Landlord and management complaints in Columbus, Ohio
This page maps every landlord complaint filed with the City of Columbus, Ohio: cases where a tenant reported a problem to a landlord or property manager and it was not fixed.
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3,194 landlord complaints across Columbus, plus about 81,000 complaints of every kind, plotted block by block.
What should I do?
If you rent nowI’m having problems with my landlord. What do I do right now?
The city enforces the condition, not the silence. Report the mold, the heat, the leak to 311 and say how long it has been reported to management. How to file so an inspector comes.
Put the request in writing today, with the date, because the written notice is what every next step depends on. Rent escrow and legal help come after it, in that order. Your options, in order.
No heat, gas, sewage, or no water: that is a same-day report. Report unsafe living conditions.
Keep a log. Dates, photos, every message, and who you spoke to. Ohio law restricts retaliation against a tenant who reports to a government agency, and the dated record is what protects you. If they threaten you for reporting.
Check whether the building is already on record. If neighbors filed the same complaint, say so when you call. Inspectors treat a building-wide pattern differently than one unit. Search your address below.
Landlord won’t fix it? Your options →If you’re lookingHow do I know if a landlord is bad before I sign?
Check the building and every address in the complex, not just the unit. Most of these complaints come from complexes, and the pattern shows up under a neighbor’s address before it shows up under yours. Records are filed by address, so that is the search that works.
Read the dates. One complaint is a bad week. The same complaint a year apart is how the place is run. Ask the office when the last mold, heat, or pest complaint was closed and what they did. The full routine, and why the records beat the reviews.
Check an address on the live map →- How many About 3,200 landlord complaints since January 2025, at about 2,800 addresses. Each one says a landlord, an owner, or a property manager was told about a problem and did not fix it, in the words of the complaint or by what it describes. That is one in 25 complaints the city gets, of any kind.
- Buildings, not houses About four in five come from apartment complexes that span more than one street address. Records are filed by address, never by owner or company, so the way to check a landlord is to check the building and every address in the complex.
- What was reported first Mold and water damage is the problem people most often report after telling the landlord: about a third of all mold complaints in the city say so. Next come roaches, at about a third, then bed bugs at about a quarter.
- What the complaints say happened About four in five say it plainly: told, and nothing done. About 100 describe a brush-off, like traps instead of sealed holes or a space heater instead of heat, about 70 describe a threat or an eviction notice after complaining and about 50 say the problem was painted over. The rest, about one in six, never say it and are counted separately, as implied.
- Two seasons The most complaints come in July, one and a half times a typical month, and about one in six of them mention air conditioning nobody came for. The biggest share of everything the city hears comes in January, and that is heat.
- Up, and faster than the rest 2026 is running about 45% ahead of 2025 in the same months. As a share of all complaints the city gets, landlord complaints are up about a third: 34 in every 1,000 complaints last year, 44 this year. The record does not say whether more is failing or more is being reported.
- Who is named 43% name management, maintenance, or the leasing office and never say "landlord". 43% say landlord or owner. In a complex the complaint is about the office, not a person, which is why the label on this site says both.
What the complaints say happened
Since January 2025, 2,624 complaints describe a response failure in their own words and 570 imply one. The site labels the two differently, on every record, and counts both on this page.
| Says it outright2,624 complaints | Implies it570 complaints | |
|---|---|---|
| What the complaint says | 2,296 told, and nothing was done. 101 a brush-off: traps instead of sealed holes, a space heater instead of heat, "that is the tenant's job". 72 a threat or an eviction notice after complaining. 45 painted over, not fixed. 246 say the home is uninhabitable, or name the pattern outright. | 678 a rental problem standing for weeks or months. 189 already broken on move-in day. 65 several systems failing at once. |
| Share of complaints | 82% of landlord complaints. | 18% of landlord complaints. |
| How serious | 71% are severe or critical. 20% are critical. | 91% are severe or critical. 34% are critical. |
| The problem underneath | Mold or water damage, in 24%. | Pests, in 52%. |
| Mentions a child | 8% mention a child. | 11% mention a child. |
| What to say when you report | Report the condition to 311, not the silence: the mold, the heat, the leak. Then say the date you told the landlord, how many times, and what they said back. "Reported to management three times since June, told it was my job" is the sentence that gets an inspector. | Say how long. "Since move-in" and "for two months" are the words that turn a repair ticket into a habitability case. If you never told the landlord in writing, do that today, and put the date in the 311 report. |
The numbers behind this page
Where are landlord complaints filed most?
