About Know Your Block

Know Your Block is a free, independent tool that maps official City of Columbus code-enforcement complaints — pests, mold, sewage, no heat, fire and safety hazards, and patterns of management negligence — so renters and homebuyers in Columbus, Ohio can research a property before they commit. It exists because the problems you would actually want to know about almost never appear on listing sites or in a tour.

What you can look up

Every report is sorted into plain-language categories and scored from low to critical, so you can read a block at a glance:

Pests & rodents — rats, mice, cockroaches, bed bugs, fleas, and stinging insects.
Mold & water damage — mold, mildew, leaks, and the conditions behind them.
Sewage & plumbing — backups, raw sewage, and failed drains.
No heat & HVAC — heat shut off, broken furnaces, and hot-water failures.
Fire & safety — missing smoke detectors, gas leaks, blocked exits, broken elevators.
Illegal occupancy & squatting — trespassing, unsafe vacant buildings, and drug activity.
Management negligence — landlords who ignore, refuse, or paper over repairs.
The yard & block — trash, overgrowth, abandoned vehicles, and noise.

Search a Columbus address to see which of these have been reported at that address and on the surrounding block.

How the map is built

Know Your Block combines two official City of Columbus sources: the Accela code-enforcement portal, which carries the written complaint narrative, and the city's public ArcGIS mapping service, which carries the location of each record. We join them by record number so every complaint lands on the map with its full description attached.

Each record then runs through a two-step categorizer — first the city's own record-type labels, then a keyword pass over the complaint text — and is scored for severity. Addresses with repeated or tightly clustered reporting are flagged as hotspots. Records go back to 2019 and cover the City of Columbus, Ohio; the map is refreshed as the city publishes new data.

Who it's for

Renters checking a place before signing a lease.
Homebuyers researching a property and its block.
Tenants and organizers documenting a pattern of neglect.
Journalists and researchers studying housing conditions across the city.
Property owners who want to see what has been reported about their building.

Contact

Email nmdfun@gmail.com

Best place to flag a data issue, suggest a feature, or ask about the project. Replies are not guaranteed but messages are read.

Legal & disclaimers

Not affiliated with the City of Columbus

Know Your Block is an independent public-information project. It is not the official website of the City of Columbus, Ohio, and is not operated, sponsored, endorsed by, or otherwise affiliated with the city or any city department. "Columbus, Ohio" is referenced descriptively to identify the geographic area the underlying records cover. The official city website is columbus.gov.

Data source and accuracy

Complaint records come from the City of Columbus Accela permitting portal and the city's public ArcGIS mapping service. We geocode and categorize the records but do not add, edit, or invent complaints. Data may contain errors, omissions, lag, or duplicate entries from the upstream sources. Accuracy and completeness are not guaranteed. Anyone relying on a specific record should verify it against the original city source.

A complaint is not a finding

Each record represents a report someone filed with code enforcement. It is not, by itself, a finding of a violation, proof of a current condition, an admission of fault, or a judgment against any property owner, manager, tenant, or other party. Records may be unfounded, rejected, resolved, or out of date.

Not legal, real-estate, or housing advice

Nothing on this site is legal advice, real-estate advice, a housing inspection, or a substitute for one. Use it as one signal alongside your own due diligence — an in-person walk-through, a licensed inspector, and qualified legal or housing counsel where appropriate.

No warranty

This site is provided "as is," without warranties of any kind, express or implied. The maintainers are not liable for decisions made, actions taken, or harms suffered based on information shown here.

Corrections and removal requests

If you believe a record is being shown incorrectly, or if you are a property owner with a specific concern, email nmdfun@gmail.com. Note that the underlying records are public records held by the City of Columbus; requests to alter or remove the official record itself must go to the city.

Open the map

Return to the Columbus, Ohio code-enforcement complaint map →