How to report your apartment complex to the city
Report your apartment complex to Columbus 311, online or at (614) 645-3111. Code enforcement inspects habitability problems like mold, pests, broken heat, and sewage in rentals.
Tell your landlord in writing first and keep a copy. The written notice is what Ohio tenant remedies are built on.
First, see what is already on record at your complex
Search your address before you file. If neighbors have already reported the same problem, your report can point to the pattern, and inspectors treat a building-wide pattern differently than one unit.
Free · no account · opens the live map's Block Report for the address
The full path
Put it in writing to management first
Send the problem to your landlord or management company in writing and keep a dated copy. Text and email count. Ohio’s tenant remedies generally start from written notice, so this step protects you later.
File with 311
If anyone is in immediate danger, from a gas leak, carbon monoxide, or fire, call 911 first. For everything else, file with Columbus 311 online, in the app, or at (614) 645-3111. Name the complex and the management company in the description. That puts them in the public record.
Describe the problem, when you told management, and what happened after. Unanswered maintenance requests belong in the report. The checklist below covers everything a strong report includes.
Say if it is building-wide
If more than one unit has the problem, say so. Ask neighbors to file their own reports. Inspectors treat a building-wide pattern differently than a single complaint, and each report strengthens the record.
If your address search turned up the same problem already on record at your complex, mention those reports too.
Keep the paper trail
Save photos, texts, and the 311 case number. If the problem drags on, the trail is what makes every next step work, from rent escrow to legal help.
If it gets there, read what to do when the landlord will not fix it.
Track what happens
Your report becomes a public case tied to the address. Look it up on the city’s official case portal, or search the address here. New cases can take time to appear, so check back.
What happens after you file, from inspection to orders to court, is in what code enforcement actually does.
What a strong report covers
- Your address and unit number.
- What the problem is and which rooms it affects.
- When you first told management, and how. Text, email, and portal requests all count.
- What management said or did after you told them.
- How long the problem has been open.
- Whether other units have the same problem.
- Who lives in the unit. Mention children, elderly residents, or anyone with a medical condition. Inspectors prioritize those cases.
Mold on the bathroom ceiling of unit 4B at [your address]. First reported to [management company] by email on June 3. Maintenance painted over it and it came back within two weeks. Two other units on this floor have it. Two children live in the unit.
Common questions
Who do I report my apartment complex to?
Columbus 311 is the intake for the whole city. File online at 311.columbus.gov, in the Columbus 311 app, or by phone at (614) 645-3111. The city routes rental habitability complaints to code enforcement.
Can my landlord evict me for reporting them?
Ohio law bars landlords from retaliating against tenants for reporting code violations. If you face retaliation, document the timing and get legal advice right away. Free income-based legal help exists in Franklin County, and our guide on what to do when the landlord will not fix it covers how to find it.
How do I report a property management company?
Same path. File with 311 and name the management company in the report. Complaints are recorded against the address, and the company name in the narrative becomes part of the public record.
What if the problem is in many units?
Say so in your report and ask affected neighbors to file too. Building-wide problems, like pests traveling between units or heat out across a floor, carry more weight than a single complaint.
Keep going
Contacts on this page were verified August 2026. City intake numbers and portals change rarely but they do change. If something here is out of date, the front door is always Columbus 311.
Know Your Block is an independent public-information project, not the City of Columbus and not a law firm. Nothing on this page is legal advice, and this site does not recommend or partner with any legal provider. Report counts come from official City of Columbus code-enforcement records and describe reports filed, not verified conditions.