Ohio · Landlord Forms

Free Ohio Landlord Forms

Every Ohio landlord form we publish, organised by the stage of the tenancy it belongs to, each one paired with the Revised Code section behind it — including the three sentences every notice must carry and the April 2025 rule that gets a complaint dismissed.

Every form linked on this page is free, fillable in your browser, and downloadable as a PDF with no account, no membership and no paywall. Ohio tenancies run on ORC chapter 5321, with eviction — forcible entry and detainer — in chapter 1923. The two chapters are easy to confuse, and confusing them is how most Ohio evictions get thrown out: a thirty-day notice under chapter 5321 does not replace the three-day notice under chapter 1923.

The Three Sentences Every Ohio Notice Must Carry

Two further points people get wrong about it. It applies to every chapter 1923 action, not only nonpayment. And the three days is framed as a waiting period, not a notice period: the statute requires you to notify the adverse party to leave “three or more days before beginning the action”. That is a subtle but real difference in how you count — the question is not “has the notice expired” but “have three days passed before I file”.

On the counting itself we will not overstate what we know. ORC 1.14 provides generally that time is computed “by excluding the first and including the last day”, with a roll-over where the last day is a Sunday or holiday. Section 1923.04 is silent, and we could not verify that 1.14 has been applied to it. Treat that as unsettled and build a margin in.

How the notice is served — and the section people cite is the wrong one

Notice service methods are in section 1923.04(A). Section 1923.06 governs the summons, which is a different document served by the clerk. Guidance that cites 1923.06 for notice service is describing the wrong stage.

• Certified mail, return receipt requested.
• Handing a written copy to the defendant in person.
• Leaving it at the defendant’s usual place of abode.
• Leaving it at the premises from which the defendant is sought to be evicted.

There is no add-days-for-mailing rule. We checked both section 1923.04 and section 1923.06 and it is verifiably absent. Do not import the federal three-day mailing habit into an Ohio notice count. See our Ohio eviction notice laws guide.

The Ohio Two-Notice Trap

Section 5321.11 has a second feature worth understanding. The notice specifies the act or omission and states that the agreement terminates on a date “not less than thirty days after receipt of the notice” — receipt, not mailing. And cure defeats it: “If the tenant fails to remedy the condition specified in the notice, the rental agreement shall terminate as provided in the notice.” A tenant who fixes the problem keeps the tenancy.

Periodic termination — and the anchor that catches people

Tenancy	Notice	Measured from
Week-to-week	At least seven days, either party	“prior to the termination date specified in the notice”
Month-to-month	At least thirty days, either party	“prior to the periodic rental date”

Those are different anchors. The month-to-month period is not “thirty days from the notice” — it is thirty days before the periodic rental date, which in practice usually means you must serve it a full rental period ahead. Getting this wrong pushes the termination out a month.

Section 5321.17 also has a scope limit that surprises landlords: it “does not apply to a termination based on the breach of a condition of a rental agreement or the breach of a duty and obligation imposed by law”, except a section 5321.05(A)(9) drug breach. For a lease breach you are in a different regime entirely. See our Ohio lease termination laws guide.

The drug-activity three-day termination

Where the tenant violates section 5321.05(A)(9) and the landlord has actual knowledge or reasonable cause to believe a qualifying violation occurred, the landlord shall terminate on notice specifying termination three days after the giving of the notice. This is available “whether or not” anyone has been charged, pleaded guilty, been convicted or been adjudicated delinquent. It is also one of only two routes where the termination notice itself satisfies the section 1923.04 requirement.

Every Ohio Landlord Form, by Stage of the Tenancy

An alphabetical index is the least useful arrangement, because a landlord arrives knowing what has happened, not what the document is called. These are ordered by where you are in the tenancy.

Ohio’s Deposit Rules: No Cap, Narrow Interest, Double Damages

The interest rule has three cumulative conditions

“Any security deposit in excess of fifty dollars or one month’s periodic rent, whichever is greater, shall bear interest on the excess at the rate of five per cent per annum if the tenant remains in possession of the premises for six months or more, and shall be computed and paid annually.”

• Only on the excess above the greater of fifty dollars or one month’s rent — never on the whole deposit.
• Only at five per cent per year.
• Only if the tenant stays six months or more.
• Paid annually, not held to the end.

Because the threshold is the greater of the two figures, a deposit of one month’s rent generates no interest at all — which is why most Ohio deposits never do.

