Landlord-Tenant Laws
Local rent regulation in Ohio
Ohio law expressly prohibits political subdivisions from imposing or requiring rent control or rent stabilization, with exceptions for local safety codes, publicly owned housing, and voluntary incentive-based agreements that regulate rent.
Cited to Ohio Rev. Code § 5321.19 (H.B. 430, eff. 9/23/2022) · Verified August 12, 2026 · Full Ohio rent-increase rules →
Ohio landlord-tenant laws by topic
Ohio security deposits
Ohio sets no cap on security deposits, and a landlord must return the deposit — with a written, itemized list of any deductions — within 30 days after the lease ends and the tenant delivers possession.
Ohio rent increase notice
Ohio has no statute setting a notice period for rent increases; the effective floor for a month-to-month tenancy is the termination rule in ORC 5321.17(B) — notice at least 30 days before the periodic rental date — because a tenant who rejects the new rent is on notice the tenancy can end on that same timeline (week-to-week tenancies use 7 days).
Ohio late fees
Ohio sets no statutory cap on residential late fees and mandates no grace period — Chapter 5321 is silent on the subject — so a late fee must be written into the lease to be collectable and is policed only by Ohio's general contract-law rule against penalty clauses, under which a fee wildly out of proportion to the landlord's actual cost of late payment can be held unenforceable as liquidated damages.
Ohio entry notice
Ohio law requires landlords to give reasonable notice before entering a rental unit, and 24 hours is presumed reasonable unless the evidence shows otherwise — entry must also happen at reasonable times, with exceptions for emergencies or when notice is impracticable.
Ohio eviction process
Ohio's eviction — a 'forcible entry and detainer' action heard in municipal or county court — starts with the famous 3-day notice to leave, which must carry exact statutory warning language and whose days are counted by excluding the day of service and rolling past a Sunday or holiday ending.
Ohio application & screening fees
Ohio does not regulate rental application or tenant screening fees at the state level: no statute caps the fee, ties it to what a report costs, or requires a receipt, a refund, or any disclosure before an applicant pays.
Ohio deposit interest
Ohio requires 5% a year in interest on a security deposit, but only on the part of the deposit above the greater of $50 or one month's rent, so for the ordinary deposit of exactly one month's rent the answer is nothing.
Ohio habitability & repairs
Ohio requires a landlord to comply with building, housing, health and safety codes that materially affect health and safety, to make all repairs needed to keep the premises fit and habitable, to keep common areas safe and sanitary, to maintain the heating, plumbing, electrical and air conditioning fixtures and appliances supplied with the unit, and to supply running water, reasonable hot water and reasonable heat at all times.
Ohio lease termination
Either side ends an Ohio month-to-month tenancy with at least 30 days' notice given before the periodic rental date, and a week-to-week tenancy with at least seven days' notice before the date the notice names.
Ohio mobile home park laws
Ohio regulates manufactured home park lot tenancies in sections 4781.36 to 4781.52 of the Revised Code, backed by the Department of Commerce park rules: a park operator must offer every home owner a written lot agreement of one year or more, must give 30 days' written notice of any rent or fee increase and may not raise rent at all during a term, and must give residents at least 180 days to leave if it sells the park for another use.
Ohio Fair Market Rents (FY 2027) — HUD's benchmark rents for every Ohio metro area and county.
How this record was verified: Direct read of Ohio Revised Code text on the official codes.ohio.gov site (Legislative Service Commission): ORC 5321.16 (full text), 5321.04 (full text), 5321.17 (full text), 5321.20 (page confirmed), with the 2022 HB 430 rent-control preemption amendments to 5321.19/5321.20 verified against contemporaneous legal analyses.