Ohio advertising rules, for your website.
The brokerage name on every viewable web page, in at least equal prominence with the salesperson's name.
What Ohio actually requires
Ohio requires the brokerage name, matching the license or an approved trade name, on every viewable web page of a licensee's site, displayed at least in equal prominence with the salesperson's name. Character-limited media and third-party sites whose terms prevent the disclosure may link to a compliant display instead.
The team advertising rule, 1301:5-1-21, took effect July 1, 2021.
Regulator
Ohio Division of Real Estate and Professional Licensing (Department of Commerce)
Citations
- Ohio Rev. Code 4735.16(B)(1) and (B)(3)
- Ohio Admin. Code 1301:5-1-02(B) to (D), (H)
- Ohio Admin. Code 1301:5-1-21 (teams)
We build websites, we are not lawyers, and this is not legal advice. Rules change. Confirm the current text with the Ohio Division of Real Estate and Professional Licensing (Department of Commerce) before you launch.
What that means on the page
The rule as a set of decisions your designer and developer have to make before launch, not after.
Brokerage name as licensed
Exactly the name on the brokerage license, or an approved trade name.
Every viewable web page
With two codified exceptions: character-limited media may link out, and third-party sites whose terms restrict the disclosure may link out.
Equal prominence
The brokerage name displays at least in equal prominence with the salesperson's name. An equal-size floor rather than a fraction.
Team names need Team or Group
And may not use Realty or Associates. The brokerage name appears in equal or greater prominence than both the team name and the individual's name.
What catches people out here
These are the parts that do not transfer from another state's template.
Team rules only attach if you use a team name
Ohio's 2021 amendment clarified that agents who work together without marketing under a shared group name are not swept into the team-advertising rule. The regulation follows the brand, not the collaboration.
Old team names are grandfathered
Team names established before July 1, 2021 keep their wording even where new names could not use it. A template that assumes uniform retroactive application would wrongly flag long-standing Ohio teams.
No registration process for team names
Unlike Connecticut, Ohio does not license or register team names at all. The naming rules apply, but there is no filing to make.
This page covers state advertising rules only. Fair housing, MLS display rules, and consent for lead forms apply everywhere and are covered in our brokerage website requirements guide.
The rules genuinely differ
California requires a license number on your site. Texas law bars its commission from requiring one. Never assume a neighbouring state's template applies.
Do not see your state? We add one only after verifying its rule against the actual statute, because a confident guess about a licensing rule is worse than no page. Ask us and we will read yours with you.
Built to your state's rules,
live before you open.
We read the Ohio rule as part of the build, so the brokerage name, identification and disclosures land where they belong the first time.