Return: thirty days from the later of two events

The statute is specific about which clock: deductions must be “itemized and identified by the landlord in a written notice delivered to the tenant together with the amount due, within thirty days after termination of the rental agreement and delivery of possession”. Two trigger events, and the clock runs from the later of them. A tenant who gives notice but leaves the keys three weeks later has not started your clock at the earlier date.

Permitted deductions are past due rent and damages arising from the tenant’s noncompliance with section 5321.05 or the rental agreement.

See our Ohio security deposit laws guide.

Rent Escrow: Ohio’s Distinctive Tenant Remedy

Most states give tenants repair-and-deduct. Ohio gives them the court clerk, and a landlord who does not understand section 5321.07 can find the rent has stopped arriving perfectly lawfully.

Step	Rule
Predicate	A section 5321.04 failure other than (A)(9); or a rental-agreement failure; or conditions such that the tenant reasonably believes there has been a failure; or a governmental finding of code non-compliance materially affecting health and safety
The tenant’s notice	Written, specifying the acts, omissions or code violations, sent “to the person or place where rent is normally paid”
Your window	“fails to remedy the condition within a reasonable time considering the severity of the condition and the time necessary to remedy it, or within thirty days, whichever is SOONER”
Tenant must be current	Yes — the remedy is unavailable to a tenant in arrears
Three options	(1) deposit all rent with the clerk of the municipal or county court; (2) apply to the court for an order to remedy — and may also deposit rent, seek an order reducing the periodic rent until remedy, and seek an order to use the deposited rent to remedy the condition; (3) terminate the rental agreement

Getting the money back. The clerk notifies the landlord and agent, holds the rent in a separate escrow account in the clerk’s name at an Ohio bank, keeps a separate docket, and may charge a fee of one per cent assessed as costs. You may apply to the clerk, who “shall forthwith release the rent, less costs” if the tenant gives written notice the condition is remedied; or apply to the court on the ground the tenant failed the notice requirement or was not current; or on the ground there was no violation or it has been remedied. The tenant must be named as a party, and “a trial shall be held within sixty days of the date of the filing of the landlord’s complaint” absent good cause. A tenant who escrows in bad faith is liable for damages and costs, plus fees where the bad faith was intentional.

See our Ohio habitability laws guide.

Entry: a Presumption, Not a Rule

Section 5321.04(A)(8) requires “reasonable notice of the landlord’s intent to enter and enter only at reasonable times”. Then the sentence everyone half-quotes: “Twenty-four hours is presumed to be a reasonable notice in the absence of evidence to the contrary.”

The remedies run both directions. A tenant may recover actual damages, injunctive relief to prevent recurrence, reasonable attorney’s fees, or termination — and that is available for an unlawful entry, a lawful entry made in an unreasonable manner, or repeated otherwise-lawful demands for entry that harass. A landlord unreasonably denied access may recover actual damages plus fees and injunctive relief to compel access. See our Ohio landlord entry laws guide.

Court: Summons, Continuances and the Writ

Stage	Rule
Where	Before “any judge of a county or municipal court or a court of common pleas”
Limitation — two years	“An action shall be brought under this chapter within two years after the cause of action accrues”, § 1923.01(B), effective 9 April 2025
Summons — 7 days	Served “at least seven days before the day set for trial”. The clerk shall mail by ordinary mail with a copy of the complaint, evidenced by a certificate of mailing, and in addition cause service under the personal or certified-mail tiers as requested
Personal tier	Tender at the premises; leave with a person of suitable age and discretion found at the premises; or post conspicuously. Return within five days
Service complete when	Personal or suitable-age service; or both ordinary mail and posting; or for certified mail, on the date of mailing if by the hearing date it has not been returned other than refused or unclaimed, and the ordinary mail has not been returned
Hearing floor	Scheduled per local rules but “in no event sooner than the seventh day from the date service is complete”
Answer day — the split	There is no answer requirement for the possession claim itself; the answer day for any other claims is twenty-eight days from completion of service
Continuances capped at 8 days	“No continuance… shall be granted for a period longer than eight days, unless the plaintiff applies for the continuance and the defendant consents, or unless the defendant applies and gives a bond” conditioned for accruing rent
Writ — 10 days	On judgment the court shall issue a writ commanding the defendant “to be forthwith removed”. “within ten days after receiving a writ of execution… the sheriff, police officer, constable, or bailiff shall execute it by restoring the plaintiff to possession”, levying reasonable costs not exceeding the standard motion fee
On appeal	If an appeal is filed and a stay is obtained and any required bond filed, the judge immediately delays all further proceedings — and if the premises were already restored, the officer “shall forthwith place the defendant in possession”
Small claims	Six thousand dollars, exclusive of interest and costs. Excludes libel, slander, replevin, malicious prosecution, abuse of process, claims by an assignee or agent, and punitive damages

Defences and counterclaims. “Any defense… may be asserted at trial.” The tenant may counterclaim in a nonpayment or rent-collection possession action; the court may order past-due and accruing rent paid into court, and the net judgment is paid first from money paid in.

