Maintenance & Repairs Clause
in Your Lease
What it actually means, what Ohio law says, what's specific to Columbus - and exactly what to do. In plain English.
Quick Summary - What You Need to Know
- The count starts on writing, not on a phone call. Ohio Rev. Code § 5321.07(A) applies where the landlord 'fails to fulfill any obligation imposed upon him by section 5321.04 of the Revised Code' or by the rental agreement, and provides that 'the tenant may give notice in writing to the landlord, specifying the acts, omissions, or code violations that constitute noncompliance. The notice shall be sent to the person or place where rent is normally paid.'
- Ohio Rev. Code § 5321.07(B) reaches a landlord who 'after receipt of the notice 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'. The words whichever is sooner are what make thirty a ceiling.
- The same division adds a condition on the tenant: the remedies open only 'if the tenant is current in rent payments due under the rental agreement'.
- What waits at the end is court machinery rather than self help. § 5321.07(B) lets the tenant 'Deposit all rent that is due and thereafter becomes due the landlord with the clerk of the municipal or county court', 'Apply to the court for an order directing the landlord to remedy the condition', or 'Terminate the rental agreement.'
- Two exclusions cut real tenancies out of the whole mechanism. § 5321.07(C) says the section 'does not apply to any 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, in the case of an oral tenancy, delivers written notice of that fact to the tenant at the time of initial occupancy', and § 5321.07(D) says it 'does not apply to a dwelling unit occupied by a student tenant.'
Understanding the Maintenance & Repairs Clause
Your maintenance and repairs clause settles two questions: whose job the broken thing is, and how long the person whose job it is may take. Ohio answers the second one with a number that is easy to read backwards.
That number is thirty, and it is a ceiling. Ohio Rev. Code § 5321.07(B) measures the landlord's failure against 'a reasonable time considering the severity of the condition and the time necessary to remedy it, or within thirty days, whichever is sooner', so a dead furnace in February and a slow drain are not on the same clock even though one figure covers both.
The statutory wording on this page was read on a commercial republisher of the Revised Code rather than on the State of Ohio's own publication, on pages carrying the line Current as of January 01, 2026. Open § 5321.07 and read the current text yourself before a date from this page goes into a letter.
What renters assume
That thirty days is the period an Ohio landlord is entitled to, so a renter with no heat waits out the month before anything can be done about it.
What is actually true
The statute puts thirty at the far end of the range rather than at the near end. Ohio Rev. Code § 5321.07(B) runs to 'a reasonable time considering the severity of the condition and the time necessary to remedy it, or within thirty days, whichever is sooner', and severity is the first thing that sentence asks about.
The chart draws twenty-two rows and Columbus joins the tallest group. Four of the twenty-two rows sit at 30 days: Los Angeles, Portland, Columbus and Baltimore. Five carry 14: Chicago, Nashville, Boston, Las Vegas and Minneapolis. Seattle and Phoenix carry 10, and Austin and Miami carry 7.
Nine of the twenty-two rows show no day count. Those jurisdictions are New York City, Denver, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Washington, Newark, Detroit, Charlotte and Milwaukee.
A bar has room for a figure and not for the sentence around it, and on Ohio's row that sentence is the whole point. Los Angeles and Portland share the height, but the Ohio thirty arrives with 'whichever is sooner' attached to it, so a Columbus renter reading only the bar would take the longest reading of a provision written to shorten itself. Read the label before you read the height.
Plain English Version
Put the problem in writing and send it where you send the rent. From the moment that notice arrives, your landlord has whatever is reasonable for the severity of the problem, and never more than thirty days. If nothing is fixed and you are current on rent, the routes open to you run through a court: pay your rent to the clerk of court instead of to the landlord, ask a judge to order the repair, or end the agreement. Two groups of tenants are left outside the section entirely, so check whether you are one of them before you count anything.
Repairs Clause Example - What the Wording Looks Like in Columbus, OH
The sample clause below is real lease language - a court quoted it word for word, and then ruled on it. What the judge decided is at the bottom of this block.
Find the equivalent paragraph in your own lease and read the two side by side. The wording will differ; the moving parts rarely do.
The apartment lease this was taken from puts the sentence below at the head of its reimbursement paragraph; more of that paragraph exists than is shown.
REIMBURSEMENT. You must promptly reimburse us for loss, damage, or cost of repairs or service caused anywhere in the apartment community by your or any guest's or occupant's improper use or negligence.
