Ohio Rev. Code § 5723.16: Purchaser deemed the assignee of the state.

The purchaser of forfeited lands, his heirs or assigns, from the day of such purchase, shall be held in all courts as the assignee of the state. The amount paid by such purchaser for said land at such tax sale, with all taxes afterward paid thereon by such purchaser, his heirs or assigns, with interest thereon, shall be a lien on said land, and may be enforced as any other lien.