Transfer tax
Ohio charges a conveyance fee based on value, set by each county. It is customarily charged to the grantor, and how it applies to a gift with no consideration is confirmed when we prepare the deed.
Donate a house, lot or building in Ohio, in any of the 88 counties
Ohio property specialists: (888) 228-7320
Donate Real Estate in Ohio
Ohio is one of the few states that still recognizes dower, which means a spouse who is not on the deed may still need to sign it. Beyond that, the property here divides cleanly: sound houses in cities where the repair bill outruns the value, farmland in the west, and land in the east sitting over the Utica shale where the minerals left the surface years ago. All 88 counties.
Fully IRS Compliant
We Handle the Paperwork
Form 8283 Done Right
501(c)(3) Recognized Charity
Ohio rules for a property donation
Federal tax rules are the same in every state. These three are set by Ohio and by the county where the property sits.
Dower, and who signs
Ohio retains dower, an interest a spouse holds in the other spouse’s real property during the marriage. In practice a married owner’s spouse releases dower in the deed even when not on title. It is a one-line addition when caught early and a defect in the chain when missed, so we check marital status before drafting.
Recording
Deeds are recorded with the county recorder for the county where the property sits. You sign before a notary wherever you live, and we handle the filing.
What Ohio owners call us about
Four situations that recur across the state.
A sound house worth less than its furnace
Cleveland, Youngstown, Dayton and Toledo all have solid older housing where the mechanical and roof bill exceeds what the finished house appraises for.
A rental portfolio managed from out of state
Small rental houses bought by distant investors in the last cycle, now producing more work than return. We take them tenanted.
Surface without the oil and gas
In eastern Ohio the Utica shale made severed minerals valuable and complicated. Surface-only ground is donated routinely; the appraisal reflects what you hold.
A parcel headed for the county land bank
Ohio counties run land banks that take tax-delinquent property. Where the arrears sit well below sale value, a donation is the faster route.
Ohio property we accept
Each links to the full guide for that type, including how a donation compares with selling.
Houses in OhioCentury homes, post-war bungalows and suburban ranches.
Ohio landWoodland, river bottom and village lots.
Farm groundCorn and soybean ground in the west, pasture and hay in the hill country.
Commercial propertyMain street blocks, storefronts and small offices.
Industrial buildingsWarehouse and manufacturing space from the state’s industrial era.
Land contractsCommon in Ohio. We take over the payments and deliver the deed at payoff.
What a donation looks like by region
Six Ohios, each with a different reason property comes loose.
Northeast Ohio
Cleveland, Akron and Youngstown: solid older housing stock, active county land banks, and repair economics that do not work on a sale.
Central Ohio
Columbus and the ring around it, where the question is usually an inherited house in a neighborhood that has changed value quickly.
Southwest Ohio
Cincinnati and Dayton: hillside houses, older two-families and small commercial buildings on corridors that emptied.
Northwest Ohio
Toledo and the flat farm counties, with grain ground, drainage tile and small-town commercial.
Appalachian southeast
Hill country, timber and the Utica shale belt, where severed oil and gas rights are the norm rather than the exception.
The western farm counties
Productive cropland held by families whose next generation farms elsewhere, often with a farmhouse nobody lives in.
Ohio real estate donation questions, answered
Is a donated deed subject to Ohio transfer tax?+
Ohio charges a conveyance fee based on value, set by each county. It is customarily charged to the grantor, and how it applies to a gift with no consideration is confirmed when we prepare the deed.
I live outside Ohio. Do I have to travel there to sign?+
No. We prepare the deed in the form Ohio requires for the county where the property sits, you sign before a notary where you live, and we record it with the county recorder.
My spouse is not on the deed. Does he still have to sign?+
In Ohio, usually yes. Dower means a spouse holds an interest in the other’s real property during the marriage, and the release is made in the deed. We confirm marital status before drafting so it is handled at signing rather than discovered at recording.
Does Ohio give a state tax deduction for a property donation?+
Ohio has a state income tax, and how it treats a charitable contribution is set by Ohio law rather than by us. Your federal deduction follows the usual IRS rules. Take the state question to your own advisor.
I own the surface but not the oil and gas. Can I still donate?+
Yes, and it is common in eastern Ohio. Surface-only ownership is ordinary fee ownership with a known limitation, and the appraisal reflects exactly what you own. Tell us whether any lease is producing.
We do not provide tax or legal advice. State and local transfer tax rules change; we confirm current requirements when we prepare each deed. Consult your own advisor.
Tell us about your Ohio property and we will review it
The county and a parcel number are enough to start.