Who pays the conveyance fee in Ohio
The seller pays. R.C. 322.02 says the county tax “shall be levied upon the grantor named in the deed and shall be paid by the grantor,” and the County Commissioners Association of Ohio (CCAO) puts it plainly in its 2024 fee report: “The fee is paid by the transferer, not the recipient.”
The fee is due when the deed is delivered to the county auditor, before the recorder will record it. In a normal sale the title company collects it from the seller’s proceeds and pays it on the seller’s behalf, so it shows up as a line on the seller’s side of the settlement statement.
A purchase contract can shift the cost to the buyer by agreement. That changes who writes the check, not who the law names as owing it.
How the fee is calculated: the two parts
The total is a state-authorized part plus a county part, both based on the sale price.
- The mandatory fee. R.C. 319.54(G)(3) sets it at ten cents per $100 of value, or $1, whichever is greater. That works out to $1 per $1,000.
- The permissive fee. R.C. 322.02 lets the county commissioners add up to 30 cents per $100, or $3 per $1,000. In CY 2024, 62 of Ohio’s 88 counties charged the full $3.
There is also a separate 50-cent fee for each transfer or entry of a parcel, under R.C. 319.54(G)(2), paid by whoever requests the transfer.
“Value” is defined in R.C. 322.01 as the full price paid or to be paid, including any liens on the property. It is the contract price, not the auditor’s appraised value.
Conveyance fee rates in Summit, Stark, Portage and Medina
Three of the four counties we cover charge the maximum. Medina charges less.
| County | State part | County part | Total per $1,000 | Fee on a $180,000 sale | Transfers subject to the fee, CY 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Summit | $1 | $3 | $4 | $720 | 10,954 |
| Stark | $1 | $3 | $4 | $720 | 7,896 |
| Portage | $1 | $3 | $4 | $720 | 2,515 |
| Medina | $1 | $2 | $3 | $540 | 3,266 |
Rates and counts: CCAO, CY 2024 data, published June 2026. The dollar column adds only the per-$1,000 rate; the 50-cent parcel fee comes on top.
The Stark County Auditor spells out its rounding: the fee is “$.004 on purchase price rounded to the next $100.00 plus a $.50 per tax parcel.” So a $182,350 sale in Stark is figured on $182,400, for a fee of $729.60 plus 50 cents for a single parcel.
Form DTE 100: the statement of value
Before the auditor will endorse a deed, the buyer side files a statement of value. R.C. 319.202 requires the grantee or the grantee’s representative to submit it, electronically or in three paper copies, on the tax commissioner’s form. That form is DTE 100, the “Real Property Conveyance Fee Statement of Value and Receipt.”
The DTE 100 does more than report the price. It also has to address whether the property gets the homestead exemption or the owner-occupancy reduction, and whether the seller and buyer have accounted for those reductions between themselves. That ties the fee paperwork to the property tax proration at closing, which our guide on property tax proration at closing in Ohio covers.
Title companies prepare the DTE 100 as part of the closing package. The Summit County Fiscal Office’s property transfer department needs properly prepared forms before its 3:30 p.m. cutoff for a same-day transfer.
Conveyance fee exemptions and form DTE 100EX
R.C. 319.54(G)(3) lists 25 exemptions, lettered (a) through (y). When one applies, the grantee files form DTE 100EX, a statement of the reason for exemption, instead of paying. The exemptions that come up most for families are:
- (d) a gift, in trust or otherwise, between husband and wife or parent and child, or the spouse of either
- (e) a sale for delinquent taxes or assessments
- (f) a transfer under a court order, as long as it is not the result of a sale under that order
- (m) a transfer with no money or other valuable consideration paid, where the transaction is not a gift
- (n) transfers by a probate certificate of transfer under R.C. 2113.61, and transfers between spouses or to a surviving survivorship tenant under R.C. 5302.17 or 5302.18
- (s) transfers among the heirs or devisees of a common decedent when no money changes hands
- (t) a transfer into a revocable trust where the grantor keeps an unlimited power to revoke it
Other exemptions cover government agencies, deeds that only secure or release a debt, corrective deeds, and transfers out of a county land bank. Older Ohio Attorney General opinions say auditors may look into the facts behind a claimed exemption, so the DTE 100EX should describe the transfer accurately.
None of these exemptions covers an ordinary sale to an unrelated buyer, including a sale to a cash buyer or investor. If you are selling, plan on the fee.
Where the conveyance fee money goes
Revenue from both parts goes to the county general fund, according to the CCAO report, except when the property is being transferred to a county land bank. In that case the money goes to the land bank’s fund. Summit County collected about $11.1 million in total conveyance fees in CY 2024 and Stark about $6.9 million.
The conveyance fee is only one line among a seller’s costs. For the full list, including title charges, prorated taxes and payoffs, see seller closing costs in Ohio. If you want to see what your own sale would net, request a written offer and we will walk through the numbers with you.
