Property management in Lewis Center, Ohio
RL Property Management manages Lewis Center rentals for a flat $117 to $184 per unit per month with a $0 leasing fee. Lewis Center is unincorporated Delaware County, so evictions go to Delaware Municipal Court.
Lewis Center, at a glance
- Flat $117 to $184 per unit per month, not a percentage of rent
- $0 leasing fee every time a Lewis Center unit turns
- Lewis Center is unincorporated Orange Township, Delaware County, not a city
- Evictions are filed at Delaware Municipal Court, not in Franklin County
- The R.C. 5323 owner filing goes to the Delaware County Auditor, 145 N. Union St.
- Drinking water comes from Del-Co Water, not the City of Columbus
Is Lewis Center a city, and why does that matter to a landlord?
Lewis Center is not a city. It is an unincorporated community in northwestern Orange Township, Delaware County, carrying the 43035 ZIP code. There is no Lewis Center city hall, no Lewis Center council and no Lewis Center codified ordinances, because there is no Lewis Center municipality to write them. That is not a technicality. It changes who you file with, who you call, and who inspects your building.
Orange Township covers about 22.8 square miles and had 37,452 residents at the 2020 census, which makes it larger than several incorporated suburbs and still, formally, a township. Land use runs on a township zoning resolution adopted under Ohio Revised Code Chapter 519, not a municipal zoning code. Law enforcement is the Delaware County Sheriff. And an Ohio township has no authority to levy a municipal income tax, so a resident of Lewis Center pays no city income tax at all, which is one of the quieter reasons the area leases well.
The practical failure mode we see: an out-of-state owner buys a Lewis Center house, searches for the rental registration requirements of the nearest city they recognise, finds Columbus, and starts complying with rules that do not apply while missing the one that does. A manager who does not know the difference will not catch that for you.
Which court hears an eviction in Lewis Center, Ohio?
Delaware Municipal Court. Ohio Revised Code 1901.02 ties municipal court jurisdiction to territory, and because Lewis Center sits wholly inside Delaware County, a forcible entry and detainer action on a Lewis Center rental is filed in Delaware. Not downtown Columbus. Not Franklin County Municipal Court at 375 S. High St., which is where most central Ohio eviction advice quietly assumes you are going.
Before any court sees the case, Ohio requires a three-day notice to leave the premises under R.C. 1923.04, carrying specific statutory language and served correctly. Wrong wording, wrong service, or a notice counted wrong and the case is dismissed. You then start over roughly three weeks behind where you were, with another month of unpaid rent behind you.
What an eviction costs an owner
- $150 to the eviction attorney, covering the filing and up to two appearances
- $123 county filing fee for the eviction complaint
- $199 to us to run the process end to end
- $472 typical total before any setout
The $123 figure is the Franklin County eviction complaint fee from our published schedule. A Delaware County parcel files at Delaware Municipal Court instead, and we confirm that court's current filing deposit at the time of filing rather than quoting a figure that may have moved.
Our full eviction procedure, including what we do in the 30 days before it becomes necessary, is on the evictions page.
Do you have to register a Lewis Center rental property?
Yes, with the Delaware County Auditor, and only with the Delaware County Auditor. Ohio Revised Code 5323.02 requires every owner of residential rental property to file their name, address and telephone number, plus the property street address and permanent parcel number, with the auditor of the county the property sits in, and to update it within 60 days of any change. There is no fee. The Delaware County Auditor runs its own registration and sits at 145 N. Union St. in Delaware.
Skip it and the auditor can place a special assessment of $50 to $150 on the property under R.C. 5323.99. If you bought through an LLC or a trust, the statute wants the responsible officer, member or trustee named, and that is the part owners miss most often. The statute also lets an owner designate a property manager as the agent who files, and that is part of onboarding here.
Because Lewis Center is unincorporated, there is no city rental licence, no city rental inspection cycle and no city registration fee sitting on top of the state filing. That is a genuine cost advantage over an incorporated suburb, and it is worth knowing before you compare two houses ten minutes apart.
Who provides water, sewer and power in Lewis Center?
Drinking water comes from Del-Co Water Company, not from the City of Columbus. Del-Co is a member-owned non-profit cooperative serving roughly 44,000 customers across eight central Ohio counties, and its oldest treatment plant sits in Lewis Center. Sanitary sewer in the developed parts of Orange Township runs through the Delaware County Regional Sewer District, which operates the Alum Creek Water Reclamation Facility, also in Lewis Center.
| Service | Provider | Who customarily pays |
|---|---|---|
| Water | Del-Co Water Company | Resident, in their own name, on our standard lease |
| Sanitary sewer | Delaware County Regional Sewer District | Resident, where the property is on public sewer |
| Natural gas | Columbia Gas of Ohio | Resident |
| Electricity | Confirm per address | Resident |
Check one more thing on any Orange Township parcel before you buy: not every property is on public sewer. Older parcels on the rural edges can still run a private septic system, which Ohio regulates as a household sewage treatment system, and that is a capital item rather than a repair line.
What kind of rental property is in Lewis Center, and what does management cost?
