Selling a house in Ohio: the paperwork

Every document an Ohio sale commonly touches, who usually produces it, and the law behind it. In most sales the seller's own share is small, and this page shows which part that usually is.

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15 documents · 15 questions · about a 9 minute read · free, and we don't ask for your email

3documents are usually yours to produce

out of 15 an Ohio sale commonly touches

Narrow this to your own sale.

15 quick questions about the home, the title and its history. Every answer takes something off the list or explains why it stays on. Nothing is saved, and you can stop anywhere.

Usually the seller's to produce

In most sales nobody else prepares these. Whether each one applies to you depends on your home, your title, and your buyer.

Ohio Realtors PSAIn the PSA
Residential Property Disclosure Form (R.C. § 5302.30)Pre-contract
Federal lead paint disclosure (pre-1978)Attached to PSAOn your list if the home was built before 1978.

Usually drafted for you to sign

These commonly arrive already written. Read them, and ask about anything that looks wrong before you sign.

FIRPTA non-foreign affidavitClosing packet

Usually somebody else's to prepare

Commonly handled by a title company, an attorney, a lender, or the county. Listed so none of them is a surprise.

General warranty deed / survivorship deedClosing packet / Recorded post-close
Dower release (spousal signature on deed)Signed on the deedOn your list if you're married.
DTE Form 100 (or 100(EX)) conveyance-fee statementFiled with County Auditor pre-recording
Settlement statement (ALTA / CD)Closing packet
Payoff statement(s)Closing packet
Title commitment / policyClosing packet
1099-SFiled post-close
Wire-fraud advisoryClosing packet
POS Certificate of Inspection / ComplianceMunicipal certificate pre-closing
Mortgage (buyer's loan)Recorded post-close
Mortgage satisfactionRecorded post-close

The same paperwork, in a Room.

Every one of these filed under whoever sent it, with every version kept, beside the dates and people of your own Ohio sale.

Your Ohio paperwork, in a Room

Ohio Realtors PSAUsually yours
Residential Property Disclosure Form (R.C. § 5302.30)Usually yours
Federal lead paint disclosure (pre-1978)Usually yours

A Room files each one under whoever sent it, and keeps every version. The 3 marked "usually yours" are the ones you can fill in on screen.

The rest of what Ohio asks.

How a sale generally runs there, what catches people out, and the whole of the research with its citations kept.

How Ohio generally runs a sale.

The broad shape of a sale there, as the research found it. Counties and cities add their own rules on top of all of this.

Closing model — Title-company / escrow: Attorneys may be involved but are not required. UPL is policed by the Ohio Supreme Court's Board on the Unauthorized Practice of Law.
Property regime — Common-law: Tenancy by the entirety was abolished for interests created on or after April 4, 1985; only TBEs created by a deed recorded between February 9, 1972 and April 3, 1985 remain valid (R.C.
Homestead + DOWER (the Ohio headline): Homestead exemption at R.C. § 2329.66. Ohio is one of the last dower states: R.C. § 2103.02 — "A spouse who has not relinquished or been barred from it shall be endowed of an estate for life...
Standard deed type: General warranty (R.C. § 5302.05), limited warranty (R.C. § 5302.07), quitclaim (R.C. § 5302.11), or fiduciary deed. Survivorship deeds under R.C. § 5302.17 for joint owners.
Disclosure regime — Statutory form: Residential Property Disclosure Form, R.C. § 5302.30 — state-prescribed by the Ohio Department of Commerce, Division of Real Estate and Professional Licensing.
Transfer tax — Conveyance fee: Mandatory state fee of 1 mill ($1.00 per $1,000 = 0.1%) under R.C. § 319.54(G)(3), plus a permissive county fee up to 3 mills ($3.00/$1,000) under R.C.
RON status — Authorized: Ohio Notary Public Modernization Act, R.C. Ch. 147; RON effective September 20, 2019.
Recording act — Race-notice for deeds: (R.C. § 5301.25). Pure race for mortgages.
Recording office: County Recorder in each of 88 counties; the County Auditor separately endorses the deed and collects the conveyance fee before recording.
Local overlays: Cleveland-area point-of-sale (POS) inspection cluster with pre-transfer repair-escrow requirements (Cuyahoga County).

Other things Ohio asks about.

These come up in Ohio and almost nowhere else. We don't ask them above because we can't answer them for you yet, but they're worth raising with your title company.

Is the property in a POS-inspection municipality (Cleveland-area cluster)?

Before you rely on any of this.

This is a compilation of published state requirements, not legal advice, and no lawyer has reviewed it or your sale. Laws and forms change, counties and cities add their own rules, and whether any of this applies to you depends on facts we don't know. Treat every item as a starting point for a question, not as an answer. Confirm anything you plan to rely on against the official source we link, and run your list past a title company or an attorney licensed in your state.

These counts describe a typical sale, not yours. Which documents you need turns on facts about your home, your title, your buyer, and your county, and one unusual answer can add several or remove them.

Who prepares each document is what usually happens, not a rule. Practice differs between states, between counties, and between one title company and the next, and your contract can move work from one side to the other.

Keighbor is not a real estate brokerage and does not represent you. Nobody here is your agent. We don't negotiate, set your price, recommend a course of action, or take a commission. We provide software that helps you organize your side of the sale.

The whole Ohio reference.

