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.
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
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.
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.
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.
See what is already on record at your complex
Search your address first. If neighbors have already reported the same problem, say so in your report. A building-wide pattern gets treated differently than one unit.
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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. Document everything. If you face retaliation, call the Legal Aid Society of Columbus at (614) 241-2001.
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
Looking at a specific address?
Get the full Block Report, covering what's been reported at that exact address, the same building, and chronic neighbors within a third of a mile.
Search an address →Contacts on this page were verified July 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. Report counts come from official City of Columbus code-enforcement records and describe reports filed, not verified conditions.