How many hours' notice must a landlord give before entering in Ohio?

No fixed statutory period (see notice standard). Ohio requires reasonable notice of intent to enter, and twenty-four hours is presumed reasonable in the absence of evidence to the contrary (ORC 5321.04(A)(8)).

What reasons allow a landlord to enter a rental in Ohio?

A landlord may enter to inspect the premises, make ordinary, necessary, or agreed repairs, decorations, alterations, or improvements, deliver parcels too large for mail facilities, supply necessary or agreed services, and show the unit to prospective or actual purchasers, mortgagees, tenants, workmen, or contractors.

Can a landlord enter without notice in an emergency in Ohio?

Yes — Ohio recognizes an emergency exception to the entry-notice requirement.

How much notice must a landlord give before entering in Ohio?

Verified October 1, 2026 All Ohio topics →

Legislative changes ahead — not yet in force. This page reflects the law in force today. The following measures would change Ohio's landlord-tenant law:

H.B. 368 (136th General Assembly) — sealing of eviction records after three years — Would enact a new section of the eviction chapter requiring an eviction record to be sealed three years after the case. Ohio has no eviction-record sealing or suppression statute today, so enactment would create one and would change what a screening report can lawfully show about an applicant's eviction history. Status: Introduced in the House on June 18, 2025 and referred to committee on September 15, 2025. There has been no action since, no signature and no effective date. The 136th General Assembly runs through December 31, 2026. (checked October 1, 2026).
S.B. 204 (136th General Assembly) — suppression of eviction records in certain circumstances — Would amend the eviction chapter's answer-and-hearing section and enact the same new section number as the House bill, but to allow a court to suppress an eviction record in certain circumstances rather than to require sealing after a fixed period. The two bills cannot both take effect as drafted because they would enact the same section. Status: Introduced in the Senate on May 20, 2025 and referred to committee on May 28, 2025. There has been no action since, no signature and no effective date. The 136th General Assembly runs through December 31, 2026. (checked October 1, 2026).

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.

Cited to ORC 5321.04 (A)(8), (B) and 1 more cited source · Verified October 1, 2026

Tenants, in turn, may not unreasonably withhold consent for legitimate entries like inspections, repairs, and showings. A landlord who enters unlawfully, enters lawfully but unreasonably, or uses repeated entry demands to harass the tenant is liable for actual damages, injunctive relief, and attorney's fees, or the tenant may terminate the lease. Because the 24-hour figure is a rebuttable presumption rather than a fixed floor, more notice is the safer practice for anything non-urgent.

Ohio entry notice at a glance

Advance notice required	No fixed statutory period (see notice standard)
Notice standard	Ohio requires reasonable notice of intent to enter, and twenty-four hours is presumed reasonable in the absence of evidence to the contrary (ORC 5321.04(A)(8)). Except in an emergency or where notice is impracticable, the landlord must give that reasonable notice and may enter only at reasonable times.
Permitted reasons	A landlord may enter to inspect the premises, make ordinary, necessary, or agreed repairs, decorations, alterations, or improvements, deliver parcels too large for mail facilities, supply necessary or agreed services, and show the unit to prospective or actual purchasers, mortgagees, tenants, workmen, or contractors. For those entries the tenant may not unreasonably withhold consent, and the entry rights flow from ORC 5321.05(B).
Emergency exception	Yes
Time-of-day restrictions	Not addressed by statute

Cite this page: "Landlord Atlas, Ohio Landlord Entry Notice Laws (verified October 1, 2026), landlordatlas.com/laws/entry-notice/ohio/" — free to cite and quote with a link (how these records are verified). Everything above is cited in the citations section below.

Notes and caveats

24 hours is a presumption, not a fixed minimum — ORC 5321.04(A)(8) mandates no fixed notice period; it presumes 24 hours is reasonable in the absence of evidence to the contrary. That is why the notice-hours field is blank rather than set to 24.
Read comparison tables as '24 hours (presumed reasonable)' — A bare '24' in a fifty-state chart overstates the Ohio statute. The accurate rendering is '24 hours (presumed reasonable).'

Common questions: Ohio entry notice

Each answer is the verified value from the table above, restated as a direct answer. Free to quote with a link to this page.

How many hours' notice must a landlord give before entering in Ohio?: No fixed statutory period (see notice standard). Ohio requires reasonable notice of intent to enter, and twenty-four hours is presumed reasonable in the absence of evidence to the contrary (ORC 5321.04(A)(8)).
What reasons allow a landlord to enter a rental in Ohio?: A landlord may enter to inspect the premises, make ordinary, necessary, or agreed repairs, decorations, alterations, or improvements, deliver parcels too large for mail facilities, supply necessary or agreed services, and show the unit to prospective or actual purchasers, mortgagees, tenants, workmen, or contractors.
Can a landlord enter without notice in an emergency in Ohio?: Yes — Ohio recognizes an emergency exception to the entry-notice requirement.
Are there time-of-day limits on when a landlord can enter in Ohio?: Not addressed by statute.

Citations

ORC 5321.04 · (A)(8), (B) (verified 2026) Official source
ORC 5321.05 · (B) (verified 2026) Official source

How this record was verified: Direct read of Ohio Revised Code text on the official codes.ohio.gov site (Legislative Service Commission). October 1, 2026: every section the security deposit, rent increase, late fee, entry and eviction answers rest on was read in full there with its effective-date line: R.C. 5321.01 to 5321.06, 5321.11, 5321.13 to 5321.17, 5321.19 and 5321.20; 1923.01 to 1923.15; 1.14; and, for manufactured home parks, 4781.38, 4781.40 and 4781.50. The 2022 act that bars local rent control (H.B. 430, 134th General Assembly, effective September 23, 2022) and S.B. 237 (135th General Assembly, effective April 9, 2025) were read in their enrolled texts on the General Assembly's site. The Rules of Civil Procedure and Rules of Appellate Procedure, and the court decisions cited, were read on the Supreme Court of Ohio's site. The city ordinances named in the late-fee and eviction notes were read in the cities' published codes.