How much can an Ohio landlord charge for a security deposit?

There is no limit. Ohio sets no maximum security deposit anywhere in chapter 5321, and no other Ohio statute caps one. Ohio also imposes no duty to hold the deposit in a separate or interest-bearing account. What Ohio does regulate is interest on large deposits under 5321.16(A), the thirty-day itemized accounting under 5321.16(B), and the tenant's remedy under 5321.16(C).

When does an Ohio landlord owe interest on a security deposit?

Only on the excess, and only after six months. Ohio Rev. Code 5321.16(A) provides that any security deposit in excess of fifty dollars or one month's periodic rent, whichever is greater, bears interest on the excess at five per cent per annum if the tenant remains in possession six months or more, computed and paid annually. If the deposit equals one month's rent, nothing exceeds the greater figure and no interest is owed at all.

How long does an Ohio landlord have to return a security deposit?

Thirty days after termination of the rental agreement and delivery of possession. Both events must occur before the clock starts. Any deduction must be itemized and identified in a written notice delivered to the tenant together with the amount due, under Ohio Rev. Code 5321.16(B). If the landlord fails to comply, 5321.16(C) lets the tenant recover the money due plus damages equal to the amount wrongfully withheld plus reasonable attorneys fees.

Can an Ohio lease make the tenant pay the landlord's attorney fees?

No, and it cannot make the landlord pay the tenant's either. Ohio Rev. Code 5321.13(C) provides that no agreement to pay the landlord's or tenant's attorney's fees shall be recognized in any rental agreement for residential premises or in any other agreement between a landlord and tenant. Ohio voids fee-shifting in both directions, so the reciprocal prevailing-party clause that satisfies states like Arizona is equally unenforceable in Ohio.

How much notice must an Ohio landlord give before entering?

Reasonable notice, with twenty-four hours presumed reasonable. Ohio Rev. Code 5321.04(A)(8) requires the landlord to give reasonable notice of intent to enter and to enter only at reasonable times, and provides that twenty-four hours is presumed to be a reasonable notice in the absence of evidence to the contrary. It is a rebuttable presumption, not a fixed minimum. No notice is required in an emergency or where giving it is impracticable.

Can an Ohio tenant withhold rent for repairs?

Not by withholding, but by depositing rent with the court. Ohio Rev. Code 5321.07 requires written notice to the landlord specifying the noncompliance, sent to the person or place where rent is normally paid. If the landlord then fails to remedy within a reasonable time or thirty days, whichever is sooner, and the tenant is current in rent, the tenant may deposit rent with the clerk of court, apply for an order to remedy or reduce rent, or terminate. A landlord party to agreements covering three or fewer dwelling units may opt out entirely under 5321.07(C) by notice in the written lease.

What notice comes before an eviction in Ohio?

A three-day notice to leave under Ohio Rev. Code 1923.04, and it must carry prescribed language. Every notice given by a landlord to recover residential premises must contain, printed or written in a conspicuous manner, the sentence beginning You are being asked to leave the premises. Service is limited to three methods: certified mail return receipt requested, handing a written copy to the defendant in person, or leaving it at the defendant's usual place of abode or at the premises.

Is a three-day notice enough for any Ohio lease violation?

No. Where the tenant has breached a duty under Ohio Rev. Code 5321.05 that materially affects health and safety, 5321.11 requires a written notice specifying the act or omission and giving not less than thirty days before termination, and 1923.02(A)(8) makes compliance with 5321.11 a precondition to an eviction on that ground. The three-day notice under 1923.04 is the notice to leave, not a cure period.

What disclosures does Ohio require in a residential lease?

One under state law: the name and address of the owner and of the owner's agent, under Ohio Rev. Code 5321.18. Federal law adds the lead-based paint disclosure for housing built before 1978. Ohio does not require a radon, flood, insect, mold, asbestos, methamphetamine, ordnance-proximity, shared-metering or offender-registry disclosure. Omitting the 5321.18 identification waives the tenant's notice duties under 5321.18(C).

How much notice ends an Ohio month-to-month tenancy?

Thirty days before the periodic rental date, under Ohio Rev. Code 5321.17(B). A week-to-week tenancy takes at least seven days before the termination date specified in the notice under 5321.17(A). Ohio has no separate rent-increase notice statute, so a rent change on a periodic tenancy runs through that same notice.

Does an Ohio lease need to be notarized or recorded?

Not if the term does not exceed three years. Ohio Rev. Code 5301.08 provides that sections 5301.01 to 5301.45 do not affect the validity of a lease for any term not exceeding three years, nor require it to be acknowledged or recorded. A term of exactly three years is exempt. The trigger is the length of the term, not the age of the document, and 5301.251 permits a memorandum of lease to be recorded in place of the lease.

Can an Ohio city adopt rent control?

No. Ohio Rev. Code 5321.19, as amended by H.B. 430 effective 23 September 2022, bars any political subdivision from enacting, adopting, renewing, maintaining or enforcing any measure that conflicts with chapter 5321 or regulates the rights and obligations chapter 5321 regulates, including by imposing rent control or rent stabilization. Local housing, building, health and safety codes are expressly preserved.

