Utilities 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 prohibition names utilities in terms. Ohio Rev. Code § 5321.15(A) provides that 'No landlord of residential premises shall initiate any act, including termination of utilities or services, exclusion from the premises, or threat of any unlawful act, against a tenant, or a tenant whose right to possession has terminated, for the purpose of recovering possession of residential premises, other than as provided in Chapters 1923., 5303., and 5321. of the Revised Code.'
- § 5321.15(B) adds a parallel ban on seizing a tenant's furnishings or possessions to recover rent payments other than under a court order.
- The remedy is measured in proof rather than in a number. § 5321.15(C) reads in full: 'A landlord who violates this section is liable in a civil action for all damages caused to a tenant, or to a tenant whose right to possession has terminated, together with reasonable attorneys fees.' § 5321.12 supplies the general rule in the same register: 'In any action under Chapter 5321. of the Revised Code, any party may recover damages for the breach of contract or the breach of any duty that is imposed by law.'
- A service the landlord simply fails to supply runs on a different route. § 5321.04(A)(6) requires the landlord to 'Supply running water, reasonable amounts of hot water, and reasonable heat at all times', subject to the stated exceptions, and § 5321.07(B) then gives the tenant, after written notice and a failure to remedy '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 options of depositing rent with the clerk of court, applying for an order to remedy or to reduce rent, or terminating the rental agreement.
- Columbus does print dollar figures on utilities and they price billing conduct rather than a shutoff. Columbus City Code § 4553.02(A)(1) lets a property owner, operator or third party billing agent 'impose at maximum an $8.00 administrative fee per billing cycle', and § 4553.99(A) provides that one who fails to comply with a Notice of Violation by the date specified 'may incur a civil penalty of one hundred-fifty dollars ($150.00) for each calendar day thereafter'.
Understanding the Utilities Clause
The utilities clause decides who pays for heat, water, gas and power, and then decides what happens on the morning one of them is gone. Ohio answers the first half through the lease and the second half through a flat prohibition.
What it does not do is attach a price to breaking that prohibition. Ohio Rev. Code § 5321.15(C) makes a landlord who violates the section 'liable in a civil action for all damages caused to a tenant, or to a tenant whose right to possession has terminated, together with reasonable attorneys fees', which is a remedy you prove rather than a sum you look up.
The statutory wording here was read on a commercial republisher of the Revised Code and the Columbus wording on a commercial code publisher, whose own page warns its text 'may not reflect the most current legislation adopted by the Municipality'. Open § 5321.15 and Columbus Chapter 4553 and check the current wording before either one is quoted at a landlord.
What renters assume
A Columbus renter looking for the number finds the city's own utility figures, the $8.00 administrative fee and the $150.00 a day, and reads one of them as what a landlord owes for cutting the power.
What is actually true
Neither figure is about a shutoff. Columbus City Code § 4553.02(A)(1) caps an administrative fee 'per billing cycle' at $8.00, and § 4553.99(A) attaches the $150.00 per calendar day to a failure to comply with a Notice of Violation by the date specified. Both price shared meter billing and reselling conduct. The money a renter claims for a shutoff comes from Ohio Rev. Code § 5321.15(C), and it is all damages caused plus fees.
The chart draws twenty-two rows and its quantity is a maximum fixed dollar penalty for an unlawful utility shutoff. Twelve of the twenty-two rows carry such a figure: New York City at $10,000, Denver and Milwaukee at $5,000, Las Vegas at $2,500, Washington at $2,000, Austin at $1,000, Atlanta, Baltimore and Minneapolis at $500, Chicago and Boston at $300, and Detroit at $200.
The other ten rows, Columbus among them, carry no bar, and they are blank in different units rather than for one reason. Miami's label reads three months' rent; Phoenix, Philadelphia and Portland read two months'; the Los Angeles, Seattle and Newark labels are daily figures of $100 with no ceiling; Nashville's names punitive damages on top of actual; Ohio's is actual damages with no sum named; and Charlotte's is a civil action with no fixed sum.