There is also a post-judgment power landlords rarely anticipate: the court may order a governmental agency to look over the premises. If section 5321.04 violations are found and the premises have been vacated, the court may forbid re-rental until they are corrected. If the tenant may remain, it may order the conditions corrected; if the tenant caused them, it may award the landlord the reasonable cost of correction. See our Ohio landlord-tenant laws guide.

What Changed: the April 2025 Minor-Tenant Rule

Otherwise Ohio has been remarkably static. Chapter 5321 saw no amendments in 2024 to 2026 — every section carries a pre-2024 effective date and the official chapter index shows the last update as August 2023. In chapter 1923 only sections 1923.01 and 1923.05 changed. We detected no future-effective versions of any section on this pass.

One older change still matters a great deal. Rent control is preempted. Section 5321.19(A), effective 23 September 2022, bars any political subdivision from adopting or enforcing a measure conflicting with chapter 5321 or regulating rental-agreement rights and obligations, “including, without limitation, by any way imposing or requiring rent control or rent stabilization”. See our Ohio rent increase laws guide.

Late Fees, NSF Charges and Self-Help

Ohio has no statutory grace period and no late fee cap. Both are verifiably absent from chapter 5321. What governs is section 5321.06 freedom of contract, bounded by section 5321.13’s prohibited terms and section 5321.14’s unconscionability rule. Your lease is the instrument — and an unreasonable fee is attacked as unconscionable, not as exceeding a cap. See our Ohio late fee laws guide.

The bounced-cheque cap people quote is not a landlord rule. ORC 1319.16 caps collection agency check-collection charges at “not more than thirty dollars or ten per cent of the face amount, whichever is greater”, plus the financial institution’s charge, with written notice by regular mail. That addresses collection agencies. There is no landlord-specific NSF cap in chapter 5321.

One small but absolute rule that catches lease templates: section 5321.131 voids any lease restriction on displaying the United States flag, the POW/MIA flag, the Ohio flag or a Defense-Department-approved service flag. “Any violation of this section is against public policy and unenforceable.”

Which Ohio Form Do I Need?

1. The tenant has not paid rent. Three-day notice with the mandatory wording, then file — three or more days later.
2. The tenant is doing something that materially affects health and safety. Section 5321.11 notice, thirty days from receipt, cure allowed. Then a separate three-day notice before filing.
3. You want a month-to-month tenant out with no fault. Thirty days before the periodic rental date. Then a separate three-day notice.
4. It is a week-to-week. Seven days before the termination date stated in the notice.
5. There is drug activity. Section 5321.17(C) three-day termination — and this one does satisfy the pre-filing requirement.
6. You want to raise the rent. Use the month-to-month timing, counted back from the periodic rental date.
7. You need to get into the property. Reasonable notice at a reasonable time; twenty-four hours in writing is the safe course.
8. The tenant has moved out. Thirty days from the later of termination and delivery of possession, itemised in writing, delivered with the balance.

How to Fill Out an Ohio Three-Day Notice

1. Put the mandatory three sentences on it, conspicuously. This is the step most defective Ohio notices miss.
2. Name every adult tenant — and check whether any occupant is a minor, because since April 2025 that changes who may be named in the complaint.
3. Describe the premises as the rental agreement does.
4. State clearly that the tenant is asked to leave, and the ground.
5. Serve it one of the four ways in section 1923.04(A) — certified mail return receipt, in person, at the usual place of abode, or at the premises.
6. Do not add days for mailing. Ohio has no such rule.
7. Wait three or more days before filing. The statute frames it as a pre-filing waiting period, and because the counting rule is not settled in the section, build in a margin rather than filing on the earliest arguable day.
8. Check whether you needed a thirty-day notice first. For a month-to-month termination or a health-and-safety breach, the three-day notice alone is not enough.

What Happens If the Form Is Wrong

The distinctively Ohio failure is the missing mandatory language. Three sentences, and a notice without them is not a notice under section 1923.04.

The second is the two-notice trap — serving thirty days and then filing, without the intervening three-day notice, in the belief that the longer notice must include the shorter.

The third is counting the month-to-month period from the notice instead of back from the periodic rental date.

