Property management in Worthington, Ohio
RL Property Management manages single-family and small multifamily rentals in Worthington for a flat $117 to $184 per unit per month, with a $0 leasing fee. Exterior work inside the Architectural Review District needs board approval first.
Worthington, at a glance
- Flat $117 to $184 per unit per month, not a percentage of rent
- $0 leasing fee every time a Worthington unit turns
- Exterior work inside the Architectural Review District needs board approval first
- Worthington is entirely in Franklin County, so evictions are heard at 375 S. High St.
- Median rent across the units we manage in Worthington: $1,805 for a 3 bedroom
- Median Worthington home was built in 1963 (US Census, ACS 2024 5-year estimates)
Does Worthington restrict exterior work on a rental property?
Inside the Architectural Review District, yes. Worthington runs a seven-member Architectural Review Board that hears requests for approval of exterior changes to buildings and property within that district, and approval takes the form of a Certificate of Appropriateness under Chapter 1177 of the Worthington Codified Ordinances. The board applies the published Worthington Design Guidelines, and an appeal from a decision goes to City Council rather than to a court.
Most Worthington houses are outside the district, which covers the older core. The city publishes an Architectural Review District Map that settles the question for a specific parcel. That map is the first thing to check before you buy a Worthington rental, and the first thing we check before we scope a turn.
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Who decides | The Architectural Review Board, seven members, City of Worthington |
| What is reviewed | Exterior changes to buildings and property inside the Architectural Review District |
| The approval | A Certificate of Appropriateness, under Chapter 1177 of the Codified Ordinances |
| The standard applied | The published Worthington Design Guidelines |
| When it meets | Generally the second and fourth Thursday of each month, Worthington Municipal Building, 6550 N. High St. |
| If you are refused | Appeal to Worthington City Council |
What that does to a turn, in weeks
A board that meets twice a month is a schedule you do not control. On an ordinary rental a contractor quotes exterior work and starts it. On a district property the same work waits for a submission, a meeting date and a decision, and a request that misses one meeting waits for the next. Every week of that is a week the unit is not earning, and it is the single most common way a Worthington turn runs long.
So on a district property we sequence it differently. Interior scope, which nobody has to approve, starts immediately on its own track. Anything touching the exterior gets identified at the inspection, before the previous resident is even out, and submitted against the next meeting date rather than the next available contractor. Where a repair can be done in kind, matching what is already there, we quote it that way first.
Which court hears an eviction in Worthington, Ohio?
Franklin County Municipal Court, at 375 S. High St., 3rd floor, Columbus, OH 43215. Worthington sits entirely inside Franklin County, so every Worthington address answers to the same court. That is worth saying plainly, because two of the markets next door do not work that way: Dublin spans three counties and Westerville spans two, and in both of those the correct court depends on the parcel.
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, served by certified mail, handed to the resident, or left at the property. Wrong wording gets the case dismissed and you start again three weeks later. The resident who stopped paying in month three is rarely the one who fights the case, but the notice is where it is won or lost either way. The hard cost is $273, being $123 to the county and $150 to the eviction attorney for the filing and up to two appearances. We charge $199 to run the process, so a typical case totals $472 before any setout. About 3.5% are contested. The whole sequence is on the evictions page.
Do you have to register a Worthington rental, and who provides the utilities?
You register with the Franklin County Auditor, not with the city, and it is free. 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, within 60 days of acquiring it and within 60 days of any change. Miss it and the auditor can place a special assessment on the property under R.C. 5323.99. The Franklin County Auditor states $150 per tax year. Owners holding title through an LLC or a trust also have to name the responsible officer, member or trustee, which is the line most often left blank.
| Service | Provider | Who customarily pays |
|---|---|---|
| Water | City of Columbus, which maintains the main lines in Worthington | Resident, in their own name, on our standard lease |
| Sanitary sewer | Under contract with Columbus, per Codified Ordinances Chapter 929 | Resident |
| Electricity | AEP Ohio | Resident |
| Natural gas | Columbia Gas of Ohio | Resident |
Why the water line matters more than it looks: in Ohio, unpaid water and sewer can attach to the parcel rather than to the person who ran up the balance, so a resident who leaves owing a water bill can leave it with you. We put every account in the resident name at lease signing and check them again at move-out, before a deposit is settled.
Where a city runs its own registration, licence or inspection programme, it stacks on top of the county auditor filing rather than replacing it. Columbus added a citywide registry in April 2026 under City Code Chapter 4515. Keeping track of which programme applies to your address, and filing on time, is work we absorb rather than work we hand you.
What kind of rental property is there in Worthington?
Older houses on a tight street grid, and that age is the through line of everything on this page. The median Worthington home was built in 1963, according to US Census ACS 2024 5-year estimates, roughly two decades older than the typical Westerville house. Old Worthington around the Village Green holds the early nineteenth-century stock the Architectural Review District exists to protect. Everything north and east of it is largely post-war, with ranches and split-levels from the 1950s and 1960s making up much of what we actually manage.
A 1963 median means most Worthington rentals were built before 1978, so the federal lead-based paint disclosure rules apply to them. In practical terms that is a signed disclosure and the EPA pamphlet at every lease, plus a contractor rule that governs who is allowed to disturb painted surfaces during a turn. We treat pre-1978 disclosure as standard on this side of the metro, and the full explanation of what it costs and what it changes is on the Upper Arlington page, where the stock is older still.