An empty track is not an empty rule, and on this clause the emptiness is the finding. Ohio Rev. Code § 5321.15(A) bans the conduct as plainly as any statute on the chart. § 5321.15(C) then measures it in all damages caused plus reasonable attorneys fees, and § 5321.12 supplies the general rule for the chapter in the same register. No section our Ohio record read in Chapter 5321 attaches a fixed dollar penalty, a per day amount or a rent multiple to a utility shutoff, so there is nothing to plot rather than nothing to claim.
Plain English Version
Cutting your utilities to get you out is not something an Ohio landlord is allowed to do. The statute says so in words, and then leaves the price to you and a court: what you recover is what the outage actually cost, plus reasonable attorneys fees, so the hotel nights, the spoiled food and the space heater are the case rather than the background to it. A service that merely failed, rather than being cut to push you out, is a different route with a written notice and a clock on it. And the Columbus dollar figures a search will turn up belong to how a shared meter building may bill you, not to a shutoff.
Utilities 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.
Under any allocation method, [the tenant] may be paying for part of the utility usage in common areas or in other residential units as well as administrative fees.
Quoted from the published opinion in Northland Investment Corp. v. Public Utilities Regulatory Authority, 349 Conn. 35 (2024). Judicial opinions are not subject to copyright; the lease language is reproduced in limited part for commentary under 17 U.S.C. § 107.
“Under any allocation method”
The lease is not committing to a formula here, it is reserving the right to pick one. Whatever the split turns out to be, Ohio Rev. Code § 5321.15(A) bars a landlord from initiating any act, including termination of utilities or services, for the purpose of recovering possession of residential premises, other than as provided in Chapters 1923., 5303., and 5321. of the Revised Code. A disagreement about the method stays a disagreement about the method.
“paying for part of the utility”
This part of the sentence moves money. It does not move duty. § 5321.04(A)(6) requires an Ohio landlord to supply running water, reasonable amounts of hot water, and reasonable heat at all times, subject to the exceptions that section states. Being billed for a service and being owed it are two different columns, and an allocation clause only writes in the first one.
“usage in common”
Common usage is charged to a household that had no way to turn it down. If that argument ever ends with the service shut off for the purpose of recovering possession, § 5321.15(C) decides what it is worth, and it decides it by evidence: all damages caused to a tenant, plus reasonable attorneys fees. Spoiled food, a motel night, a space heater run for a week - each of those is provable, and each is separately worth writing down as it happens. The fees half is what makes a modest, well documented claim worth bringing at all.
“in other residential units as well as administrative”
Two different charges ride in one phrase: consumption in units that are not yours, and a separate fee for the act of billing you. Columbus writes a number on the second one. Columbus City Code § 4553.02(A)(1) lets a property owner, operator or third-party billing agent impose at maximum an $8.00 administrative fee per billing cycle. Where the cycle is monthly, twelve at that ceiling comes to $96 across a year, charged for producing a bill nobody asked for.
Ratio utility billing lost. The Connecticut Supreme Court affirmed the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority's ruling that billing residential tenants a formula-derived share of a master-metered bill is unlawful. Conn. Gen. Stat. § 16-262e (c) makes the owner of a multiunit residential dwelling liable for the costs of all utility services furnished to the building, except service that is individually metered or billed for one unit's exclusive use - and an allocated share is neither. Because the clause charged the tenant for usage the tenant did not exclusively consume, and backed the charge with late fees and eviction, it could not be enforced. The court left the landlord one lawful route: forecast the year's utility costs and build them into fixed rent at signing, where a renter can see the number before agreeing to it. Three justices dissented. The court also observed that the administrative fees this lease allowed were not defined or limited anywhere in it.
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 Utilities Clause
- The prohibition is explicit and names utilities. Ohio Rev. Code § 5321.15(A) provides that "No landlord of residential premises shall initiate any act, including termination of utilities or services, exclusion from the premises, or threat of any unlawful act, against a tenant, or a tenant whose right to possession has terminated, for the purpose of recovering possession of residential premises, other than as provided in Chapters 1923., 5303., and 5321. of the Revised Code." Section 5321.15(B) adds a parallel ban on seizing a tenant's furnishings or possessions to recover rent payments other than under a court order.