The rest of the research, with every citation kept. This is the same material our own product is built on, and nothing is held back for paying customers. It describes the law as the research found it, not as it applies to your sale.

ALWAYS-required documents (every transaction)

PSA. Ohio Realtors form (member) or attorney-drafted.
Deed. R.C. Ch. 5302; general-warranty statutory form § 5302.05 or survivorship deed § 5302.17 as applicable. Non-titled spouse signs to release dower for any married seller (§ 2103.02).
Residential Property Disclosure Form (R.C. § 5302.30; current Division of Real Estate version only).
DTE Form 100 conveyance-fee statement (or 100(EX) if exempt).
Federal lead paint disclosure (pre-1978).
FIRPTA affidavit; 1099-S; wire-fraud advisory; payoff statements; ALTA settlement statement.

SOMETIMES-required documents (trigger-gated)

Dower release (the star trigger). Married seller, any titling → non-titled spouse must sign the deed to release dower (R.C. § 2103.02).
Property held in trust. Trustee's certificate / certification of trust; trustee deed.
LLC / corp. Authorizing resolution / operating agreement.
POA. Recorded with the deed.
Foreign seller. FIRPTA only — Ohio has no state nonresident real estate withholding.
Inherited / probate. Fiduciary deed; letters testamentary or of administration; small-estate procedures under R.C. Ch. 2113.
HOA / condo. Ohio Condominium Act, R.C. Ch. 5311 — no statutory resale-certificate mandate as strict as Illinois'; resale disclosures are largely contract-driven, though the association typically provides a statement of unpaid assessments.
Well / septic. County health department; some POS ordinances add septic inspection.
Tenant-occupied. R.C. Ch. 5321 landlord-tenant.
Solar / recent insurance claims (CLUE) / open permits. As standard.
Waterfront (Lake Erie) / historic district / manufactured home. Riders as applicable.
Mineral / oil-gas (major). Utica and Marcellus severed interests and active leases are common. Dormant Mineral Act, R.C. § 5301.56, lets a surface owner reclaim a dormant severed mineral interest via a 20-year lookback for "savings events," certified-mail notice of intent to declare abandonment, and a recorded affidavit of abandonment. Key case law: Corban v. Chesapeake Exploration, L.L.C., 2016-Ohio-5796; Dodd v. Croskey, 2015-Ohio-2362 (holder's 60-day cure window).
Manufactured / mobile home. Affidavit of affixation (R.C. § 4505.11).

Prescribed-language items (substance-over-form)

Residential Property Disclosure Form — state-prescribed under R.C. § 5302.30; current Division version required (no substitutes). Contains the statutory (K) rescission-notice language ("you may rescind the purchase contract … provided the document of rescission is delivered prior to all three of the following dates: (1) the date of closing; (2) 30 days after the Owner accepted your offer; and (3) within 3 business days following your receipt …").
Survivorship deed statutory form language, R.C. § 5302.17.
Federal lead paint verbatim Lead Warning Statement.

Local / municipal overlays

Cleveland-area POS inspection cluster (Cleveland, Cleveland Heights, Shaker Heights, University Heights, Lakewood, Parma, East Cleveland, Euclid, Garfield Heights, Gates Mills, and others). Process: the city inspects before transfer; violations are classed; uncorrected "Class A" violations require an escrow held until repairs are completed and a Certificate of Compliance issues, and title generally cannot transfer until the buyer's signed acknowledgment and escrow are in place. Cleveland Heights: escrow must be at least $1,000 and equal to 125% of the city's estimated repair cost, disbursed only on written city authorization; owner must correct within 90 days (extensions for progress); the POS Certificate of Inspection is valid one year for transfer. Escrow percentages vary by city (Garfield Heights 150%; Shaker Heights certificate valid 24 months; some cities require independent contractor estimates). Not all Ohio municipalities require POS.

Notable examples only; not exhaustive.

Post-closing obligations

County Auditor endorses and collects the conveyance fee; Recorder records the deed; DTE 100 filed.
1099-S. Filed by closing agent.
Mortgage satisfaction. Recorded (R.C. § 5301.36).
Capital gains / OH income tax. Ohio taxes gain as ordinary income on a graduated scale; recent budgets have compressed brackets, so verify the current-year top marginal rate with the Ohio Department of Taxation at the time of use.

Federal overlays (cross-reference)

Cross-reference master methodology § 8 (FIRPTA; 1099-S; federal lead paint; wire-fraud advisory; FinCEN Residential Real Estate Rule and its 2026 vacatur — see § 10).

Recent changes flagged (2023–2026)

No enacted change to the R.C. § 5302.30 form regime in the window; always pull the current Division of Real Estate version.
Dower reform failed again — proposals have repeatedly stalled (most recently gaining traction in 2020 before dying); dower under R.C. § 2103.02 remains fully in force, so the spousal release requirement stands.
FinCEN Residential Real Estate Rule (31 CFR § 1031.320). Effective March 1, 2026; vacated nationwide March 19, 2026 in Flowers Title Companies, LLC v. Bessent, No. 6:25-cv-127-JDK (E.D. Tex.); reports not currently required. A conflicting M.D. Fla. decision (Fidelity National Financial, Inc. v. Bessent, Feb. 20, 2026) had upheld the rule — treat as unsettled pending appeal.

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