Ohio Code 5311.13 – Liens and encumbrances procedure
(A) Liens and encumbrances arise with respect to and affect a unit of a condominium property and the undivided interest in the common elements appurtenant to it in the same manner and under the same conditions as liens and encumbrances arise with respect to and affect any other real estate, except as provided in this section.
Terms Used In Ohio Code 5311.13
- Affidavit: A written statement of facts confirmed by the oath of the party making it, before a notary or officer having authority to administer oaths.
- 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
- 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 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
- 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
- Foreclosure: A legal process in which property that is collateral or security for a loan may be sold to help repay the loan when the loan is in default. Source: OCC
- Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
- Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
- 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
- Purchaser: means a person who purchases a condominium ownership interest for consideration pursuant to an agreement for the conveyance or transfer of that interest for consideration. See Ohio Code 5311.01
- 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 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
(B) Any person who does work or labor upon or furnishes machinery, material, or fuel for the alteration or repair of any unit without the consent or authorization of any owner or lessee of any interest in the unit or the owner’s or lessee’s authorized agent nevertheless is entitled to a lien to secure payment for the work, labor, machinery, material, or fuel on the estate or interest in the unit of the owner, pursuant to sections 1311.01 to 1311.38 of the Revised Code, if the work, labor, alteration, or repair was duly authorized or directed by the board of directors of the unit owners association and necessary in the opinion of the board of directors for public safety or to prevent damage to or destruction of any other part of the condominium property.
(C) Any person who does work or labor upon or furnishes machinery, material, or fuel for the construction, alteration, repair, improvement, enhancement, or embellishment of any part of the common elements of any condominium property is entitled to a lien to secure payment for the work, labor, machinery, material, or fuel on the estates or interests of all owners in all units and their respective undivided interests in the common elements, pursuant to sections 1311.01 to 1311.38 of the Revised Code, if the work, labor, construction, alteration, repair, improvement, enhancement, or embellishment was duly authorized or directed by the board of directors of the unit owners association.
(D) If a lien or encumbrance arises with respect to and affects any estate or interest in two or more units, the proportionate amount of the obligation secured or evidenced by the lien or encumbrance that is attributable to the estate or interest in any unit shall be in the ratio that the undivided interests in the common elements appurtenant to that unit bears to the total undivided interests in the common elements appurtenant to all units. An estate or interest in a unit may be released and discharged from the operation of the lien or encumbrance, in the same manner and to the same extent that a lien or encumbrance is released and discharged with respect to any separate parcel of real estate, by payment to the lienholder or encumbrancer of the proportionate amount of the obligation secured or evidenced by the lien or encumbrance that is attributable to the estate or interest.
(E)(1) When a lien exists under Chapter 1311 of the Revised Code to secure payment for work or labor done or machinery, material, or fuel furnished for property that subsequently becomes condominium property through the filing and recording of a declaration under section 5311.06 of the Revised Code, regardless of the property to which the lien originally attached, after the declaration is filed for record, the lien is enforceable as to condominium property only against units and their appurtenant interests in the common elements that the developer owned or conveyed, other than as described in division (F) of this section.
(2) Foreclosure of a lien described in division (E)(1) of this section does not of itself terminate the condominium property.
(3) Divisions (E)(1) and (2) of this section do not limit the right to enforce a lien arising under Chapter 1311 of the Revised Code against property that does not become condominium property through the filing and recording of a declaration under section 5311.06 of the Revised Code.
(F) No lien acquired under Chapter 1311 of the Revised Code is enforceable against any purchaser in good faith for value of a unit and its appurtenant interest in the common elements from the developer unless the affidavit required by section 1311.06 of the Revised Code is filed for record before the deed or other instrument of conveyance of the unit is filed for record.