- The remedy is measured in proof, not in a number. Ohio Rev. Code § 5321.15(C) states in full that "A landlord who violates this section is liable in a civil action for all damages caused to a tenant, or to a tenant whose right to possession has terminated, together with reasonable attorneys fees." Ohio Rev. Code § 5321.12 supplies the general rule in the same register: "In any action under Chapter 5321. of the Revised Code, any party may recover damages for the breach of contract or the breach of any duty that is imposed by law." Neither provision names a sum, a cap or a multiplier, so there is no fixed dollar penalty to report.
- A separate route covers service the landlord simply fails to supply. Ohio Rev. Code § 5321.04(A)(6) requires a landlord to "Supply running water, reasonable amounts of hot water, and reasonable heat at all times", subject to the stated exceptions. Section 5321.07(B) then gives the tenant, after written notice and a landlord failure to remedy "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 options of depositing rent with the clerk of court, applying for an order to remedy or to reduce rent, or terminating the rental agreement. Section 5321.07(C) excludes landlords party to agreements covering three or fewer dwelling units who give the required notice.
- Columbus does print dollar figures on utilities, but they price billing conduct rather than a shutoff. Columbus City Code § 4553.02(A)(1) permits a property owner, operator or third-party billing agent to "impose at maximum an $8.00 administrative fee per billing cycle", and § 4553.99(A) provides that one who fails to comply with a Notice of Violation by the date specified "may incur a civil penalty of one hundred-fifty dollars ($150.00) for each calendar day thereafter". Section 4553.03(B) states that "This chapter may not be waived by contract or otherwise." These are shared-meter reselling and billing rules, and we are not converting either figure into a shutoff penalty.
Sources include Ohio Rev. Code § 5321.15; Ohio Rev. Code § 5321.04(A)(6); Ohio Rev. Code § 5321.07; Ohio Rev. Code § 5321.12; Columbus City Code § 4553.99(A); Columbus City Code § 4553.02(A)(1) - statutes change; verify the current text for your situation.
Ohio states the ban and names utilities inside it. Ohio Rev. Code § 5321.15(A) provides that 'No landlord of residential premises shall initiate any act, including termination of utilities or services, exclusion from the premises, or threat of any unlawful act, against a tenant, or a tenant whose right to possession has terminated, for the purpose of recovering possession of residential premises, other than as provided in Chapters 1923., 5303., and 5321. of the Revised Code.'
Two things in that sentence are worth slowing down for. A threat is enough, and the ban still covers a tenant 'whose right to possession has terminated', so it does not lapse the moment a landlord believes the tenancy is over.
§ 5321.15(B) closes the neighbouring door, barring a landlord from seizing a tenant's furnishings or possessions to recover rent payments other than under a court order.
Then comes the part that decides what this page can and cannot tell you. § 5321.15(C) reads in full: 'A landlord who violates this section is liable in a civil action for all damages caused to a tenant, or to a tenant whose right to possession has terminated, together with reasonable attorneys fees.' No sum, no cap, no multiplier.
§ 5321.12 keeps the chapter in the same register: 'In any action under Chapter 5321. of the Revised Code, any party may recover damages for the breach of contract or the breach of any duty that is imposed by law.' No section our Ohio record read in Chapter 5321 attaches a fixed dollar penalty, a per day amount or a rent multiple to a utility shutoff.
A service that was never supplied is a separate problem with its own machinery. § 5321.04(A)(6) requires the landlord to 'Supply running water, reasonable amounts of hot water, and reasonable heat at all times', subject to the stated exceptions, and § 5321.07(B) gives the tenant, after written notice and a failure to remedy '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 options of depositing rent with the clerk of the court, applying for an order directing the landlord to remedy the condition or to reduce the rent, or terminating the rental agreement. § 5321.07(C) excludes a landlord party to agreements covering three or fewer dwelling units who gives the required notice, so check that before counting.
Ohio Tenant Protections
Ohio bars the self help shutoff and measures the consequence in proof rather than in a figure.
