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

30 days. The landlord must deliver a written notice itemizing every deduction, together with the amount due. The clock runs from termination of the rental agreement and delivery of possession.

What happens if a landlord does not return the deposit on time in Ohio?

A landlord who misses the 30-day return and itemization duty owes the tenant the money due plus damages equal to the amount wrongfully withheld — double that portion, in effect — plus reasonable attorney's fees (ORC 5321.16(C)).

Do landlords have to pay interest on security deposits in Ohio?

Yes — Ohio requires interest on the security deposit to be paid to the tenant. Interest is owed only on the part of a deposit that exceeds $50 or one month's rent, whichever is greater, and only if the tenant stays six months or more. A standard one-month deposit therefore earns nothing.

What are the security deposit rules 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 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.

Cited to ORC 5321.16 (A)-(C) · Verified October 1, 2026

Wrongful withholding is expensive: the tenant recovers the amount wrongfully withheld plus damages equal to that amount (double, in effect) plus reasonable attorney's fees, but only if the tenant gave a written forwarding address. Deposits exceeding the greater of $50 or one month's rent earn 5% annual interest on the excess when the tenant stays six months or more, which means a standard one-month deposit typically earns nothing. Ohio requires no escrow or separate account, so the main compliance burden is the 30-day itemization clock.

Ohio security deposits at a glance

Maximum deposit	No statutory cap
Return deadline	30 days
Deadline conditions	The landlord must deliver a written notice itemizing every deduction, together with the amount due. The clock runs from termination of the rental agreement and delivery of possession. Any deduction must be itemized and identified in that written notice, delivered to the tenant with the amount due within 30 days after termination of the rental agreement and delivery of possession. The tenant must provide a written forwarding or new address; failing to do so does not excuse the landlord's 30-day duty but bars the tenant from recovering the statutory damages and attorney's fees under 5321.16(C).
Itemization required	Yes
Itemization rules	Written notice itemizing and identifying each deduction, delivered with the balance due within 30 days. The deposit may be applied to past-due rent and to damages from the tenant's noncompliance with ORC 5321.05 or the rental agreement; ordinary wear and tear is not chargeable.
Separate account required	No
Interest owed to tenant	Yes
Account & interest rules	Interest is owed only on the part of a deposit that exceeds $50 or one month's rent, whichever is greater, and only if the tenant stays six months or more. A standard one-month deposit therefore earns nothing. The excess bears 5% per annum interest, computed and paid annually (ORC 5321.16(A)). In practice this only bites when the deposit exceeds one month's rent, so most standard one-month deposits earn no statutory interest.
Pet deposits	No statute addresses a pet deposit, and no general deposit cap exists for one to count against. The pet-deposit rule, pet rent and fees, and the assistance-animal rules are on the pets and assistance animals page.
Non-refundable fees allowed	Not addressed by statute
Penalty for violation	A landlord who misses the 30-day return and itemization duty owes the tenant the money due plus damages equal to the amount wrongfully withheld — double that portion, in effect — plus reasonable attorney's fees (ORC 5321.16(C)). The tenant forfeits the damages and fee remedies, though not the deposit itself, by failing to supply a forwarding address.
Tenant forwarding-address duty	The tenant shall provide the landlord in writing with a forwarding or new address to which the notice and amount due may be sent; failure bars recovery of damages and attorney's fees under 5321.16(C) (ORC 5321.16(B)).

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

Generate a Ohio security-deposit return letter — free, no signup, built on the same verified Ohio law as this page.

Editable Ohio deposit kit — the deposit disposition letter, the move-in receipt with the custody and interest statements, a deposits-held register with the return deadline computed, and the rules fact sheet built on the verified Ohio rules on this page, in Word, fillable PDF and Excel.

Notes and caveats

No deposit cap — the blank field means silence, not zero — No Ohio statute caps the amount of a residential security deposit, which is why the maximum-deposit field is empty.
No escrow or separate-account rule — ORC 5321.16 imposes no storage or segregation requirement, so a landlord is not obliged to hold the deposit apart from other funds.
'Double' applies to the withheld portion, not the whole deposit — ORC 5321.16(C) awards the amount wrongfully withheld plus damages equal to that amount. Courts apply that doubling to the wrongfully withheld portion, not automatically to the entire deposit — a distinction worth stating precisely.

Common questions: Ohio security deposits

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 much can a landlord charge for a security deposit in Ohio?: No statutory cap.
How long does a landlord have to return a security deposit in Ohio?: 30 days. The landlord must deliver a written notice itemizing every deduction, together with the amount due. The clock runs from termination of the rental agreement and delivery of possession.
What happens if a landlord does not return the deposit on time in Ohio?: A landlord who misses the 30-day return and itemization duty owes the tenant the money due plus damages equal to the amount wrongfully withheld — double that portion, in effect — plus reasonable attorney's fees (ORC 5321.16(C)).
Do landlords have to pay interest on security deposits in Ohio?: Yes — Ohio requires interest on the security deposit to be paid to the tenant. Interest is owed only on the part of a deposit that exceeds $50 or one month's rent, whichever is greater, and only if the tenant stays six months or more. A standard one-month deposit therefore earns nothing.
Can a landlord charge a non-refundable fee in Ohio?: Not addressed by statute.

Citations

ORC 5321.16 · (A)-(C) (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.