Detached single-family houses, overwhelmingly, in subdivisions built as Orange Township filled in from the 1990s onward along the Olentangy corridor between Powell and Westerville. Three and four bedroom homes on conventional lots are the common rental, and the Olentangy Local School District is the strongest demand driver. That draws relocating families rather than short-stay renters, which is why tenancies here run long.
We are not publishing a bedroom-level rent median for Lewis Center. Our sample there sits below the five-unit floor we set before we will publish a market-level figure, and we will not quote a public rent index as if it came from our own book. That is a discipline, not a gap in coverage. Send an address and we will price it against live comparables and the units we manage nearby.
$1,500 per-item repair approval limit
$750 per-item repair approval limit
$350 per-item repair approval limit
The fee is a flat dollar amount, so it does not climb when your rent does. A manager taking 10% of collected rent on a house at $2,000 a month collects $2,400 a year and roughly half a month of rent again every time the unit turns. Our middle plan is $1,644 a year and the placement is $0. Percentage figures describe common Columbus market rates, not a quote from any named company. Photography is not included in the leasing fee and is billed separately at $250 to $450.
Lewis Center property management questions
Lewis Center property management questions
Is Lewis Center, Ohio a city?
No. Lewis Center is an unincorporated community in northwestern Orange Township, Delaware County, with the 43035 ZIP code. It has no mayor, no city council, no municipal code and no city hall. Orange Township governs land use under Ohio Revised Code Chapter 519, the Delaware County Sheriff provides law enforcement, and there is no municipal income tax, because a township has no authority to levy one.
What county is Lewis Center, Ohio in?
Delaware County. That single fact changes the court, the auditor and the recorder for every rental you own there. Owners who bought a Lewis Center house after looking at Columbus listings often assume Franklin County applies. It does not.
Which court hears an eviction in Lewis Center, Ohio?
Delaware Municipal Court. Jurisdiction follows the county under Ohio Revised Code 1901.02, and Lewis Center sits entirely in Delaware County, so a forcible entry and detainer action on a Lewis Center rental is filed in Delaware, not at Franklin County Municipal Court in downtown Columbus. Filing in the wrong county costs you the filing fee and roughly three weeks of calendar time, and you start again.
Do I have to register a rental property in Lewis Center?
Yes, with the Delaware County Auditor, not with a city. Ohio Revised Code 5323.02 requires the owner of residential rental property to file the owner name, address and telephone number plus the parcel number with the auditor of the county where the property sits, and to update it within 60 days of any change. There is no fee. The Delaware County Auditor runs its own registration at 145 N. Union St., Delaware. Missing the filing draws a special assessment of $50 to $150 under R.C. 5323.99. Because Lewis Center is unincorporated, there is no separate city registration on top of it.
Who provides water and sewer in Lewis Center, Ohio?
Drinking water comes from Del-Co Water Company, a member-owned non-profit cooperative that serves roughly 44,000 customers across eight central Ohio counties and runs a treatment plant in Lewis Center itself. Sanitary sewer in the developed parts of Orange Township is handled by the Delaware County Regional Sewer District, which operates the Alum Creek Water Reclamation Facility in Lewis Center. Neither is City of Columbus water or Columbus sewer, so the Columbus rule that leaves an owner ultimately liable for a resident water balance does not apply the same way here.
Does an unincorporated address change how a lease works?
Not the lease itself. Ohio landlord-tenant law in R.C. Chapter 5321 applies to a Lewis Center rental exactly as it applies to a Columbus one, including the three-day notice to leave the premises under R.C. 1923.04 and the 30 day deadline to return a security deposit with an itemised statement. What changes is everything municipal: zoning is township zoning, code enforcement is county, police response is the Sheriff, and there is no city licence to renew.
What does a rental in Lewis Center rent for?
We are not publishing a bedroom-level median for Lewis Center. Our own sample there is below the five-unit threshold we set for publishing a market-level figure, and we will not dress a public rent index up as our own book. Send us the address and we will price it against live comparable listings and the units we manage nearby.
How much does property management cost in Lewis Center?
A flat $117 to $184 per unit per month depending on plan, with a $0 leasing fee and $250 on a lease renewal. Because the fee is a fixed dollar amount rather than a percentage, a higher-rent Olentangy-district house costs the same to manage as a modest one. Photography is not included in the leasing fee and is billed separately at $250 to $450.
Rent is due on the 1st and late fees are assessed after the 5th. Owner funds go out on the 10th. Another forty answers sit on the owner FAQs page.
Last verified September 2026. Reviewed by Peter Lohmann, Principal Broker and CEO.
Nearby markets and what to read next
- Powell property managementWest across the Olentangy, incorporated, same county and same court.
- Westerville property managementSoutheast, and the one central Ohio suburb with its own electric utility.
- Worthington property managementSouth, older housing stock and a Franklin County court.
- Dublin property managementSouthwest, and split across three counties.
- Pricing and the full fee scheduleEvery charge that can appear on an owner statement.
Find out what your Lewis Center rental should earn
Tell us the address and we will price it against live comparable listings and the units we manage nearby in Delaware County. No charge, and no obligation to hire us.