Ohio Code 5311.08 – Unit owners association
(A)(1) Every condominium property shall be administered by a unit owners association. All power and authority of the unit owners association shall be exercised by a board of directors, which the unit owners shall elect from among the unit owners or the spouses of unit owners. If a unit owner is not an individual, that unit owner may nominate for the board of directors any principal, member of a limited liability company, partner, director, officer, or employee of that unit owner. The majority of the board shall not consist of unit owners or representatives from the same unit unless authorized by a resolution adopted by the board of directors prior to the board majority being comprised of owners or representatives from the same unit.
Terms Used In Ohio Code 5311.08
- Agent: means any person who represents a developer or who acts for or on behalf of a developer in selling or offering to sell any ownership interest in a condominium development. See Ohio Code 5311.01
- Amendment: A proposal to alter the text of a pending bill or other measure by striking out some of it, by inserting new language, or both. Before an amendment becomes part of the measure, thelegislature must agree to it.
- Common elements: means , unless otherwise provided in the declaration, the following parts of the condominium property:
(1) The land described in the declaration;
(2) All other areas, facilities, places, and structures that are not part of a unit, including, but not limited to, the following:
(a) Foundations, columns, girders, beams, supports, supporting walls, roofs, halls, corridors, lobbies, stairs, stairways, fire escapes, entrances, and exits of buildings;
(b) Basements, yards, gardens, parking areas, garages, and storage spaces;
(c) Premises for the lodging of janitors or persons in charge of the property;
(d) Installations of central services, including, but not limited to, power, light, gas, hot and cold water, heating, refrigeration, air conditioning, and incinerating;
(e) Elevators, tanks, pumps, motors, fans, compressors, ducts, and, in general, all apparatus and installations existing for common use;
(f) Community and commercial facilities that are not listed in division (F)(2)(a), (b), (c), (d), or (e) of this section but provided for in the declaration;
(g) All parts of the condominium property that are not listed in division (F)(2)(a), (b), (c), (d), (e), or (f) of this section that are necessary or convenient to its existence, maintenance, and safety, that are normally in common use, or that have been designated as common elements in the declaration or drawings. See Ohio Code 5311.01
- Common expenses: means expenses designated as common expenses in this chapter or in the declaration. See Ohio Code 5311.01
- Common profits: means the amount by which the total income received from any of the following exceeds expenses allocable to the particular income, rental, fee, or charge:
(1) Assessments charged for special benefits to specific units;
(2) Rents received from the rental of equipment or space in common elements;
(3) Any other fee, charge, or income other than common assessments. See Ohio Code 5311.01
- Condominium: means a form of real property ownership in which a declaration has been filed submitting the property to the condominium form of ownership pursuant to this chapter and under which each owner has an individual ownership interest in a unit with the right to exclusive possession of that unit and an undivided ownership interest with the other unit owners in the common elements of the condominium property. See Ohio Code 5311.01
- Condominium development: means a condominium property in which two or more individual residential or water slip units, together with their undivided interests in the common elements of the property, are offered for sale pursuant to a common promotional plan. See Ohio Code 5311.01
- Condominium ownership interest: means a fee simple estate or a ninety-nine-year leasehold estate, renewable forever, in a unit, together with an appurtenant undivided interest in the common elements. See Ohio Code 5311.01
- Condominium property: means all real and personal property submitted to the provisions of this chapter, including land, the buildings, improvements, and structures on that land, the land under a water slip, the buildings, improvements, and structures that form or that are utilized in connection with that water slip, and all easements, rights, and appurtenances belonging to the land or to the land under a water slip. See Ohio Code 5311.01
- Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
- Declaration: includes all amendments to that declaration. See Ohio Code 5311.01
- Deed: The legal instrument used to transfer title in real property from one person to another.
- Developer: includes the declarant of a condominium development and any successor to that declarant who stands in the same relation to the condominium development as the declarant. See Ohio Code 5311.01
- Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
- Expandable condominium property: means a condominium property in which the original declaration reserves the right to add additional property. See Ohio Code 5311.01
- Person: includes an individual, corporation, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, and association. See Ohio Code 1.59
- Property: means real and personal property. See Ohio Code 1.59
- Quorum: The number of legislators that must be present to do business.
- Unit: means the part of the condominium property that is designated as a unit in the declaration, is delineated as a unit on the drawings prepared pursuant to section 5311. See Ohio Code 5311.01
- Unit owner: means a person who owns a condominium ownership interest in a unit. See Ohio Code 5311.01
- Unit owners association: means the organization that administers the condominium property and that consists of all the owners of units in a condominium property. See Ohio Code 5311.01
(2) The board of directors shall elect a president, secretary, treasurer, and other officers that the board may desire.
