Middletown, OH Business Licensing & Operations: Towing Companies (2026)

055 governs non-consent towing from private property. The chief of a law enforcement agency may, on complaint of an adversely affected person, order into storage a motor vehicle left on private residential or agricultural property for at least four hours without permission, or a vehicle left too long at a repair garage or storage facility. The towing service must remove the vehicle in accordance with the chief's order and deliver it to the designated storage location within two hours, absent an uncontrollable force or natural disaster.

If the owner or operator shows up after the vehicle has been prepped for removal but before it actually leaves the property, division (b) requires the towing service to notify them they can pay a 'drop fee' of not more than half the PUCO-set removal fee (or half the city's own vehicle removal fee, if Middletown has adopted one) to get the vehicle released on the spot. 055(h) lets a private property owner establish a private tow-away zone by posting an 18-by-24-inch sign at every entrance stating the property is a tow-away zone, who may park, enforcement hours if not around-the-clock, and the phone number and address to recover a towed vehicle at any hour. 611.