Ohio publishes no lien release form, because the lender releases on the face of the title or electronically and the clerk cancels the notation. What Ohio gives a seller instead is a way of seeing the record itself. This requests a certified vehicle title record: title number, title status, vehicle owner and address, previous owner and address, and lien holder information. It is the document that settles an argument about whether an old loan was ever cleared.
Written against BMV 1174 (8/22), issued under Ohio Revised Code 4501.15, 4501.27, 4505.14 and 4507.53.
This is a records request, not a title transaction. It cannot remove a lien, correct a name or produce a certificate - it tells you what the record says, which is the thing worth knowing before a buyer asks.
Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank BMV 1174 from the dam.assets.ohio.gov copy so you get the revision that is current today.
This is all 2 pages of the actual BMV 1174, rendered from the PDF the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles publishes and completed end to end: letterhead, every field, and the blocks at the foot.
Amber — you write it
Grey — not yours to fill
Numbered — explained below
Page 1 of 2. Who is asking, whose record it is, and which record. One vehicle identification number is enough to find a title.Page 2 of 2. Thirteen permitted uses and exactly one tick. The first is the one a person requesting their own record uses; the rest belong to courts, insurers, investigators and employers.
Field by field
Every line, in the order you meet it
1
You fill this in
Section 1, who is asking
Full name, street address, city, state, ZIP and phone. Company name only if a business is requesting it.
Watch out: Both the full name and the mailing address are marked required on the form, and the results come back to the address you write here.
2
You fill this in
Option 1 or Option 2
Option 1 for your own vehicle's title record; Option 2 for another person's, which needs their name as well.
Watch out: Option 1 says in its own text that no name is required as long as you provide the identifiers below - so a vehicle identification number on its own is a complete request.
3
You fill this in
The identifiers
Any of driver licence, date of birth, Social Security number, vehicle identification number or Ohio title number.
Watch out: The footnote is honest about the trade: a Social Security number is not required, but the more identifiers you provide the better the search works. A VIN alone is usually enough for one vehicle.
4
You fill this in
Section 3, the record type
Vehicle Title Record - the one that returns title number, title status, owner and previous owner, and lien holder information.
Watch out: The form warns in the same paragraph that this search may not provide the last known address of the vehicle owner. It is a title record, not a people search.
5
You fill this in
Section 4, the permitted use
One tick from thirteen. Number 1 is an individual requesting a record about themselves.
Watch out: The other twelve are written for government agencies, courts, insurers, employers and licensed investigative agencies, and most of them ask you to attach something - a certified copy of an order, a case number, a licence number, a company tax identification number.
6
You fill this in
Section 5, sign and date
Print, sign and date under the certification about disclosure and record-keeping.
Watch out: Read what you are signing. It commits you to keeping a five-year record of anyone you pass the personal information to, and to producing that record on request.
At a glance
What goes where
On the form
What to put in it
Section 1, the requesting person
Your full name, an optional company name, street address, city, state, ZIP code and phone number, and how the results should be returned. Full name and mailing address are both marked required.
Section 2, whose record
Option 1 is your own vehicle's title record, and the form notes that no name is required for it if you give the identifiers. Option 2 is another person's. A tick underneath says whether additional sheets are attached.
The identifiers
Ohio driver licence, date of birth, Social Security number, vehicle identification number and Ohio title number. A footnote says the Social Security number is not required, but that providing as many identifiers as possible best assists the search.
Section 3, the record type
Vehicle Title Record, described on the form as providing title number, title status, vehicle owner and address, previous owner and address, as well as lien holder information.
Section 4, the qualification
Thirteen numbered permitted uses under R.C. 4501.27, and exactly one is ticked. The first is a request by an individual for their own record; the rest run from government functions and court orders through licensed private investigative agencies to insurers conducting a claims investigation, and most of them ask for a licence number, a case number or a certified copy of the order.
Section 5, sign and date
A certification, a printed name, a signature and a date.
What gets this one rejected
•An incomplete section. The instruction at the top says to complete sections 1 to 5 and include payment for applicable fees, and that failure to complete all sections may result in the form being returned.
•No qualification ticked in section 4. The record is personal information under R.C. 4501.27 and the release turns entirely on which permitted use applies.
•A qualification ticked without the evidence it asks for. Several of the thirteen require a court and case number, an agency licence number, a company tax identification number or a certified copy of a court order attached.
•Ticking option 2 for a car you own. Option 1 exists for your own record and asks for fewer identifiers - reaching for the wrong one turns a simple request into a disclosure of someone else's personal information.
•Treating the result as a public search. The certification in section 5 is an undertaking not to disclose the personal information except as authorised, to keep a five-year record of anyone you do disclose it to, and to make that record available to the Registrar of Motor Vehicles or the Clerk of Courts title office on request.
Rules that decide whether it is accepted
•Free and instant, first. Before filing anything, the BMV's own online title inquiry will show a lien and its cancellation date against a vehicle identification number. This form is for when you need the certified record rather than the screen.
•Falsification is an offence on this form as on the others. The certification says providing false information may constitute a criminal offence of falsification.
Every line here was read off BMV 1174 (8/22) itself —
the PDF is here — and off the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles pages.
This is plain-language help with a form, not legal advice, and where our wording and the agency's differ,
theirs governs.
