Ohio security deposit law
Your landlord is on a clock, and most tenants never find out it exists. Here is what the statute actually says — quoted, with a link so you can read it yourself.
30 days after the rental agreement ends and you hand back possession, your landlord must return the deposit and itemize any deductions in a written notice.
- Itemization
- Required. Every deduction must be itemized and identified in writing.
- If they get it wrong
- You may recover the money due plus damages equal to the amount wrongfully withheld, together with reasonable attorney's fees — commonly described as double damages.
- Statute
- Ohio Rev. Code § 5321.16
The part most people miss
Ohio has a trap that costs tenants their entire remedy: you must give the landlord a forwarding address in writing. Miss that step and you forfeit the damages and the attorney's fees, even where the landlord was plainly in the wrong. Put it in writing, and keep proof you sent it.
The tenant shall provide the landlord in writing with a forwarding address or new address to which the written notice and amount due from the landlord may be sent.
Ohio Rev. Code § 5321.16(B)
Where that leaves you
Work out the date you handed back possession, then count. If the deadline has passed and nothing arrived, that fact alone carries weight under Ohio law — read the statute above and see where you stand.
If you are still living there, or about to move out, the most useful thing you can do takes fifteen minutes. Nearly every dispute reduces to a single question — was that damage there before you were — and the person holding dated photographs is the one who wins it.
Check your exact timeline for Ohio
Other states
How this was sourced: Statutory text read at codes.ohio.gov (§ 5321.16), 19 Aug 2026.