The maintenance profile follows from the age. Cast iron and galvanized drain lines, clay sewer laterals with tree roots in them, plaster rather than drywall, two-prong receptacles, and ductwork retrofitted into houses that were not designed for it. None of that is a reason to avoid Worthington. It is a reason to hold a real reserve. Ours run $350 to $1,500 per unit depending on plan, and on a 1960s house we would rather be at the top of that range.
Where in Worthington we work
Old Worthington and the Village Green, Colonial Hills, Worthington Estates, Medick Estates, Rush Creek, the High Street corridor, Wilson Bridge Road, and the streets running back off Olentangy River Road. Houses across the city feed the Worthington City School District. Demand here skews toward households that want an older house on a walkable street and will stay several years to keep it, which is why renewal matters more in Worthington than turnover speed does.
What does a Worthington rental earn, and what does management cost?
Across the units we manage in Worthington, the median rent is $1,805 for a three bedroom. That is our own portfolio median, not a market survey. We publish no 2 bedroom or 4 bedroom figure for Worthington, because we do not manage enough of either here to make a median honest, and we would rather show a gap than dress a public rent index up as our own data.
$1,500 per-item repair approval limit
$750 per-item repair approval limit
$350 per-item repair approval limit
The three plans differ in exactly one variable: how large a repair we can approve without calling you first. On an older Worthington house that does real work, because a failed sixty-year-old sewer lateral gets dealt with the day it is found rather than the day you happen to check your email. A manager charging 10% of collected rent on a $1,805 Worthington house takes about $2,172 a year, plus roughly $903 again every time the unit turns. Our middle plan is $1,644 a year and the placement is $0. We never charge a leasing fee, which is the one absolute claim on this page and the only one we can prove.
Percentage figures describe common Columbus market rates. They are not a quote from any named company. Photography is not included in the $0 leasing fee and is billed separately at $250 to $450.
Worthington property management questions
Worthington property management questions
What is the Worthington Architectural Review District, and is my rental in it?
The Architectural Review District is the part of Worthington where exterior changes to a building or its property need approval from the city Architectural Review Board before the work happens. It is centred on the older core around High Street and the Village Green, and the City of Worthington publishes an Architectural Review District Map showing the exact boundary. Most Worthington houses sit outside it. If yours sits inside it, that changes how you plan any exterior turn work.
What does the Worthington Architectural Review Board actually review?
Exterior changes to buildings and property inside the district. The board has seven members, generally meets on the second and fourth Thursday of each month at the Worthington Municipal Building, 6550 N. High St., and applies the published Worthington Design Guidelines. Approval takes the form of a Certificate of Appropriateness under Chapter 1177 of the Worthington Codified Ordinances. An appeal from a board decision goes to City Council.
How does design review change a turn on a Worthington rental?
It puts part of your schedule on a board calendar instead of a contractor calendar. A board that meets twice a month means an exterior item raised at the wrong point in the month waits for the next meeting, and the work waits with it. So on a district property we separate the interior scope, which we can start immediately, from anything touching the exterior, which gets submitted first and scheduled around the meeting date. Owners who find this out mid-turn lose weeks of rent to it.
Which court hears an eviction in Worthington, Ohio?
Franklin County Municipal Court, at 375 S. High St., 3rd floor, Columbus, OH 43215. Worthington sits entirely inside Franklin County, so unlike Dublin or Westerville there is no county line question here and every Worthington address files in the same place. Jurisdiction follows the county under Ohio Revised Code 1901.02.
Do I have to register my Worthington rental property with anyone?
Yes, with the Franklin County Auditor, not with the city. Ohio Revised Code 5323.02 requires the owner of residential rental property to file the owner name, address and telephone number and the parcel number with the county auditor, and to update it within 60 days of any change. There is no filing fee. Failing to file draws a special assessment under R.C. 5323.99, which the Franklin County Auditor states as $150 per tax year. A manager can file as the owner designated agent, and we do.
Who provides water and sewer in Worthington?
The City of Columbus supplies water to Worthington and maintains the main water lines in the city, and sanitary sewer runs under a contract with Columbus set out in Chapter 929 of the Worthington Codified Ordinances. Electricity is distributed by AEP Ohio and natural gas by Columbia Gas of Ohio. On our standard lease the resident holds every utility account in their own name, and we check the water account at move-out because in Ohio unpaid water and sewer can follow the property rather than the person.
What does a rental in Worthington, Ohio rent for?
Across the units we manage in Worthington, the median rent is $1,805 for a 3 bedroom. That is our own portfolio median, not a market survey. We do not publish a 2 bedroom or 4 bedroom figure for Worthington, because we do not manage enough of either here for a median to mean anything, and a number built on two units is not a number.
How much does property management cost in Worthington?
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, a Worthington house renting at $1,805 costs the same to manage as one renting at $1,200. A manager charging 10% of collected rent would take about $2,172 a year on that same house.
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.
General information about property management practice in Central Ohio, not legal advice. Statutes and local ordinances change, and your own situation may differ.
Last verified September 2026. Reviewed by Peter Lohmann, Principal Broker and CEO.
Nearby markets and what to read next
- Upper Arlington property managementSouthwest, older still, and the pre-1978 rules in full.
- Westerville property managementEast, newer stock and a municipal electric utility.
- Dublin property managementWest, larger lots and a three-county eviction problem.
- Columbus property managementThe anchor page, with every neighbourhood we work.
- Pricing and the full fee scheduleEvery charge that can appear on an owner statement.
Find out what your Worthington rental should earn
Tell us the address and we will price it against the units we already manage in Worthington and the comparable listings live right now. No charge, and no obligation to hire us.