Ohio Rev. Code § 5321.15(A) provides that no landlord of residential premises shall initiate any act, including termination of utilities or services, exclusion from the premises, or threat of any unlawful act, against a tenant, or a tenant whose right to possession has terminated, for the purpose of recovering possession of residential premises, other than as provided in Chapters 1923., 5303., and 5321. of the Revised Code, and § 5321.15(B) adds a parallel ban on seizing a tenant's furnishings or possessions to recover rent payments other than under a court order.
Section 5321.15(C) makes a landlord who violates the section liable in a civil action for all damages caused to a tenant, or to a tenant whose right to possession has terminated, together with reasonable attorneys fees, and § 5321.12 provides that in any action under Chapter 5321 any party may recover damages for the breach of contract or the breach of any duty that is imposed by law.
No section our Ohio record read in Chapter 5321 attaches a fixed dollar penalty, a per day amount or a rent multiple to a utility shutoff.
Where the service is simply not supplied, § 5321.04(A)(6) requires the landlord to supply running water, reasonable amounts of hot water, and reasonable heat at all times, subject to the stated exceptions, and § 5321.07(B) gives the tenant, after written notice and a failure to remedy 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 options of depositing rent with the clerk of court, applying for an order to remedy the condition or to reduce the rent, or terminating the rental agreement, subject to the exclusion in § 5321.07(C) for a landlord party to agreements covering three or fewer dwelling units who gives the required notice.
On the city side, Columbus City Code § 4553.02(A)(1) permits at maximum an $8.00 administrative fee per billing cycle, § 4553.99(A) provides for a civil penalty of one hundred-fifty dollars ($150.00) for each calendar day after a failure to comply with a Notice of Violation by the date specified, and § 4553.03(B) states that the chapter may not be waived by contract or otherwise; those are shared meter reselling and billing rules rather than shutoff penalties.
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 a renter here has a city layer to read on top of the Revised Code, and on utilities that layer is substantive. Our Ohio record read Chapter 4553 of the Columbus City Codes in full on a commercial code publisher, whose page states the code is 'Codified through Ordinance No. 0923-2026, enacted April 20, 2026. (Supp. No. 85, 6/26)' and warns that it 'may not reflect the most current legislation adopted by the Municipality'.
That chapter carries dollar figures, and they are the reason this page keeps two questions apart. Columbus City Code § 4553.02(A)(1) permits a property owner, operator or third party billing agent to 'impose at maximum an $8.00 administrative fee per billing cycle'. § 4553.99(A) provides that one who fails to comply with a Notice of Violation by the date specified 'may incur a civil penalty of one hundred-fifty dollars ($150.00) for each calendar day thereafter'. § 4553.03(B) states that 'This chapter may not be waived by contract or otherwise.'
Those are shared meter billing and reselling rules. They price how a building may bill you, not a landlord who kills the power to move you out, and this page does not convert either of them into a shutoff penalty. That is why Ohio's row on the chart above is blank while the city code prints money.
One further thing about the city layer belongs on the page rather than in a footnote. Ohio Rev. Code § 5321.19(A) bars a political subdivision from regulating what Chapter 5321 regulates. It also opens by making itself subject to the division that follows it, and that division cuts the other way: § 5321.19(B) lists what the chapter does not preempt, beginning with a housing, building, health or safety code of a political subdivision. Chapter 4553, the shared meter and reselling chapter quoted above, was codified in Title 45, the Columbus Housing Code. Chapter 4553 is described here as enacted, and this page predicts nothing in either direction about how § 5321.19 as a whole would apply to it. That is a live legal question and a reader who needs it answered needs a lawyer, not a guide.
Heat, water, gas and power arrive on separate bills. A lease that handles them in one word hides which of them Ohio Rev. Code § 5321.04(A)(6) puts on the landlord as running water, reasonable amounts of hot water and reasonable heat.
It decides which rules are in play. Columbus Chapter 4553 is a shared meter billing and reselling chapter, and § 4553.02(A)(1) caps an administrative fee at $8.00 per billing cycle.