Tenants file these reports at the highest rates in Westgate & Hilliard fringe and Blacklick / Brice. That maps where people report, not where the worst landlords are.
For contrast, rates run lowest in Far South / Steelton among the busiest areas.
When in the year are landlord complaints filed?
Landlord complaints peak in July at one and a half times the volume of a typical month. About two thirds of the complaints that mention air conditioning come in June, July, and August. The rest of the city's complaints fall off in the cold months and these do not fall as far, so as a share of what the city hears they run highest in January.
Each line is that group's share of its own year, so the two compare on one axis even though there are 1.3 times as many "air conditioning" complaints as "heat, hot water, or shut-off". The dotted line is where a level year would sit. Each year is scaled to its own level before months are averaged, so a year with more reports does not tilt the shape.
Are landlord complaints going up?
Up. 2026 is running about 45% ahead of 2025 in the same months. As a share of all complaints the city gets, landlord complaints are up about a third: 34 in every 1,000 complaints last year, 44 this year. The record does not say whether more is failing or more is being reported.
Which problems come with a landlord complaint?
The share of each problem's complaints, citywide, that also say the landlord or manager was told and did not act. Read it as how often a condition arrives with a clock already running on it.
Mold leads because a complaint that only says "mold" goes nowhere with the city. Report the water problem instead, in words an inspector can cite.
Common questions
How do I look up complaints about a landlord in Columbus?
By address, not by name. No Columbus code-enforcement record is filed by owner or company. Search the address on this page and the Block Report checks that address, the same building, and the whole complex, and shows each complaint with its date. About four in five of landlord complaints come from complexes, so the pattern is usually under a neighbor's address before it is under yours.
Can I look up a property management company here?
No, and on purpose. This site shows the address and the complaint text, never a company total, because a complaint is one side of a story and the same company is named a dozen ways. Read the complaints at the address; the names are in them. Complaints name a company in about one in six cases, and often name the wrong one.
What counts as a landlord complaint on this page?
A complaint that says, or shows, that a landlord, owner, or property manager was told about a problem and did not fix it. 2,624 of the 3,194 say it outright: nothing done, a brush-off, a threat after reporting, or a problem painted over. 570 imply it: a tenant's own rental with a problem standing for weeks, already broken at move-in, or several systems failing at once. Duration alone, a neighbor's property, and a single complaint with no time to respond do not count. What this page counts, in full →
Does a report here mean the landlord broke the law?
No. Each report is a complaint as someone filed it with Columbus code enforcement, and the "Landlord / Management" label is plain language for what the complaint describes or implies. It is not a legal finding against anyone, and this page does not track how cases were resolved. Ohio law does set repair duties for landlords, so a pattern of these complaints is worth taking seriously. Treat it as a question to ask, not a verdict.
Does reporting a landlord to the city do anything?
The record shows filings, not outcomes, so this page cannot say what happened after any complaint. The city may confirm it, fix it, or close it as unfounded. What the record does show is that about one in six of these complaints come from an address with more than one, which is the pattern an inspector builds a case on. What code enforcement actually does →
Can my landlord evict me for reporting them?
Ohio law restricts retaliation against a tenant who complains to a government agency, and a 311 report is dated and public, which is exactly why it matters. In this record 72 complaints describe a threat or an eviction notice after reporting anyway, so put every request in writing and keep the date. Your options, in order →
Which Columbus neighborhoods have the most landlord complaints?
