Ohio Code 5311.18 – Lien for common expenses
(A)(1) Unless otherwise provided by the declaration or the bylaws, the unit owners association has a continuing lien upon the estate or interest of the owner in any unit and the appurtenant undivided interest in the common elements for the payment of any of the following expenses that are chargeable against the unit and that remain unpaid for ten days after any portion has become due and payable:
Terms Used In Ohio Code 5311.18
- 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
- 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
- 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
- Counterclaim: A claim that a defendant makes against a plaintiff.
- Declaration: includes all amendments to that declaration. See Ohio Code 5311.01
- Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
- 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.
- Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
- Mortgagee: The person to whom property is mortgaged and who has loaned the money.
- 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
- Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
- 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
(a) The portion of the common expenses chargeable against the unit;
(b) Interest, administrative late fees, enforcement assessments, and collection costs, attorney’s fees, and paralegal fees the association incurs if authorized by the declaration, the bylaws, or the rules of the unit owners association and if chargeable against the unit.
(2) Unless otherwise provided by the declaration, the bylaws, or the rules of the unit owners association, the association shall credit payments made by a unit owner for the expenses described in divisions (A)(1)(a) and (b) of this section in the following order of priority:
(a) First, to interest owed to the association;
(b) Second, to administrative late fees owed to the association;
(c) Third, to collection costs, attorney’s fees, and paralegal fees incurred by the association;
(d) Fourth, to the principal amounts the unit owner owes to the association for the common expenses or penalty assessments chargeable against the unit.
(3) The lien described in division (A)(1) of this section is effective on the date that a certificate of lien in the form described in division (A)(3) of this section is filed for record in the office of the recorder of the county or counties in which the condominium property is situated pursuant to an authorization given by the board of directors of the unit owners association. The certificate shall contain a description of the unit, the name of the record owner of the unit, and the amount of the unpaid portion of the common expenses and, subject to subsequent adjustments, any unpaid interest, administrative late fees, enforcement assessments, collection costs, attorney’s fees, and paralegal fees. The certificate shall be subscribed by the president or other designated representative of the association.
(4) The lien described in division (A)(1) of this section is valid for a period of five years from the date of filing, unless it is sooner released or satisfied in the same manner provided by law for the release and satisfaction of mortgages on real property or unless it is discharged by the final judgment or order of a court in an action brought to discharge the lien as provided in division (C) of this section.
(B)(1) The lien described in division (A)(1) of this section is prior to any lien or encumbrance subsequently arising or created except liens for real estate taxes and assessments of political subdivisions and liens of first mortgages that have been filed for record and may be foreclosed in the same manner as a mortgage on real property in an action brought on behalf of the unit owners association as authorized by the board of directors.
(2) In a foreclosure action a unit owners association commences pursuant to division (B)(1) of this section or a foreclosure action the holder of a first mortgage or other lien on a unit commences, the owner of the unit, as the defendant in the action, shall be required to pay a reasonable rental for the unit during the pendency of the action. The unit owners association or the holder of the lien is entitled to the appointment of a receiver to collect the rental. Each rental payment a receiver collects during the pendency of the foreclosure action shall be applied first to the payment of the portion of the common expenses chargeable to the unit during the foreclosure action.
(3) In a foreclosure action the holder of a lien on a unit commences, the holder of that lien shall name the unit owners association as a defendant in the action.
(4) Unless prohibited by the declaration or the bylaws, following a foreclosure action a unit owners association commences pursuant to division (B)(1) of this section or a foreclosure action the holder of a lien on a unit commences, the association or its agent duly authorized by action of the board of directors, is entitled to become a purchaser at the foreclosure sale.
(5) A mortgage on a unit may contain a provision that secures the mortgagee‘s advances for the payment of the portion of the common expenses chargeable against the unit upon which the mortgagee holds the mortgage.
(6) In any foreclosure action, it is not a defense, set off, counterclaim, or crossclaim that the unit owners association has failed to provide the unit owner with any service, goods, work, or material, or failed in any other duty.
(C) A unit owner who believes that the portion of the common expenses chargeable to the unit, for which the unit owners association files a certificate of lien pursuant to division (A) of this section, has been improperly charged may commence an action for the discharge of the lien in the court of common pleas of the county in which all or a part of the condominium property is situated. In the action, if it is finally determined that the portion of the common expenses was improperly charged to the unit owner or the unit, the court shall enter an order that it determines to be just, which may provide for a discharge of record of all or a portion of the lien.
Last updated June 29, 2022 at 2:29 PM