Can a small Ohio landlord opt out of the rent-escrow remedy?

Yes, and almost no one mentions it. R.C. 5321.07(C) provides that the section does not apply to a landlord who is a party to rental agreements that cover three or fewer dwelling units and who provides notice of that fact in a written rental agreement, or, for an oral tenancy, delivers written notice at the time of initial occupancy. The count is of the units the landlord is a party to agreements for, and the notice must be in the lease — it cannot be added later. R.C. 5321.07(D) separately excludes a dwelling unit occupied by a student tenant.

Does Ohio protect a tenant from retaliation?

Yes, but narrowly and without any presumption. R.C. 5321.02(A) bars a landlord from increasing rent, decreasing services or bringing or threatening a possession action because the tenant complained to an appropriate governmental agency of a code violation materially affecting health and safety, complained to the landlord of a violation of R.C. 5321.04, or joined with other tenants to negotiate or deal collectively. The tenant may use it as a defence, recover possession, or terminate, plus actual damages and reasonable attorneys' fees. There is no time-based presumption of retaliation in the section, and R.C. 5321.03 lets the landlord proceed anyway on rent default, a tenant-caused violation, an alteration or demolition case, or a holdover. Our Ohio breaking a lease guide covers the tenant's exit routes.

Who is responsible for appliances and pest control in an Ohio rental?

Appliances the landlord supplies are the landlord's to maintain under R.C. 5321.04(A)(4) unless a written rental agreement puts a specific appliance on the tenant under R.C. 5321.05(A)(7) — and R.C. 5321.13(F) lets the landlord agree to take that duty back. Ohio does not itemize pest control; an infestation is analysed through the fit-and-habitable duty and code compliance in R.C. 5321.04(A)(1) and (2). Waste receptacles are different again: R.C. 5321.04(A)(5) imposes that duty only where the landlord is a party to agreements covering four or more dwelling units in the same structure. Because the statute is general here, the lease should state which appliances are supplied and who handles routine treatment.

Can an Ohio landlord name a minor tenant in an eviction?

Not alongside a parent or adult guardian. Since 9 April 2025, R.C. 1923.05(B) provides that no person shall file an action listing a minor tenant as a defendant if a parent or adult guardian is also listed as a defendant on the same complaint, and 1923.05(C) requires the court to dismiss without prejudice and order the filer to pay the minor tenant's reasonable attorneys' fees. R.C. 1923.01(C)(15) defines a minor tenant as a tenant under eighteen who is not emancipated.

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Free Ohio Residential Lease Agreement

Ohio residential lease agreement walk-through

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A configurable Ohio residential lease agreement that generates a signable multi-page PDF. Built to the Ohio Landlords and Tenants Act — no deposit cap, a thirty-day itemized accounting, and the attorney-fee clause Ohio voids in both directions.

Ohio R.C. ch. 5321 No Deposit Cap Free PDF 2026 Edition

Updated Q3 2026 By Tenant Screening Background Check Editorial Team Scope Ohio ~14 min read

An Ohio residential lease agreement is the written contract governed by the Ohio Landlords and Tenants Act at Ohio Rev. Code chapter 5321, with eviction handled separately under chapter 1923. Ohio’s version of the uniform act is short, old and unusually blunt, and three of its rules break the assumptions most lease templates carry. Ohio sets no security deposit cap at all — but it charges five per cent interest on the excess over the greater of fifty dollars or one month’s rent once the tenant has been in possession six months or more, a rule almost every competing page states incorrectly. It gives the tenant no repair-and-deduct right, substituting a court rent-escrow procedure under R.C. 5321.07 that a small landlord can opt out of entirely by putting one sentence in the lease. And R.C. 5321.13(C) refuses any agreement to pay the landlord’s or the tenant’s attorney’s fees, which makes Ohio stricter on fee-shifting than any state in this series. The generator below builds a lease that reflects each of those rules as the statute actually reads, verified against the Legislative Service Commission’s own codification on 6 August 2026.

Ohio Lease Rules at a Glance

Security Deposit Cap

None

Deposit Accounting

30 Days

Entry Notice

24 Hours (Presumed)

Month-to-Month Notice

30 Days

The clause that must not be in your lease: R.C. 5321.13(C) provides that no agreement to pay the landlord’s or tenant’s attorney’s fees shall be recognized in any rental agreement for residential premises. Ohio is the only state in this series that voids fee-shifting in both directions, so the reciprocal prevailing-party clause that other states require is unenforceable here. Most lease templates include one by default.