Quoted from the published opinion in Churchill Forge, Inc. v. Brown, 61 S.W.3d 368 (Tex. 2001). Judicial opinions are not subject to copyright; the lease language is reproduced in limited part for commentary under 17 U.S.C. § 107.
“promptly reimburse us for”
The promptness this sentence demands is the tenant's. Ohio's own timing runs the other way. § 5321.07(A) gives a tenant the route only where the landlord “fails to fulfill any obligation imposed upon him by section 5321.04 of the Revised Code” or by the rental agreement, and only once the tenant has given notice in writing specifying the acts, omissions or code violations. § 5321.07 works off the landlord's obligations under § 5321.04(A)(2) and § 5321.04(A)(6), and those divisions are worth reading as they stand today.
“damage, or cost of repairs or service”
This is the part that turns damage into a charge. What § 5321.07(B) gives a tenant runs through a courthouse instead: the rent goes to “the clerk of the municipal or county court” rather than to the landlord, or the tenant asks the court to order the condition remedied, or the tenancy ends. None of the three is self help. Our Ohio record is about what § 5321.04 requires of a landlord; it does not reach what a lease may bill a tenant for.
“caused anywhere in the apartment”
The lease sorts damage by place; the section sorts the landlord's time by severity. After the notice the landlord has a “reasonable time considering the severity of the condition and the time necessary to remedy it, or within thirty days, whichever is sooner”. Whichever is sooner is the working half: thirty days is the outer limit, and a dead furnace is not a thirty day condition. Confirm the figure in the current text.
“occupant's improper use or negligence”
The lease divides by fault. § 5321.07 divides by tenancy. Division (C) takes the section away from a landlord party to “rental agreements that cover three or fewer dwelling units” who gives notice of that fact in the written rental agreement, or in writing when an oral tenancy begins. Division (D) says it “does not apply to a dwelling unit occupied by a student tenant.” Both are carve outs our Ohio record flags for Columbus.
The sentence stood, and the case went back. The Texas Supreme Court held the reimbursement clause enforceable, reversed summary judgment for the co-signing tenant and remanded the case. The route matters more than the result: Tex. Prop. Code § 92.006 bars only a contractual waiver of repair duties the landlord actually owes under Subchapter B, and § 92.052(b) gives a landlord no duty to repair damage caused by the tenant, an occupant or a guest. With no duty on that damage there was nothing to waive, so neither the Property Code nor public policy stopped the parties agreeing the tenant would pay. Why a renter should care: the clause reached a cotenant who had not herself been negligent, because it covers your guests and your occupants as well as you. Justice Baker dissented and would have voided the sentence for failing § 92.006(e) - its requirement that such an agreement cover one dwelling, and the requirement in § 92.006(e)(4) that it be conspicuous and underlined. This is 2001 Texas law, decided on the Texas Property Code. It is state-specific and not a national rule: a differently worded statute produced the opposite answer in Iowa in 2016.
One court, one lease, one state. That answer is not automatically yours, and your lease may be worded to land differently. Use this to know what to look for and what to ask - your state's tenant hotline or a local tenant attorney can answer it for your document.
Ohio Law on Maintenance & Repairs Clause
- The clock only starts on writing. Section 5321.07(A) lets the tenant act where the landlord "fails to fulfill any obligation imposed upon him by section 5321.04 of the Revised Code" or by the rental agreement, and provides that "the tenant may give notice in writing to the landlord, specifying the acts, omissions, or code violations that constitute noncompliance. The notice shall be sent to the person or place where rent is normally paid." A verbal complaint to a leasing office does not start the period.
- The thirty days is a ceiling, not an entitlement. Section 5321.07(B) applies where the landlord "after receipt of the notice 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, and if the tenant is current in rent payments due under the rental agreement". The words whichever is sooner mean a severe defect must be fixed well inside thirty days.
- What the tenant gets at the end of the period is a set of court routed remedies rather than a self help right. Section 5321.07(B) then permits the tenant to "Deposit all rent that is due and thereafter becomes due the landlord with the clerk of the municipal or county court", to "Apply to the court for an order directing the landlord to remedy the condition", or to "Terminate the rental agreement." Being current in rent is a precondition written into the same division.
- Two exclusions cut real Columbus tenancies out of the whole mechanism. Section 5321.07(C) says the section "does not apply to any 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, in the case of an oral tenancy, delivers written notice of that fact to the tenant at the time of initial occupancy". Section 5321.07(D) says it "does not apply to a dwelling unit occupied by a student tenant."
Sources include Ohio Rev. Code § 5321.07(A), (B), (C), (D); Ohio Rev. Code § 5321.04(A)(2); Ohio Rev. Code § 5321.04(A)(6) - statutes change; verify the current text for your situation.