Tenants file them at the highest rates in Westgate & Hilliard fringe, Blacklick / Brice and Hayden Run / Scioto Darby, comparing each neighborhood's share of reports against the citywide share. That measures where people report, not where the worst landlords are, and this page ranks nothing. Check the building, not the neighborhood.
Why do landlord complaints peak in July?
Air conditioning. About one in six of July's landlord complaints mention an AC unit that stopped and a request that got no answer, and about two thirds of all the AC complaints come in June, July, and August. Winter is the other season: fewer complaints of every kind, so the heat complaints that do come in take a bigger share, highest in January. No heat and no AC in Columbus →
Are landlord complaints in Columbus going up?
Yes. 2026 is running about 45% ahead of 2025 in the same months. As a share of all complaints the city gets, landlord complaints are up about a third: 34 in every 1,000 complaints last year, 44 this year. The record does not say whether more is failing or more is being reported.
What should I say when I report a landlord to 311?
The condition first: the mold, the leak, the heat, the roaches. Then the address and unit, the date you first told the landlord or management, how many times, and what they said. Say "inside" for anything in the unit. The city enforces the condition. The dates are what document the pattern. How to file so an inspector comes →
What this page counts, and what it doesn’t
"Landlord / Management" is a label for what a complaint is about, not a legal finding. Every number on this page is a complaint as someone filed it with Columbus 311 or code enforcement. A complaint is one side of a story. The city may confirm it, fix it, or close it as unfounded, and this page does not track outcomes. Nothing here is a judgment against any owner, manager, or company.
2,624 of the 3,194 reports describe the problem outright. The complaint itself says an owner or manager was told about a problem and did not act. The language in them looks like "reported to management, nothing has been done," "refuses to fix," "told me it was my job," "threatened to evict," or "painted over the mold."
The other 570 imply it, and we label them separately. These complaints never say "they won't fix it." They read as a tenant's own rental home with a habitability problem, plus a reason to believe the owner had time to act. A problem standing for weeks or months. A unit already infested or without heat on move-in day. Several systems failing at once. They are counted on this page and tagged as implied in our data.
What does not count. A single habitability complaint with no sign the owner had time to respond. Complaints about a neighbor's property or a neighbor's tenants. Duration alone, like a couch on a curb for months, with no rental context. Matching is automated reading of complaint narratives, so individual reports can land on the wrong side of these lines in both directions.
Own or manage a property shown on the live map and believe a record is shown incorrectly? The corrections process is on the contact page.
Know Your Block is a free public tool that shows what Columbus residents report to the city's code enforcement office: rats, mold, no heat, sewage backups, drug activity, noise, vacant buildings, and the other property and quality-of-life problems that a listing or a tour will not tell you about. The live map plots every report in the city, and a Block Report checks one address, the building it sits in, and the block around it. This page and the other issue pages are computed from the same records, so the numbers here match what you would find on the map. There is no account and no fee. More about the project.
What counts here. Complaints where the response is the problem: a landlord, owner, or property manager who was told about a problem and did not fix it. Most describe it outright: an owner or manager told about a problem and not acting, a brush-off, retaliation after a complaint, or problems painted over. A labeled minority imply it instead: a tenant's own rental home with a habitability problem left standing for weeks, already present at move-in, or spanning several failing systems at once. Complaints as filed, not legal findings, and this page says so in full in the "What this page counts" section above. Geography on this page shows where tenants file landlord complaints most, which also reflects who files complaints. It is not a map of where the worst landlords are.
Data comes from official City of Columbus code enforcement records (Accela portal + ArcGIS REST API). Reports are categorized by keyword matching on complaint narratives and city record types, so counts are reports filed, not verified conditions, and automated matching can misfile individual records. The word groups are the complainant's own words. Street stretches are runs of blocks, never single addresses. The data window covers JAN 2025 – SEP 2026, so month-of-year patterns will sharpen as full years accrue.