(3) Unless otherwise provided in the declaration or the bylaws, all meetings of the unit owners association are open to the unit owners, and those present in person or by proxy when action is taken during a meeting of the unit owners association constitute a sufficient quorum.
(4)(a) A meeting of the board of directors may be held by any method of communication, including electronic or telephonic communication provided that each member of the board can hear, participate, and respond to every other member of the board.
(b) In lieu of conducting a meeting, the board of directors may take action with the unanimous written consent of the members of the board. Those written consents shall be filed with the minutes of the meetings of the board.
(B) Except as provided in division (A)(1) of this section, the unit owners association shall be governed by bylaws. No modification of or amendment to the bylaws is valid unless it is set forth in an amendment to the declaration, and the amendment to the declaration is filed for record. Unless otherwise provided by the declaration, the bylaws shall provide for the following:
(1)(a) The election of the board of directors of the unit owners association;
(b) The number of persons constituting the board;
(c) The terms of the directors, with not less than one-fifth to expire annually;
(d) The powers and duties of the board;
(e) The compensation of the directors;
(f) The method of removal of directors from office;
(g) The election of officers of the board;
(h) Whether or not the services of a manager or managing agent may be engaged.
(2) The time and place for holding meetings; the manner of and authority for calling, giving notice of, and conducting meetings; and the requirement, in terms of undivided interests in the common elements, of a quorum for meetings of the unit owners association;
(3) By whom and the procedure by which maintenance, repair, and replacement of the common elements may be authorized;
(4) The common expenses for which assessments may be made and the manner of collecting from the unit owners their respective shares of the common expenses;
(5) The method of distributing the common profits;
(6) By whom and the procedure by which administrative rules governing the operation and use of the condominium property or any portion of the property may be adopted and amended. These rules may govern any aspect of the condominium property that is not required to be governed by bylaws and may include standards governing the type and nature of information and documents that are subject to examination and copying by unit owners pursuant to section 5311.091 of the Revised Code, including the times and location at which items may be examined or copied and any required fee for copying the information or documents.
(C)(1) The unit owners association shall be established not later than the date that the deed or other evidence of ownership is filed for record following the first sale of a condominium ownership interest in a condominium development. Membership in the unit owners association shall be limited to unit owners, and all unit owners shall be members. Until the unit owners association is established, the developer shall act in all instances in which action of the unit owners association or its officers is authorized or required by law or the declaration.
(2)(a) Not later than sixty days after the developer has sold and conveyed condominium ownership interests appertaining to twenty-five per cent of the undivided interests in the common elements in a condominium development, the unit owners association shall meet, and the unit owners other than the developer shall elect not less than one-third of the members of the board of directors.
(b) When computing undivided interests in expandable condominium properties for purposes of divisions (C) and (D) of this section, the undivided interests in common elements shall be computed by comparing the number of units sold and conveyed to the maximum number of units that may be created, as stated in the declaration pursuant to division (C)(8) of section 5311.05 of the Revised Code.
(D)(1) Except as provided in division (C) of this section, the declaration or bylaws of a condominium development may authorize the developer or persons the developer designates to appoint and remove members of the board of directors of the unit owners association and to exercise the powers and responsibilities otherwise assigned by law, the declaration, or the bylaws to the unit owners association or to the board of directors. The authorization for developer control may extend from the date the unit owners association is established until sixty days after the sale and conveyance to purchasers in good faith for value of condominium ownership interests to which seventy-five per cent of the undivided interests in the common elements appertain, except that in no case may the authorization extend for more than five years after the unit owners association is established if the declaration includes expandable condominium property or more than three years after the unit owners association is established if the declaration does not include expandable condominium property.
(2) If there is a unit owner other than the developer, the declaration of a condominium development shall not be amended to increase the scope or the period of the developer’s control.
(3) Within sixty days after the expiration of the period during which the developer has control pursuant to division (D)(1) of this section, the unit owners association shall meet and elect all members of the board of directors of the association. The persons elected shall take office at the end of the meeting during which they are elected and shall, as soon as reasonably possible, appoint officers.
(E) The board of directors, or the developer while in control of the association, may take any measures necessary to incorporate the unit owners association as a not-for-profit corporation.
Last updated June 29, 2022 at 2:27 PM