Ohio's repair clock does not start by itself. Ohio Rev. Code § 5321.07(A) applies where a landlord 'fails to fulfill any obligation imposed upon him by section 5321.04 of the Revised Code' or by the rental agreement, and gives the tenant the first move: 'the tenant may give notice in writing to the landlord, specifying the acts, omissions, or code violations that constitute noncompliance.'
Where that notice goes is written into the same division. 'The notice shall be sent to the person or place where rent is normally paid.' A complaint made at a leasing counter, or to a maintenance line, is not what the sentence describes.
Then comes the figure. § 5321.07(B) reaches the landlord who 'after receipt of the notice 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'. Two standards are being run against each other and the shorter one wins, which is why the severity of what broke is the first thing to establish in your own file.
The same sentence carries a condition on you as well as on the landlord. The remedies open only 'if the tenant is current in rent payments due under the rental agreement', so falling behind while you wait can close the route you were waiting to use.
What the section then offers is a set of court routed options rather than a right to act alone. The tenant may 'Deposit all rent that is due and thereafter becomes due the landlord with the clerk of the municipal or county court', may 'Apply to the court for an order directing the landlord to remedy the condition', or may 'Terminate the rental agreement.'
Before counting any of it, check that the section reaches you. § 5321.07(C) says it 'does not apply to any 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, in the case of an oral tenancy, delivers written notice of that fact to the tenant at the time of initial occupancy', and § 5321.07(D) says it 'does not apply to a dwelling unit occupied by a student tenant.' A small landlord who gave the notice, and a student tenant, are outside the mechanism this page describes.
Ohio Tenant Protections
Ohio gives you a clock you start yourself and a ceiling on how long it can run. Under Ohio Rev. Code § 5321.07(A) the tenant may give notice in writing to the landlord specifying the acts, omissions, or code violations that constitute noncompliance with an obligation imposed by section 5321.04 of the Revised Code or by the rental agreement, and that notice shall be sent to the person or place where rent is normally paid.
Section 5321.07(B) then reaches a landlord who after receipt of the notice 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, and where the tenant is current in rent payments due under the rental agreement.
At that point the tenant may deposit all rent that is due and thereafter becomes due the landlord with the clerk of the municipal or county court, apply to the court for an order directing the landlord to remedy the condition, or terminate the rental agreement.
Two exclusions sit in the same section and both are worth checking before relying on any of it: section 5321.07(C) says the section does not apply to any 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, in the case of an oral tenancy, delivers written notice of that fact to the tenant at the time of initial occupancy, and section 5321.07(D) says it does not apply to a dwelling unit occupied by a student tenant.
What's Specific to Columbus
Figures are the state rule, or the stronger city ordinance where one exists. Verify the current law for your own situation before relying on it.
Columbus is a city inside a state, so this page has two layers to read rather than one, and on this clause they do different jobs. The state layer supplies the day count. The city layer supplies duties and an enforcement process, and our Ohio record found no Columbus figure to put against the thirty.
What our Ohio record read on the city side was Columbus City Codes Title 45, the Housing Code, Chapter 4551, on a commercial code publisher's site labelled Supplement 85 and codified through Ordinance No. 0923-2026, enacted April 20, 2026. It read the bodies of 4551.01 through 4551.081, and the body of Chapter 4509, Enforcement; Notice; Penalties.
Those sections do real work. Columbus City Code § 4551.01 imposes maintenance duties on owners, and Chapter 4509 runs a violation, appeal and abatement process behind them. What they do not do is hand a landlord a number of days to finish a repair for a tenant. No Columbus ordinance our Ohio record read gives one, which is why the figure on this page is the state figure.
Two limits on that reading are worth stating plainly. Our Ohio record read the bodies of § 5321.01 through § 5321.20 on a commercial republisher of the Revised Code, and read the Columbus chapters on a commercial code publisher, so both layers came to this page from a republished text rather than from the government's own. Read § 5321.07 and Chapter 4551 as they stand today before you put a date in a letter or a filing.
A third limit belongs beside those two, and it is a state one. Ohio Rev. Code § 5321.19(A) stops a political subdivision maintaining a local measure over ground that Chapter 5321 has already legislated between landlord and tenant, while § 5321.19(B)(1) lifts a "Housing, building, health, or safety code" of a political subdivision out of that bar. Columbus City Codes Title 45 is the city's Housing Code, and the owner duties in § 4551.01 and the process in Chapter 4509 are presented above in the form the city enacted them. Whether they would be treated as caught by the first provision or preserved by the second is a judicial question. This guide reaches no view on it, one way or the other, and anyone whose dispute turns on the city layer wants advice rather than an inference drawn off a guide.