Three Ohio Rules That Catch Landlords Out

First, the deposit interest rule. R.C. 5321.16(A) charges five per cent per annum only on the amount by which the deposit exceeds the greater of fifty dollars or one month’s periodic rent, and only where the tenant remains in possession six months or more. Competing pages routinely drop “whichever is greater”, drop “on the excess”, or invent a duty to hold the money in an interest-bearing account — a duty Ohio does not impose anywhere. Second, the thirty-day clock starts twice: R.C. 5321.16(B) runs it from termination of the rental agreement and delivery of possession, so a tenant who stops paying but keeps the keys has not started it. Third, the three-day notice is not a cure notice. Where the breach is a tenant duty under R.C. 5321.05 that materially affects health and safety, R.C. 5321.11 requires a written notice giving not less than thirty days, and R.C. 1923.02(A)(8) makes complying with it a precondition to the eviction.

How to Fill Out This Ohio Lease Agreement

The Eight-Step Ohio Sequence

1. Name the owner and the owner’s agent

R.C. 5321.18(A) requires every written residential rental agreement to contain the name and address of the owner and the name and address of the owner’s agent, if any. Where either is a corporation, partnership, association or trust, the address must be its principal place of business in the county where the property sits, or its principal Ohio place of business, and must include the name of the person in charge.

2. Describe the premises and choose the term

Enter the full address, county and property type, then choose a fixed term, month-to-month or week-to-week. A lease for a term not exceeding three years requires no acknowledgment and no recording under R.C. 5301.08.

3. Set rent, the due day and any late fee

Ohio’s act fixes no rent due date, no proration rule, no grace period and no late-fee cap. R.C. 5321.06 lets the parties include any term not inconsistent with chapter 5321, so the lease supplies all of it — and R.C. 5321.14 is the only backstop.

4. Set the deposit, and read the interest rule properly

There is no cap. But the interest rule is precise: five per cent per annum, on the excess only, over the greater of fifty dollars or one month’s periodic rent, once possession has run six months or more, computed and paid annually.

5. Answer the unit-count question

This is the Ohio question no other template asks. Three or fewer dwelling units unlocks the R.C. 5321.07(C) opt-out from the rent-escrow remedy, which only works if the notice is in the lease. Four or more units in the same structure triggers the waste-receptacle duty in R.C. 5321.04(A)(5).

6. Allocate every utility

Assign electricity, gas, water, sewer, trash, internet and yard care. The landlord’s duty to supply running water, reasonable hot water and reasonable heat comes from R.C. 5321.04(A)(6) and is not shifted by a utility allocation.

7. Check the one disclosure Ohio requires

Owner and agent identification, plus federal lead paint for pre-1978 housing. That is the entire list. If your template asks about radon, flood zones or insect history and cites an Ohio section for it, it was written for another state.

8. Generate, sign, and leave the fee clause out

Download the multi-page PDF and sign. No witnesses and no notary are needed for a term not exceeding three years. Do not add an attorney-fee clause in either direction, and calendar the thirty-day deposit accounting the day possession comes back.

Build Your Ohio Residential Lease Agreement

Complete the fields below to generate an Ohio residential lease agreement as a signable multi-page PDF. Every field you fill is written into the document, including the utility allocations, the unit-count branch and each disclosure you check, and the generated lease cites the controlling Ohio section at each point. Before you hand keys to anyone, run proper tenant screening — the lease governs the relationship, screening decides whether you want it. Pair the signed lease with an Ohio move-in / move-out checklist so the thirty-day accounting rests on documented condition rather than memory.

Ohio Residential Lease Agreement Builder

1. Parties — Owner and Agent Identification

R.C. 5321.18(A) requires every written residential rental agreement to contain the name and address of the owner AND the name and address of the owner’s agent, if any. If the owner or agent is a corporation, partnership, association or trust, the address must be its principal place of business in the county where the property sits (or its principal Ohio place of business) and must name the person in charge. Omit this and R.C. 5321.18(C) waives the tenant’s duty to give you the notices required by 5321.07(A) and 5321.08(A).

Owner full legal name

Owner phone

Owner address (R.C. 5321.18(A))

If the owner is an entity, the person in charge at that address

Owner’s agent name (if any)

Owner’s agent address

Tenant 1 full legal name

Tenant 2 full legal name (if any)

Additional tenants (comma-separated)

Authorized occupants who are not tenants (minors, etc.)

2. Premises

Rental property address (street, unit, city, ZIP)

County

Property type

Year built (pre-1978 triggers federal lead disclosure)

Bedrooms / bathrooms

3. Term

A lease for a term not exceeding three years needs no acknowledgment and no recording under R.C. 5301.08. A term that exceeds three years falls under R.C. 5301.01, and R.C. 5301.251 lets you record a memorandum of lease instead of the lease itself.

Lease type

Term length in months (if other)

Lease start date

Lease end date (if fixed)

4. Rent

Ohio fixes no rent due date, no proration rule, no grace period and no late-fee cap. R.C. 5321.06 lets the parties agree any term not inconsistent with chapter 5321, so whatever you write here is the rule — subject only to R.C. 5321.14, which lets a court refuse to enforce an unconscionable clause.

Monthly rent (dollars)

Rent due day of month

Late fee, if any (Ohio sets no cap)

Grace period in days (Ohio provides none by statute)

Acceptable payment methods (comma-separated)