And since April 2025 there is a fourth, with a built-in penalty: naming a minor tenant alongside a parent or guardian. That is a mandatory dismissal and a fee award, and no argument on the merits will save it.

What This Page Does Not Have

We would rather scope this honestly than promise documents we do not host. Ohio landlords also commonly want a rental application, a sublease, a roommate agreement, a commercial lease, a pet addendum, a lease amendment, an adverse action notice and a security deposit return letter. Those are not published here as Ohio-specific forms.

Common Ohio Landlord Form Mistakes

• Omitting the mandatory three sentences, or printing them in the same type as everything else.
• Filing after a thirty-day notice without the separate three-day notice.
• Assuming section 5321.11 is an eviction notice. It terminates the agreement.
• Counting a month-to-month notice from the date served rather than back from the periodic rental date.
• Using section 5321.17 for a lease breach. It expressly does not apply to one.
• Adding days for mailing. Ohio has no such rule.
• Citing section 1923.06 for notice service. That section governs the summons.
• Filing on the third day when the counting rule for that section is unsettled.
• Naming a minor tenant alongside a parent or adult guardian — mandatory dismissal plus their fees.
• Believing the deposit is capped at fifty dollars. There is no cap; that is the interest threshold.
• Paying interest on the whole deposit, or before six months, or holding it to the end rather than paying annually.
• Starting the thirty-day return clock at termination when possession came later.
• Keeping the deposit because no forwarding address arrived. That forfeits the penalty, not the deposit.
• Assuming thirty days to fix an escrowed condition. It is a reasonable time or thirty days, whichever is sooner.
• Relying on the three-or-fewer-units escrow exemption without having given the written notice that creates it.
• Quoting an eight-to-eight entry window. No hours appear in the statute.
• Treating twenty-four hours as an absolute entry rule. It is a rebuttable presumption.
• Applying the thirty-dollar bounced-cheque cap. That governs collection agencies.
• Shutting off utilities or changing locks. All damages plus attorney fees.

Free Fillable Forms Versus the Paid Ohio Form Sites

Ohio’s results page runs to about two thousand words at its deepest, and the shape of that content is telling: it is mostly a list of documents. That is exactly the wrong shape for Ohio, because Ohio’s difficulty is not which document but how many and in what order.

A perfectly drafted thirty-day notice, served perfectly, still gets your case dismissed if you file on it. A perfectly drafted three-day notice without three specific sentences is not a notice. Neither problem is visible from a form’s file name, and neither is solved by a nicer template.

Every form linked from this page is free, fills in the browser, and downloads as a finished PDF. There is no account, no trial and no upsell attached to the documents themselves. What we ask in return is straightforward: if you are about to hand keys to someone, run the screening first, because nearly every dispute described on this page is cheaper to prevent than to litigate.

Ohio Landlord Forms: FAQ

Related Ohio Guides

• Ohio landlord-tenant laws — the full statutory overview.
• Ohio eviction notice laws — the mandatory wording and the four service methods.
• Ohio security deposit laws — the interest threshold and double damages.
• Ohio rent increase laws — timing and the rent-control preemption.
• Ohio lease termination laws — the two-notice sequence explained.
• Ohio breaking lease laws — early termination and mitigation.
• Ohio late fee laws — freedom of contract and its limits.
• Ohio landlord entry laws — the presumption and the remedies.
• Ohio habitability laws — repair duties and the escrow remedy.
• Ohio pet and ESA laws — pets, deposits and assistance animals.
• Ohio tenant screening laws — screening, reports and adverse action.

About the Author

Published by Tenant Screening Background Check · Editorial Team

Established 2004. Our editorial team has spent two decades helping landlords and property managers run lawful tenant screening and follow state landlord-tenant codes across all fifty states. Ohio’s second-publisher tier was entirely unreachable on this pass, so every statutory row here rests on the state’s own code site, with one exception: the mandatory notice wording, which we confirmed word-for-word against the Ohio Access to Justice Foundation. Where we could not read a source — the appeal window in particular — we print no number rather than repeat one.

Updated 2026

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Last reviewed 2026. This page is general information about Ohio landlord-tenant law, not legal advice. It rests on the state’s official code text; the usual secondary publishers were unreachable on this pass, so the eviction appeal window, court form numbers and filing fees are deliberately absent rather than guessed, and we do not state that the general day-counting rule applies to the section 1923.04 period. Section 1923.05’s minor-tenant rule took effect 9 April 2025. Ohio eviction practice is heavily local-rule-driven and filing costs are set by each court. Confirm the current position with your county or municipal court or an Ohio attorney before serving a notice or filing a case.