That is the address the statute cares about. Ohio Rev. Code § 5321.07(A) requires the notice to be 'sent to the person or place where rent is normally paid', so a lease that names it removes an argument before it starts.
Useful, because § 5321.07(A) reaches a failure of an obligation imposed either by section 5321.04 of the Revised Code or by the rental agreement, so what the paragraph promises is part of what the notice can specify.
Question it. § 5321.07(B) measures the failure against 'a reasonable time considering the severity of the condition and the time necessary to remedy it, or within thirty days, whichever is sooner'.
Read it closely rather than skipping it. § 5321.07(C) takes the section away from a landlord party to rental agreements covering three or fewer dwelling units who provides notice of that fact in a written rental agreement, so that sentence in your lease changes which rules you have.
Sources
The law this guide relies on, and where to read it. Statutes change, so confirm the current text before you act on it.
- Ohio Rev. Code § 5321.07(A), (B), (C), (D); Ohio Rev. Code § 5321.04(A)(2); Ohio Rev. Code § 5321.04(A)(6); Ohio Rev. Code § 5321.19(A); Ohio Rev. Code § 5321.19(B)(1); Ohio Rev. Code § 5321.20, read on codes.findlaw.com. Ohio publishes the official text at codes.ohio.gov.
Red Flags to Watch Out For
-
Repairs promised without a date
Open wording invites indefinite waiting. Ohio Rev. Code § 5321.07(B) runs against 'a reasonable time considering the severity of the condition and the time necessary to remedy it, or within thirty days, whichever is sooner', so ask what the lease thinks reasonable means here.
-
A repair line instead of an address
§ 5321.07(A) requires notice to be sent to the person or place where rent is normally paid. A clause steering every complaint to an app or a phone line can leave you with no notice the section recognises.
-
'Thirty days' written in as the landlord's right
The statute puts thirty at the outer end, not the near end. § 5321.07(B) reaches whichever is sooner of thirty days and a reasonable time judged by severity.
-
A small-landlord notice buried in the boilerplate
§ 5321.07(C) takes the section away from a landlord party to rental agreements covering three or fewer dwelling units who provides notice of that fact in the written rental agreement. That sentence is worth finding before you sign, not after.
-
Rent described as owed whatever happens
Read that against § 5321.07(B), which lets a tenant deposit all rent that is due and thereafter becomes due with the clerk of the municipal or county court once the period has run.
Your Rights as a Columbus Tenant
-
A clock you start in writing
Ohio Rev. Code § 5321.07(A) lets the tenant give notice in writing specifying the acts, omissions, or code violations that constitute noncompliance, sent to the person or place where rent is normally paid.
-
Severity shortens the period
§ 5321.07(B) measures the landlord's failure against a reasonable time considering the severity of the condition and the time necessary to remedy it, or thirty days, whichever is sooner.
-
Rent to the clerk instead of the landlord
Once the period has run, § 5321.07(B) lets the tenant deposit all rent that is due and thereafter becomes due the landlord with the clerk of the municipal or county court.
-
An order, or an exit
The same division lets the tenant apply to the court for an order directing the landlord to remedy the condition, or terminate the rental agreement.
What To Do - Step by Step
Check first whether the section reaches you
Ohio Rev. Code § 5321.07(C) and § 5321.07(D) put a small landlord who gave the required notice, and a dwelling unit occupied by a student tenant, outside this section. Settle that before you count days.
Photograph the condition and date it
Severity is the first thing § 5321.07(B) weighs, and severity is shown rather than asserted. Dated photographs, a short video and a note of what stopped working do that work.
Send the notice where the rent goes
§ 5321.07(A) requires the notice to be sent to the person or place where rent is normally paid, and to specify the acts, omissions, or code violations that constitute noncompliance. Keep proof of what you sent and when.
Keep your rent current while you wait
The remedies in § 5321.07(B) open only where the tenant is current in rent payments due under the rental agreement, so paying on time is part of preserving them.
Read the section as it stands today
The wording behind this page came from a commercial republisher of the Revised Code and a commercial publisher of the Columbus code. Open § 5321.07 and Columbus Chapter 4551 yourself before you act on a date.
Take advice before depositing rent or terminating
Depositing rent with the clerk of the municipal or county court, or terminating the rental agreement, changes your tenancy. Ohio legal aid or a tenant advice service is worth a call first.