Red flag. § 5321.15(A) forbids a landlord to initiate any act, including termination of utilities or services, for the purpose of recovering possession, and a threat is inside the wording.
Question it. Columbus City Code § 4553.03(B) states that the chapter 'may not be waived by contract or otherwise', so read any waiver against the chapter rather than the other way round.
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 § 5321.15; Ohio Rev. Code § 5321.04(A)(6); Ohio Rev. Code § 5321.07; Ohio Rev. Code § 5321.12; Columbus City Code § 4553.99(A); Columbus City Code § 4553.02(A)(1); Ohio Rev. Code § 5321.19(A); Ohio Rev. Code § 5321.19(B)(1), read on codes.findlaw.com. Ohio publishes the official text at codes.ohio.gov.
Red Flags to Watch Out For
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A shutoff reserved for late rent
That is the conduct Ohio Rev. Code § 5321.15(A) names. It forbids any act, including termination of utilities or services, for the purpose of recovering possession, and it reaches a threat as well as the act.
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'Tenant pays all utilities' and nothing else
One phrase standing in for several bills. § 5321.04(A)(6) puts running water, reasonable amounts of hot water and reasonable heat on the landlord at all times, subject to the stated exceptions, so ask which bills that sentence is actually moving.
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An administrative or billing fee left unnamed
In a shared meter building, Columbus City Code § 4553.02(A)(1) permits at maximum an $8.00 administrative fee per billing cycle. A lease that names a larger one, or none, is worth a question before signing.
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A waiver of the billing chapter
Columbus City Code § 4553.03(B) states that 'This chapter may not be waived by contract or otherwise', so a clause asking you to sign the chapter away is asking for something it says cannot be given.
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A promise to restore service 'as soon as possible'
Where the service was never supplied rather than cut, the count in § 5321.07(B) runs from your written notice to a reasonable time judged by severity, or thirty days, whichever is sooner. Open wording is not that.
Your Rights as a Columbus Tenant
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A ban that names utilities
Ohio Rev. Code § 5321.15(A) forbids a landlord to initiate any act, including termination of utilities or services, exclusion from the premises, or threat of any unlawful act, for the purpose of recovering possession.
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All damages caused, plus fees
§ 5321.15(C) makes a landlord who violates the section liable in a civil action for all damages caused to a tenant, or to a tenant whose right to possession has terminated, together with reasonable attorneys fees.
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Water, hot water and heat as a duty
§ 5321.04(A)(6) requires the landlord to supply running water, reasonable amounts of hot water, and reasonable heat at all times, subject to the stated exceptions.
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A billing chapter that cannot be signed away
Columbus City Code § 4553.03(B) states that the chapter may not be waived by contract or otherwise, and § 4553.02(A)(1) caps an administrative fee at $8.00 per billing cycle.
What To Do - Step by Step
Fix the exact hour the service stopped
Photograph the dark meter, the cold tap and the thermostat, and write down the time. Under Ohio Rev. Code § 5321.15(C) what you recover is all damages caused, which is an argument about one specific outage.
Ask the utility who requested the disconnection
It separates the two routes on this page. A landlord initiated cutoff to recover possession is § 5321.15(A); a service that simply failed runs through § 5321.04(A)(6) and § 5321.07.
Keep every receipt the outage generates
Hotel nights, meals, a space heater, spoiled groceries. § 5321.15(C) names no sum, so the receipts are the figure, and reasonable attorneys fees come on top of them.
Send written notice where the rent goes if the service failed
For a failure to supply rather than a cutoff, § 5321.07(B) counts from your written notice to a reasonable time judged by severity, or thirty days, whichever is sooner, before the deposit, order and termination routes open.
Check how your building is metered before using the city chapter
Columbus Chapter 4553 is about shared meter billing and reselling. Its $8.00 fee cap and its $150.00 per calendar day penalty answer billing conduct, not a shutoff.
Read the current text, then take advice
The city publisher warns its code may not reflect the most current legislation adopted by the Municipality. Open § 5321.15 and Chapter 4553 as they read today, and speak to Ohio legal aid before you withhold rent or terminate.